Here's the start of my rebuild thread. Bought the truck for $1800. Mileage unknown. 4 spd manual transmission, 4.10 rear end, RWD, 460, XLT Lariat:









All the wiring and most of the vacuum tubes out of the way.


Down to the heads and the block.

 

Nice truck. What are your plans for the rebuild? Mild or wild?

 

Sweet project- pulling up my chair to watch your progress! Subscribed.

 

Mild. This is my first engine to do alone so I'm going to stick to the book. I plan to have a machine shop rebuild the heads and bore the block. I'll rebuild the lower half, short block and full block after that. I will probably do headers and replace what needs replacing (clutch while I'm there), AC (because it was removed at one time) and whatever else I find.

 

Cool. I have a '90 F250 SC 4x4 with a 460/C6/3.55:1. Even with that setup it'll drag anything but it's slow going. Wish those Gear Vendors units weren't so danged expensive. If I keep the 460, I like the idea of building a 514 but that might be a bit much for what I use the truck for.

 

You havent even pulled it out of the truck yet? lol. That woulda been step #1 for me! Easier to get to stuff lol.

But on a side note, SUBSCRIBED! Iv been debating either upgrading my 460 or just buying a 6.9L to build while I drive this one. Leaning towards the 6.9 quite heavily lol

 

El Camino Man, thanks for subscribing! What does that mean? No, I haven't pulled it out yet. Since it's my first time I am taking it slow and probably over labeling everything.

All,
I'm now down to bell housing bolts and the A.I.R./Thermactor tubes backet bolt on the back, the motor mounts on the sides and just the harmonic balancer/timing cover on the front. What I'm seeing is only two bell housing bolts connecting the top of the bell housing to the block. When I trace the bell housing with my hand, I feel and see a metal shield/contoured plate that seems to cover the flywheel/clutch assemblies and connects to bell housing. It has bolt holes that appear to line up with the bell housing but no bolts. Can this thing really be connected to the transmission with just two bolts or will I find more once I loosen those two?

Also, I have a question about blocking the transmission. I need roll the truck out of the garage to pull the engine because I don't have room for the hoist. However, I want to roll the truck back into the garage once the engine is out. That creates an issue with the transmission. I was thinking of using racheting tie down straps to hold the transmission to the frame, hold it from above instead of below. Does anyone see any issues with that approach? There are holds in the frame that I think would work for this.

 

Oh, I forgot to add this nugget. When I pulled the radiator I discovered that the A/C condensor was banged up pretty badly. I am speculating that the engine has been pulled before and they banged it up and then dropped the engine back in without replacing it. How do you know if a rebuild has taking place before? Are there other reasons for pulling an engine apart from a rebuild?

 

Subscribing means to follow this thread basically lol. It gives me a heads up when something new has been added. When you click on your User CP at the top, it brings up all your subscribed threads that has new stuff in it. Make sense lol

Overlabeling? No such thing!! Anytime Im doing something as in depth as removing an engine, I make piles of big parts and zip-loc the small parts and write on the bag exactly whats in it. This saves A TON of headache later on.

And the ratchet strapping the engine up is a good idea. I ratchet strapped my engine up when I took the tranny out of my El Camino. Its easy to bust the distributor on those Chevys since theyre on the back.

If the bolts are comin out without overworking yourself, its been out before. And if its missin stuff such as washers and lock-nuts, thats a tell tale sign also.

 

I posted a question on the general engine build and performance forum about how to prepare for going to the machine shop. Here's the link.

I hate to just cut and paste it here so if you are interested or have experience with this then please click that link and fill me in.

 

Well, it's time to pull it. How big of an engine stand do I need? I read the the 460 weighs 700lb so I'm thinking a 1/2 ton unit would be flimsy.

 

Any engine stand will do as long as its got 4 wheels. Thse "T" lookin ones with 3 wheels suck!

 

I bet they work pretty well for smacking an engine into your driveway.

 

Been there done that lol. Good thing it was a junk engine anyhow. I tried to catch it... Left a pretty large bruise on my knee lol. Good thing it was a SBC instead of a BBF lol. Absolutely demolished the fuel pump and cracked the concrete

 

Okay, I'm down to the four bolts that connect the engine mount but I have a question. Do I have to disconnect the clutch? I have a M5OD HD transmission, code Z, which is a 4 spd manual with OD. There are only two connections to it, the shifter on top and the hydraulic from the clutch slave cylinder on the firewall.

I've read generic statements in the chiltons, haynes and general books about rebuilding engines that if you have a manual you should disconnect the clutch linkage. In looking at mine, I don't see why that would be needed unless disconnecting the hydraulic releases something that holds the transmission to the clutch.

I'm expecting the flywheel and the clutch to disengage from the transmission when I start to pull the engine up and forward and that the clutch/pressure plate will be attached to the flywheel.