There is a special dread I associate with exhaust manifold bolts or studs.

 

My least favorite fasteners to remove are manifold bolts. I like my stud extractor tool but I don't get a chance to use it that often due to the size and the location of manifold bolts.

 

I had to pick up a second manifold from a wreckers because the manifold cracked before releasing the broken stud, I wished I had ground it off flush and just drilled it out.

 

and some more paint.




I got all the black parts masked off in preparation to paint the silver bits.


and started laying down some of Eastwoods Cast Aluminum paint.















and then after several coats.... and a little drying time It was time to unwrap it.

 

Really great looking work!!

 

Looks real nice Tom.

 

Great job Tom! Keep up the great work.

 

So this weekend has been about getting the engine painted. Moving projects around my house to get the engine painted is no small task. After all I don't have a lot of room in my little two stall 1940's garage, but I make things work.


after rolling the Coe to the end of the driveway and backing the mustang out of the garage.... I started cleaning the engine in preparation for painting.


Step one.... remove all the accessories....








Step Two.... degrease, sand, then remove any remaining grease, then start masking





Step Three.... lay down some silver....





Step Four.... let silver dry..... so while the silver was baking in front of the torpedo heater...


I started to clearance the ac vent holes in the dash extension.







Once the sliver was dry I untapped the silver and re-tapped for the black paint.


Step five.... black....








The A/C pump, alternator, power steering pump and pulley, harmonic balancer, cop car transmission cooler, lower rad hose/trans cooler/oil filter bracket, shark fin(not actually certain what the shark fin does and why I should put it back on....), and the water pump pulley still need to be sanded and painted.










I contemplated repainted the idler and tensioners.... but I figure that it will be better to simply replace with new.

 

Looks good! I really like the black, it looks nice and for an added bonus it hides the dirt and grease real well! I painted my last 390 gloss black, and it still looks petty good, even with the "FE standard equipment" oil leaks.

I can't help but think that engine would look good with some cast aluminum valve covers... They are spendy though FORD 4.6L/281 Valve Covers - Free Shipping on Orders Over $99 at Summit Racing

Sam

 

After spending a couple days sanding and painting my engine, I needed to find a better way to transport my engine back to my buddies garage.


So I decided to make some storage/transport stands.













The stands will also allow me to bolt up the pilot bearing, flywheel, clutch and transmission without dragging everything on the ground.

 

A few weekends ago I brought the engine back to my buddies shop.





The transport/storage stands made getting the engine back to the shop a breeze.

Once back at the garage, I installed the brand new flywheel, clutch, pilot bearing, dust shield, clutch fork, fork pivot ball, throw out bearing and all new hardware.





Then realized I was missing a dowel pin.....


so when I got home that Sunday I ordered the missing dowel pin.


and waited.... and waited... it took nearly a week and a half to get this stupid pin from LMR.... grrrr





So when the pin finally arrived I tapped that bugger into the block and pushed the dusty box housing my new to me TR-3650 out of the corner.





Yanked the transmission out of the box.... and introduced each other.





I was also happy to find that I was able to build the engine stands to support the engine and transmission on their own.





and then it was time to slide the motor/transmission back into the truck

 

This weekend was a continuation of the clean, degrease, prep, paint process.





Today I worked on some of the aluminum parts.





I managed to get the ac pump, engine block water neck/oil cooler housing, and ac pump done and ready.


before:











Prepped:





Painted:

 

The fun thing to paint will be the alternator. Being that my donor was a former police car, it has the 6G 200amp alternator.


Having never taking apart a 3G alternator I am worried about disassembling this 6G alternator for paint..... I certainly don't want to have to buy a new alternator if I don't need to....








I also prepped the power steering pump for paint... but didn't have any black with me.... so that will also have to wait with the brake booster, brake master, and a few other black engine components to come.

 

Slowly makin progress

 

Do you have any alternator rebuilders in your neck of the woods? They'll usually go through them for $50-60, maybe more if it needs a regulator.

Sam