Hi all,
As some of you are aware, my '81's 300, in the final stages of getting it just about where I wanted it, shredded a lobe off the cam and ate a lifter.



So, I'm going to pull the engine out and go through the whole thing. I'm thinking that, since it'll be completely out, I don't know how much damage has been done with two to four weeks of shredded metal from the cam/lifter going through the internals and bearings, and untold miles on the engine (albeit good compression), I may just fully rebuild the thing from the bottom up and do it how I want it.

In the mean time, however, I found another 300 on Craigslist last week for $50. The previous owner pulled it out of a '79 he wanted to restore because of untold miles on it. It didn't have any driving issues, or problems, just wanted to start fresh. The engine's been sitting for a few years now. I bought it sight unseen since the guy had a lawn care service and was willing to bring his engine hoist and deliver the engine to my door.

My thought is to swap out my bum engine (which still runs, albeit poorly), and put this one in its place so I can at least drive it for now. Then, rebuild my current one with the ability to take my time and not be rushed. Who knows, maybe just a little here, a little there, and swap it back in this winter or next summer. As long as this doner engine runs decently, even if it only has 120 compression in the cylinders, it'll get me around just fine.

Dug into it a little bit last night to check it over. It still had oil in it, so I drained that. It was nice and clean. Pulled the oil pan off and checked out bottom end. All the rods were tight on the crank with only a tiny amount of lateral (front to rear of engine) play in one or two of them. No sludge or build up.

Pulled the valve cover off and it was nice and clean under the valve cover. Again, no sludge/buildup, and all looked good except one rocker arm nut, which had a crack in it.



Turned the crank over and it rotated easily and freely, and all the rockers rose and fell as they should.

A bit dirty on the outside, and the water pump's been removed, so the water passages in the block have some dried leaves in them that need to be washed out, but nothing major.

((Not bad for $50! My wife recommended maybe I should just drive the other one with the missing lobe, not worry about the swap, and rebuild this one.))



The only issue I found was one of the spark plugs (cylinder #6). 1 - 5 were all healthy and tan, but #6 was completely black. It's been sitting for a long time so I couldn't tell if it was soot or dried oil. Considering how healthy the engine looks, I'm hoping it was just a bad/loose plug, bad wire, or the like. Dunno though, thoughts on that?




So, my big question is, what's the best way to pull a 300? I know they're long, but are there any recommended techniques? I'll be removing the radiator and the hood, as well as all accessories/manifolds, but what are the best anchor points to tip the engine correctly to lift it up and out? The only other engine I've pulled was a transverse four cylinder, which didn't pose these types of issues.

Any advice would be great.

 

$50 delivered! You practically stole that thing. Scrap prices being what they are, it would have brung ~$100 in scrap value....

Not sure what you will be using to lift the engine, but most "Cherry picker" hoists have a hard time getting a 300 high enough to clear the rad support. Be sure to tie the hoist as close to the top of the engine as possible, to minimize this.

 

No kidding, it was an absolute steal! I've kept my eye out for donor 300s on craigslist for probably 8 months for various other projects. The lowest I've found was $250 for one that had no known history.

Yeah, it's an engine hoist my brother bought to remove/install the 4.0 from his Jeep Cherokee (with 31" tires). However, with his, his radiator support is a bit easier to remove.

Mine has 31" tires as well, so i figured it should be somewhat comparable. My other thought is to let a bunch of air out of the tires, or even remove them completely, to drop the front end down a considerable amount.

 

Yeah, 2 main differences between a jeep with a 4.0, and bronco with a 300. 1, the rad support is already higher on the bronco and 2, the 300 is much taller than a 4.0L.
Removing the tires might help get the engine out of the bay easier, but it certainly hinder getting to the stuff underneath to get it loose, or put it back......

As for #6 plug, I'd bet the carb was dribbling gas after the engine was shut off. That tends to run towards #6 almost everytime......

 

Regarding the #6 plug, as long as you have the valve cover off, look to make sure the valve stem seals on #6 are there and not cracked/broken. These engine suck a LOT of oil down the intake stem if the seal is bad. The seal is a lot easier to change now than after the engine is in the bronco.

 

I can see that. Those height differences will make quite a difference in install/removal.

Yeah, it'll be a hindrance to lower it, but I figure I can lower the vehicle, remove or set the engine in place, and then jack it back up with the hoist holding the engine still.

