Honda N600 Part 3: Engines and Boredom

Without boring you too much, I dropped the engine out of the car so that I could clean it up and have full access.  The way you drop the engine is a little different.  You lift up the front of the car, loosen four bolts, and drop the engine onto a floor jack - along with the axles and hubs.  On these things, the transmission is a part of the engine.

It's a powerful thing: 2 cylinders, 600 cc, 36 horsepower, air cooled.  Neat.

In the photo on the right, the car is hanging from the garage beam and the engine is partially supported by the floor jack.

First thing - powerwash the engine.  It was absolutely full of oily gunk.  Don't worry, I towed it on a sled I made down to the end of the driveway to powerwash it - then the gunk just goes out in the street.

Yep, pretty ugly.

This is where I think the problem is: at the bottom of the cylinders is where I've read about the O-rings failing over 43 years or so.  Not surprising, huh?