contract me out for your detailing work!! LMAO
Mach 1 K-member swap, engine removal, and valve spring replacement ("build" thread)
- Thread starter starnsey
- Start date
contract me out for your detailing work!! LMAO
I'll send one your way haha
:coolman:
Awesome job so far!
A little closer to engine removal
So yesterday I got the engine a little bit closer to being ready to be removed. I'm fairly certain, after some measurements, that I will be removing the engine from the bottom.
I had a buddy in town so I had him help me remove the hood. The hood is super light weight but knowing that there aren't really any replacement hoods available, this was fairly stressful. (this shouldn't need need a write-up, 4 nuts and the hood's off)
Put rags where the hood hit the support beam for when we were setting it down to lift off:
Also went through and labeled all electrical connections with masking tape and permanent marker:
Then, in order to get a little extra room for dropping the engine and to give myself some good mounting points for the load leveler (it has 4 brackets with bolt holes) I decided to remove the intake manifold. It was pretty easy, remove a few connectors and vacuum lines and then ten (qty) 10 mm bolts later, it's off. Not very hard and since it's aluminum it was fairly light weight. Still had my buddy help me pull it off so I didn't drop it on the paint though.
Once that's removed, be sure to tape over the intake ports as you obviously don't want anything dropping into them. I'll likely be using the four outer-most holes to attach the load leveler to the engine hoist.
We also assembled the Harbor Freight 2-ton engine hoist which was pretty simple but I didn't get any pictures. I also removed the engine harness from the body harness - pretty straight forward: just look at the passenger side fender towards the firewall and you can figure it out. I guess up next is removing power steering pump and A/C compressor and setting them aside while the engine is lowered. Not looking forward to that but we'll see how it goes.
So yesterday I got the engine a little bit closer to being ready to be removed. I'm fairly certain, after some measurements, that I will be removing the engine from the bottom.
I had a buddy in town so I had him help me remove the hood. The hood is super light weight but knowing that there aren't really any replacement hoods available, this was fairly stressful. (this shouldn't need need a write-up, 4 nuts and the hood's off)
Put rags where the hood hit the support beam for when we were setting it down to lift off:
Also went through and labeled all electrical connections with masking tape and permanent marker:
Then, in order to get a little extra room for dropping the engine and to give myself some good mounting points for the load leveler (it has 4 brackets with bolt holes) I decided to remove the intake manifold. It was pretty easy, remove a few connectors and vacuum lines and then ten (qty) 10 mm bolts later, it's off. Not very hard and since it's aluminum it was fairly light weight. Still had my buddy help me pull it off so I didn't drop it on the paint though.
Once that's removed, be sure to tape over the intake ports as you obviously don't want anything dropping into them. I'll likely be using the four outer-most holes to attach the load leveler to the engine hoist.
We also assembled the Harbor Freight 2-ton engine hoist which was pretty simple but I didn't get any pictures. I also removed the engine harness from the body harness - pretty straight forward: just look at the passenger side fender towards the firewall and you can figure it out. I guess up next is removing power steering pump and A/C compressor and setting them aside while the engine is lowered. Not looking forward to that but we'll see how it goes.
Well I unbolted the A/C and ziptied it to the sway bar.
Think I'm going to have to drain the power steering (is this a big deal?). Since one of the mounting bolts for the pump is right behind one of the lines. Can I just unclip the hose and drain it from there? Will it damage anything being dry? Is the process to refill it difficult?
Also removed the oil pan, pickup tube and windage tray (MMR oil pan and screen-style windage tray for sale by the way
).
I didn't get any pictures because I started working before realizing I didn't have my camera outside but all of this was pretty straight forward. Find bolts and remove and your done.
At the very least, I got a part number looking into the underside of the engine. Apparently, these are the pistons in the car:
http://www.jepistons.com/Products/257541.aspx
Anyone know anything about them? Compression ratio? Can any info be figured out from these?
I couldn't find any part numbers on the rods unfortunately. Where would they be stamped? Would they be stamped at all? Pretty sure they're I-beam.
Only other part number I got was off the retaining piece of the crank. It was "3L2E6325AA" with "10403A13" stamped below. Couldn't find any results on google for this.
Really not sure if I'll be able to remove the MAC longtube headers. If anyone has any tips for removing them, I'd love to hear it. It looks like each bolt has both a hexhead and allen head and each bolt has an e-clip and some other tear-drop looking thing behind it.
I'm really hoping to have this engine pulled out within the next week. I would do it this weekend but I'm going out of town. Everything's been fairly smooth so far so I'm assuming I'm going to reach a horrible hang-up sometime soon.
Think I'm going to have to drain the power steering (is this a big deal?). Since one of the mounting bolts for the pump is right behind one of the lines. Can I just unclip the hose and drain it from there? Will it damage anything being dry? Is the process to refill it difficult?
Also removed the oil pan, pickup tube and windage tray (MMR oil pan and screen-style windage tray for sale by the way
). I didn't get any pictures because I started working before realizing I didn't have my camera outside but all of this was pretty straight forward. Find bolts and remove and your done.
At the very least, I got a part number looking into the underside of the engine. Apparently, these are the pistons in the car:
http://www.jepistons.com/Products/257541.aspx
Anyone know anything about them? Compression ratio? Can any info be figured out from these?
I couldn't find any part numbers on the rods unfortunately. Where would they be stamped? Would they be stamped at all? Pretty sure they're I-beam.
