So, FINALLY got the engine hooked up to the tranny I rebuilt myself, the interior is gutted so I made a cardboard box for the instrument cluster and set the cluster on the floor next to me, kit the key, fired instantly. Good oil pressure. Continued to fill the tranny, checked tranny fluid level, bumped into reverse, checked and added fluid. Bumped into drive, checked and added fluid. Spun up the wheels car on jackstands, feeling for every shift, all good.. added a little more fluid. Tightened one tranny cooler line and one heater hose clamp. No leaks. ABS and traction control passed self-check. Airbag functional (then disconnected again) No check engine light. Cooling fans came on when the temp started coming above the normal point. Tranny dipstick nice and warm, checked level and had to add a little more. Off the jackstands for a little test drive, just down the driveway (400 feet) got to second gear in the normal way. Brakes nice and hard. No leaks of any kind, idles perfectly, all good, now for paint... Mike

Great to hear about the rebirth, sounds like you have a bit of work ahead of you too, good luck

Well, yes and no. This chassis is rust free.. I mean not a single spec. The underneath and interior (even though the interior will be covered by, well, all the interior parts) are already black. The body shell just needs to be prepped for paint - except for a slight whoop-tee-do where the rear quarter meets the roof. Very easy fix. Hood has stone chips but is otherwise perfect. Two doors are perfect, not even a scratch or a door ding, two other doors have 3 door dings combined. Trunk is perfect. Dead perfect. It will be a very easy car to prep.. and I love to paint, and I'm good at it. (if I do say so myself) Using Dupont Chromabase and chromaclear? BB/CC urethane... First time I used it I could not believe how easy it is to work with - much more forgiving than the enamel, or maybe it was the new gun I used - either way, this is the fun part, at least for me... Mike

Were you able to fit that rogue nut onto your sprocket fluid tank?

It'* awesome that you car drives now! That'* really cool. I'm glad to see such attention given to an SE. When are you taking it apart again?

Ha, never found a home for those bolts. Part of why I took so long to hit the key in the first place, I poured over everthing that I had done, looking for where those bolts came from. I had dismantled the engine off the parts car, threw most of it away.. tagged and bagged most of the bolts, then did the same to the good engine. The best answer I could come up with is that a bag got tossed in the wrong box. During the height of the swim meet season (which was also deer season, fall leaf season, daily driver get ready for winter season, beginning of school, travel for holiday season, etc) the project was put on hold and quite frankly the garage / workshop got a little untidy.. I think this is where the mix-up occurred.
To answer your second question, I don't expect to take it apart again.. it will see maybe 3000 miles a year, so unless it breaks... This is why I didn't bother to go deeper into the engine, I figured it would be a waste of money.. can always do it later if something goes wrong! Mike

Good to find someone who likes to paint, crappy that they live half way across the counrty!!! lol. Any tips on how to fix the clear fade in two small spots on the roof, before and after the sunroof? Black SSEi, rest of the paint appears good.

Awsome to see the Bonnie coming along, just recenlty found out about this "project," to put it lightly.

congrats on getting the bonnie up and running again

You could try buffing it out, but it probably won't help much. If the black is intact, you might be in for a clearcoat repair, which can vary in how involved you'll get based on what you want to accomplish and how much you want to spend. On the roof, you might be able to spot-repair and blend, there will be a halo where the clear is blended, some can see these things.. others can't, but since it is on the roof, it may or may not bother you.
I had a black olds eighty eight for years, there was this type of clearcoat blend on the trunk, drove me nuts!! Funny thing, this halo was more noticeable when the car was dusty.. in fact, it was the only time my wife could notice it.

Mike, thanks for the info, unfortunately, it is now basecoat (primer) where the two spots are, no black left. I am afraid that I am looking at a repaint/blend on the roof, which i know can cost big $$$, (I am just now learning paint and all, not quite ready to try blending...at least on a black car.) Thanks again. :P