Prepping for doing something that I have never thought I would be doing - attempting to replace an engine and a transmission.
Have not ordered the engine yet, but will be shortly. But in preparation I am looking at my approach to this effort.
My biggest limitation, other than skills, money, skills is that my mother's garage does not have a lot of room front and rear. More room on the sides.
So, I was contemplating removing my front grill, radiator, radiator support, front fenders and the sheetmetal inside the engine compartment to facilitate removal and installation - will be replacing the 240 six with a 300 six and replacing the three speed manual with a C4 automatic.
The big benefit to this approach is providing a chance to clean-up, fix up a few things. The big negative is getting it all back together.
So some advice would be appreciated. I am sure I will be bugging this forum a lot once the work has begun.

 

Do you have an engine hoist and a leveler?

 

Have a good ole HF engine hoist and engine stand.
Don't have a leveler. Add that to my list.
1 Ton Capacity Foldable Shop Crane

 

If you don't have an extra set of hands to help you lift the hood off, at least a couple of nylon ratchet straps would be good to have.

--use the ratchet straps, with the engine hoist, to lift the hood off with.

 

Make sure you have a fully charged camera, take lots of pictures. Mark all wire connections. Bag and tag anything you remove. Don't get distracted, take your time. Masking tape for marking connections A to B or 1 to 2 or however you choose. Write down everything you can or video tape everything you do.
Notes, pictures, zip lock bags. You get the idea.

 

To cut down on the mess, drain as much of the fluids as you can including draining the block. Wrap a couple of plastic bags around the transmission tail shaft. Get a couple of bags of "oil-dri" compound. Also get a case or two of beer for when you're done. Notice, I said when you're done.

 

I appreciate the tips on avoiding messes.
A lot of areas scare the heck out of me on the project.
But, should I try to pull the engine and transmission as a unit or individually?
And when I put the 300/C4 combination back in, should I put them as a unit or individually?
Of course other scary parts are first time start-up, but that is a ways away.
Also, is the idea of removing my fenders, grille, etc. a bad approach?

 

If working alone, I like to pull the dog house cuz an engine & trans on the hook will get tippy and there is no one there to monitor otherwise.

Not having the core in place allows generous and convenient access to the entire engine compartment... just walk up to it and start working. Beats climbing over.



... I got kinda carried away.

 

With the front off you don't have to tip the engine and trans. to get it out. That way it will be a lot easier to R&R (remove and replace) the engine and transmission as 1 unit.

 

The, "while I'm at it ....." monster has a way of taking over when you start doing stuff like this. You start out with a goal in mind of something, or some things, you want to fix/replace, and while you're working on that you notice something else that could stand to be fixed, cleaned, dressed up, or some component that could be added that would 'make the truck nicer' and then it just snowballs from there.

I originally was just going to install front discs, power steering, tilt wheel and a front sway bar.

3 months later, I'm nearly done with all that but, in the time during this process, I decided to finish dressing up my instrument bezel, make the modifications to add a 3rd brake light, installed delay wipers, bought some 31-spline axles to install a Traction-Lok 3rd member and I bought a '79 Bronco sway bar to go on the rear.

Hopefully, I won't get any more ideas to 'fix' or add more stuff before I get all of these things fully installed and working. --I'm ready to drive my truck again and the cool months are slipping by me. Soon, it'll be hot and humid again.

 

Don't take all that sheet metal apart. Pull the whole front body clip off as one unit after removing the rad, hood and bumper. Way easier. There's a member post on here somewhere ?Trozei? showing where all the bolts to remove are. An engine hoist can easily lift it (put a strap from hinge to hinge and to the rad support) and you can set it on the lawn or better yet onto a utility trailer. Another good tip is to drill 1/8" holes in the hood hinge, and anywhere else there's adjustment necessary. Then you can use a 1/8" bit as an alignment guide to put it back exactly where it was, saving a lot of adjustment time.

 

Bolt locations would be good to know.

 

I like the sound of this approach. I had heard of holes being drilled .

 

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-thread-3.html


post number 41 from Trozeis build thread.


And don't pull the three bolts from the inner fender part in the biggest red circle, just the four to the firewall.
Also leave the hinges on to use for lifting it.

 

Yup.... If the part moves in two axis, then two holes are required for up and down vs left and right. I say before taking it apart, align the hood, fenders,and hood hinges now:

Here ya go: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post13599879