I hope you're right on the fuel just draining back. I'll be sure to take a good look at the valve stem seal though. I have a whole set of new ones sitting on the shelf. I remember on my old head, all of them were nothing but crumbles. Should be easy enough to swap out if needs be.

 

AbandonedBronco,

Interesting that you mentioned letting air out of the tires... at the local Ford dealership heavy truck repair shop, I regularly see this done for ease of maintenance [for the technician].

 

Good call on the valve stem seals. I happened to think about that after I logged out, and was going to add it. I see someone else beat me to the punch.

 

I don't have larger than oem tires, but my front end is lifted 4". My hoist was about maxed out. It was a bit scary to see how high the engine had to be lifted.

And yeah, AB, you stole that thing--and DELIVERED! I paid $100 just for a head at the j/y. Way to go!

I can see you need some Cherry roller rockers for that beast!! lol.



You might want to hit the j/y and pull the oem lift brackets. I just hooked mine to a couple of bolts in the head. (What is scary is those new brackets that attach to the carb bolts, on aluminum intakes, and they pull v8's on those!!!)

I wonder who is going to port their head for the new build?

 

Well, checked the valve stem seals and all 12 of them looked brand new/tip top.

So far, everything on this engine looks tip top! If I start it up and the compression's good (or at least, decent), that's a heck of a good $50 well spent. And if not...it still is!

And yes, I'll be doing the full shebang. Port and polish the head, 3-angle valve job, look into a compression bump of some kind, etc. etc. Should be fun! Kinda excited. No hurry though.

As for jacking it up, the one thing I can see on yours Kevin, vs. mine is that your radiator support sticks up quite a ways. Mine's straight across.



I guess we'll see. If I need to lower the front, I'll figure it out.


My question though, without removing the head, what's the best way to clean this engine's internals? Looking into the intake/exhaust ports, it's kinda dirty. Like...old buildup of carbon, some gunk, and then a lot of nature debris from sitting, like little seeds, leaves, etc. I would imagine that if I cleaned it really well, a lot of it would run into the piston chambers. Is that the kinda stuff that's just gonna burn up and blow out? Or is it something to be concerned about? Any recommended cleaning products?

 

the wifes idea of rebuiling the $50 engine is not all that bad of an idea.
however if you are gonna yank yours out here are 2 helptul tips.
remove (completly unbolt) you engine mounts be cause the engine will need to comes traight forward a inch ofr 2 to clear the bell housing before you start up with it.
And when or if height of the lifted engine becomes an issue let the air out of you trucks front tires.
to really get the cherry picker down low you remove the head first from your engine.

 

I don't know how far into the project you are yet, but I just spent most of last week removing a 300 from an 88 f150. If it's a one man job like mine was, I ended up taking the radiator core out so I didnt have to lift the motor so high, and it worked out pretty well, pluss it was a good chance to clean up 20 pluss years of road dirt and replace the warn rubber mounts.

 

Yeah, I'd definitely thought about it. Seems like a good engine. However, I have no idea how long rebuilding it will take me (probably won't even start on it for a month or two), so I need a good engine for a while.

Haven't started on it yet. Still have the other engine on the stand in the garage as I'm cleaning it up. I *may* have help from my brother on it, but if not, it'll be a one man job. I'll try it without removing the radiator support, but it may come to doing that.




As for cleaning out the intake/exhaust chambers and valves to get that junk out I mentioned earlier, anyone have any suggestions?

 

hey AB how's things mang

I got my 300 out of my '86 f250 with 33/s on it with the hood on had the cherry picker hit'n my 8.5 foot ceiling at times lol. once I got it up off the mounts and above the rad. top support i had to twist the moter counter clock wise 180* to make it out ok.

I have a tilt thingy on the end of my picker to help so that prob. made a big diff.


nice find for $50

 

blow everything out with an air compressor. scrub it clean with dawn dish washing detergent, and a power washer.

hook one end of the chain where the coil bolts on, the other on #5 exhaust. leave the air out of the tires. when the motor is high enough to clear, push the truck out of the way. Don't roll the cherry picker with it up all the way, it could flip over. use a motor stand with 2 legs, when you roll the motor over to work on the crank, it could flip over on the 1 leg stand.