Today was a long time coming! And it was Friday the 13th to boot! With the help of my good friend and neighbor Jerry we reinstalled the 5.7L Hemi and 545RFE transmission from the 2005 Durango back into the ’56 Wagon. Other than having to fuss a bit with the motor mount bolts it all went very smoothly and everything fit like it did before the last tear down. With a bit of luck all of the rest of the stuff will fit equally as well!

Oh, speaking of the motor mount bolts.

The reason that the job dribbled over from Thursday to Friday was that I could not find the bolts to attach the motor mount plates to the engine block. Yesterday I must have spent a good 3 hours looking through boxes, cans and bags all over the shop and garage. I seemed to remember putting them in a marked bag and labeling the bag, but even after spending another 2 hours today looking, I finally tossed in the towel and went to the Helpful Handy Hardware Place that is only 2 miles away to buy new bolts. Before I left I made a bet with myself that as always as soon as I purchase something that has gone missing, it will almost immediately turn up… Ta Dum … while I was tightening the new bolts on the engine plate on the drivers side I happened to look on top of the engine near the fuel rail. Sure enough, there was the bag, with the damn bolts in it laying on top of the engine where I would be sure to find them when I went to reinstall it.

The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men …

Just because I found the damn things, I removed all of the new bolts and replaced them with the ones that I had carefully placed aside when I removed the engine the last time.

It’s a HEMI again!