Only other part number I got was off the retaining piece of the crank. It was "3L2E6325AA" with "10403A13" stamped below. Couldn't find any results on google for this.
Really not sure if I'll be able to remove the MAC longtube headers. If anyone has any tips for removing them, I'd love to hear it. It looks like each bolt has both a hexhead and allen head and each bolt has an e-clip and some other tear-drop looking thing behind it.
I'm really hoping to have this engine pulled out within the next week. I would do it this weekend but I'm going out of town. Everything's been fairly smooth so far so I'm assuming I'm going to reach a horrible hang-up sometime soon.
Sounds like the crank is factory crank and also the headers sound like they are held on my stage 8 locking bolts. Maybe somebody will chime in that has used them in the past
Could the previous owner have just used the factory retainers? He said it was a stroker and I think the shop that built the engine confirmed that. Plus the power levels would seem to be further proof of that.
Nothing too exciting happening:
Tonight I removed the power steering pump from the block without draining it. I just undid the three 10mm bolts and then used a box-end on the final fourth 10mm bolt that's MORONICALLY under one of the lines (seriously, WTF?). Looks like all this crap is going to get in my way when I start trying to remove the engine.
Also removed the radiator coolant reservoir. Pretty sure the previous owner torqued the mounting bolts down to some ungodly torque because the nuts/studs just spun. Realized that they're a square-bottomed stud that the square part goes into a little retainer. Well both of mine were broken and since I couldn't get a good idea of how they were actually mounted, I just mangled the shit out of the reservoir until it pulled off. No worries, was wanting an excuse to get a powdercoated metal reservoir anyway. Unfortunately I may need to try to repair the radiator core support where these mounts and find some new hardware which I imagine is nearly impossible.
Finally, I pulled out the radiator fan to give myself a little more room and also because the thermostat was only being held on with electrical tape. Was planning on replacing this as well.
No pictures this time again but there really wasn't much to see. Power steering pump is an unnecessary pain the ass (at least in my case) and that's all you really need to know!
Also, Luke, you were correct with the "stage 8 locking bolt" things. Really hoping I can get this engine removed without pulling them off.
Tonight I removed the power steering pump from the block without draining it. I just undid the three 10mm bolts and then used a box-end on the final fourth 10mm bolt that's MORONICALLY under one of the lines (seriously, WTF?). Looks like all this crap is going to get in my way when I start trying to remove the engine.
Also removed the radiator coolant reservoir. Pretty sure the previous owner torqued the mounting bolts down to some ungodly torque because the nuts/studs just spun. Realized that they're a square-bottomed stud that the square part goes into a little retainer. Well both of mine were broken and since I couldn't get a good idea of how they were actually mounted, I just mangled the shit out of the reservoir until it pulled off. No worries, was wanting an excuse to get a powdercoated metal reservoir anyway. Unfortunately I may need to try to repair the radiator core support where these mounts and find some new hardware which I imagine is nearly impossible.
Finally, I pulled out the radiator fan to give myself a little more room and also because the thermostat was only being held on with electrical tape. Was planning on replacing this as well.
No pictures this time again but there really wasn't much to see. Power steering pump is an unnecessary pain the ass (at least in my case) and that's all you really need to know!
Also, Luke, you were correct with the "stage 8 locking bolt" things. Really hoping I can get this engine removed without pulling them off.
Pulled off the shifter today and drained the transmission fluid. Another one of those things that's not worthy of pictures.
I also decided to pull off the front bumper in order to maximize room for the engine hoist.
I'm pretty damn concerned about not having enough height to get the engine out of the car. In the pic below there's only about 17 inches between the bottom of the garage door and the top of the hoist arm. I put the engine hoist chain on the 2nd to last link after this picture was taken but I'm still not sure if it'll be enough to clear the car. Concerned I may have to lower the front end in order to get it out.
I also need two bolts to go into the rear of the heads to mount the load leveler. I don't think it'd be a good idea to use top mounted bolts for the hoist as lifting the engine on bolts in tension seems a lot more dangerous than lifting bolts in shear.
I also decided to pull off the front bumper in order to maximize room for the engine hoist.
I'm pretty damn concerned about not having enough height to get the engine out of the car. In the pic below there's only about 17 inches between the bottom of the garage door and the top of the hoist arm. I put the engine hoist chain on the 2nd to last link after this picture was taken but I'm still not sure if it'll be enough to clear the car. Concerned I may have to lower the front end in order to get it out.
I also need two bolts to go into the rear of the heads to mount the load leveler. I don't think it'd be a good idea to use top mounted bolts for the hoist as lifting the engine on bolts in tension seems a lot more dangerous than lifting bolts in shear.
fyi if you have to drain the power steering its not a big deal (that bolt is a pain in the ass). Refilling is easiest done with the car still in the air, just fill with power steering fluid and turn the wheel back and forth a bunch and keep topping it off. Then start the car and keep doing it.
id be a little nervous about your clearance as well
id be a little nervous about your clearance as well
wow looks close. you arent dropping out bottom?!?
Between the A/C, steering rack, sway bar, and power steering, I don't think I'll be able to drop it out the bottom. I really, REALLY don't want to have to remove the A/C. Then again, I also don't know if I'll be able to remove it from the top either with the transmission and long tubes. Unfortunately, there's only one way to find out.
can you shorten the chains up between the leveler and the motor?
Yeah, I did that after this picture was taken.
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