Engine swap is going well but slower than I would like. Noticed the front pass tire was toed out badly, when having truck towed? The stabilizer arm had fractured from the front crossmember. That is welded back up and will require realignment.
The main reason to replace engine was triggered by a broke off stud bolt in the water pump. Sourcing a replacement bolt proved to be fairly arduous. I found a US supplier, but cost of $100.00 US for bolt kit and shipping to Canada; 8 day delivery lead me to the wreckers yard yesterday.


3 hours at the yard yielded $2.00 worth of bolts.
Hope to have engine and trans back in by end of weekend.

 

For a minute there I thought you dumped your motor because you had a broken water pump bolt. What s going on now exactly?

 

 

The motor I am replacing was original from 1990 donor. A stud bolt broke off while replacing water pump. Efforts to drill out and tap did not go well.
I decided to replace it with a reman. The original engine had high mileage, the whole car cost me $375.00 and lasted me 9 years.

 

I like that...almost too true to be funny though.

 

Too soon EBEAR, it's just too soon lol.

I hope the install goes well Tip.

 

Those bolts look like they are for a small block Ford motor. If so, I have found them at my local NAPA store. I think Dorman offers them because it's common for them to break.

 

Yikes, I just looked at LMR and all the bolts for front cover and water pump is $98. When did bolt prices go like lumber? Good luck on your swap.

 

It's called gougery. Last I looked you can get a lot of the bolts in a Dorman kit at the local parts store. On all my 5.0s they have been removed, cleaned on the wire wheel, painted and and coated with Never Seize. They can really wreck your day after they spend a decade in an aluminum timing cover. I would use grade five threaded rod and nuts before I paid $100 for that LMC kit.

 

Fastenal has almost every bolt known to man. If you bring the old one into the store they will match it for you if they don’t have it was worth a try. Much cheaper than the online kits.

 

Worked at swapping over pan, thermostat housing, etc on the weekend. Lining up the rod for the distributor turned out to take up some time. The one supplied with the new engine seemed too tall and won't allow the distributor to seat in the block. That meant removing oil pan, oil pump and using old hardware. Going to install plugs, thermostat, oil filter, new cap and rotor. Engine is bolted to trans so close to putting engine back on frame.

 

Where did you source your engine..is it a re-manufactured long block..?

 

Aint it amazing how long things take? Every time I start in on a simple project it tends to blow up and everything goes haywire.....

 

Uhhh... I remember those 302/351 studs in my nightmares... .388551s2 5/16x3.5'' current list $14 F2TZ*6C051*A 5/16x5.5'' current list $25.33 388433S2 3/8x5/16 -6.6" $14 ...The bolts are just hardware store. Interesting that they're still available.