I am here to ask a question for a buddy I am helping. He has a 98 Ford F150 Single cab. The engine blew. He got another short block and had it rebuilt. But.we need to pull the old engine to put the new one in. Can anyone tell if its absolutely necessary to pull the body off? If so, waht are the steps in doing this? Thanks.

 

Pull the body off? That would be a new one. All you should have to do is unplug everything (make sure you label what you can't remember), pull the tranny bellhousing bolts, and pull the motor mount bolts. The engine should come right out. At most you'll have to remove the hood, mark the hood where the hinges bolt on before you remove it so you align it right when you reinstall it.

 

If you talk to Racerguy (a Ford Mech and '97-'03 Forum Moderator) he'll say you should pull the body. Drop him a line.

The engine just sits too far back in the compartment to simply remove a hood and radiator. The cowling, and front passenger compartment sits over a third of the engine, one of the reasons why changing plugs on the back part of the engine is such a chore.

-Kerry

 

Racerguy will say you should pull the body....I had my motor ready to pull without pulling the body in my 98 Expedition with the 5.4....you WILL need to remove the upper intake manifold. The only reason for this is that you cannot get to the two upper bellhousing bolts with the intake on. The rest is pretty simple...as far as bolts go on a Ford.

The 'hopper


PS see the "has anyone done their own R/R" in this forum...that might not be the exact name of it, but it's close.

 

So if you pull the intake you can get it out without removing the body?

 

The toughest bolts on my 98 Expedition with the 5.4 were the two upper bellhousing bolts. These two bolts are UNACCESSABLE from the bottom of the truck. But with the intake manifold off, you can see right down there to them. You can look at the pic and see what I'm talking about:



The 'hopper

 

Looks like you have a good crop of 5.4L's growing there. Jusy kidding, thanks for the photo, this is the first one that I have seen from the rear. Looks like Ford should try some engine paint on these things. My 2001 looks a bit rusty already too.
Jimmy