I always had the idea, I finally had the engine block, and now came the hardest part – actually getting it home. There are few problems with that: first, I live in a high-rise condo in the middle of a city, meaning that it pretty much has to be finished before it gets there. Second, my wife is very particular about our home, which is not a bad thing, but convincing someone who has zero interest in cars about having an engine block as a coffee table is not easy.

I took the block to an engine shop for a bath. Two baths actually, as the first one did not produce the desired results. I don’t recall now exactly what kind of bath it was, some acidic caustic thing? I just don’t remember. In the end the block came out with some remnants of oxidation, gaskets, and crap. Three days of sanding removed most of it, now came time for fine detailing which I had no patience for.

To my surprise my wife did not hate the engine block. She actually liked the bright aluminum and unconventional shape of it, just not as a coffee table. We reached a compromise and the engine block table would end up in our living room, but it will serve as an end-table and not a coffee table. Surprisingly, this actually made the project easier.

A proper coffee table would require a base and glass support. For an end-table however, the block would stand on the transmission-end, and being a perfect height, all that was needed were smooth and even top and bottom surfaces. Felt cloth was applied to the bottom and clear rubber where the glass rests.

Being that I had zero patience to finish off sanding and cleaning the block, I put the project aside and occupied myself with other stuff. Eight months later, for Christmas, my wife presented me with the block perfectly cleaned and a thick piece of a custom cut glass on top of it. Awesome wife is awesome. Awesome end-table is awesome.