Yeah, I knew it was possible to remove it in one big piece as I have seen people selling them that way. BUT, I am just a one man operation so sometimes I will just need to put the extra effort into it. I dont really have any friends nearby to help assist.

My plan is to pull just the motor, leaving the the tranny in place. I have an overhead chainfall to assist with this. But we'll see when I get into it.

I'm not a mechanic or anything like that by trade and never have had one of these trucks apart before, but I've always had my hands dirty and this stuff comes naturally to me. I figured I would document all my steps, adding in any unique happenings, so other laymen like myself might learn from it. As you can see from how long I have owned the truck, I'm not in any hurry. So a little here and there for now.

 

Ok got ya at least you have a chain lift for eng/cab removal time, and I figure with all the frame rust (wow you east coast guys have it bad) that the cab visor was going to cause you some issues.

Those rear shock mounts when new and shiny have a very small drain notch/bend on the bottom edge that gets plugged up very easy, meaning make the drain spot bigger on the new ones bigger.

As far as your spring hangers.....shocking. I hope for you when she is down to a frame its worth saving. You have a long hard road, but in the end you will have a truck to keep forever. Stay motivated, it can be difficult at times.

I attached 2 pics of my mobile chain lift bar, since you have concrete and what looks like lots of room they are a one man shop extra pair of hands. I unloaded that bronco by myself and it comes in handy doing cab, bed, eng removal.

Pay no mind to the project in the middle of the 2nd pic (lol) I wanted you to see the lift point to the l/h side of the pic.

 

Subscribed and rooting for you.
You've got lots to do,good luck.

 

What is it looks interesting?

 

Sorry for the HJ I'll make it quick.....its the wife's "low dollar" rock crawler/mudder project. Its getting made outa spare parts setting around.

Class II certified race car chassis just setting for now on top of a 79 Ford running gear with a D60 fnt/rear axle. Got a fresh 460/C-6/NP 205 to put in it and a 8" lift with some 44's.

After I undo the PO hack job on the front end (drop spring hanger, lol) and drop in the eng, I'll figure out how to securely mount the chassis to the frame, ah projects.

HJ over.

 

So I started prepping the engine area for removal. First I “unplugged” the motor by removing all electrical that was hooked up to it. This included all the harnesses which I found could be contained in three bundles. One on each side and one in the middle of the firewall. The grocery bags do a nice job of keeping them contained and out of the way. I had to cut one single wire that was connected to I believe the thermostat sensor and runs to the gauge panel. Then came the heater hoses. These were deteriorated and needed to be cut as well. Then the power steering lines followed by a couple vacuum lines, fuel line, and some carb linkage. No issue with those.



So at this point, I have left to do: disconnecting the exhaust manifolds, unbolting the transmission, and unbolting the engine from the perches. To be expected, the exhaust manifold looks like it will be a nightmare. I’m thinking cutting the two exposed bolts on each one where they couple to the exhaust pipe might be the way to go. It’s very tight in there still so not sure how that will work out.

Question: I need to move the vehicle to the chain fall in order ot remove the engine. Then put the truck back to where I am working on it. It’s only about 8 feet away. It appears that the transmission will want to fall down in the front when I disconnect it from the engine. Normally I would just jack and block under it, but since I need to wheel it around, I can’t do that. Do you think if I ran a ratchet strap around the tranny and outer frame rails (as in cradling the tranny on the front) that it would support it enough and hold it in place until I got the truck back to its location?

 

Here are the holes for the radiator supports. The one that I had trouble getting out is the one that is out of round and metal is a little thin there. The other is perfect. It will get fixed when I do the frame repairs.


Also some parts I have gathered up. NOS doors and Arizona fenders from a local FTE member. Also got the matching red tailgate from him (not pictured).

Frame cross members and spring hangers (with some take off parts mixed in there).

I’m trying to stay organized, and clean the work area after each time. I truly believe that is a huge factor in a successful build.
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Looking good make sure you tape mark as many connections things tend to get fuzzy come connection time. Alphabet and #'s are the easy way to do it A-1 to A-1 ect.....

Put a wrench/socket on the exhaust manifold bolts (the 2 that connect the pipe to the manifold) they will either come off or snap off and replace later.

And yes with a HEAVY DUTY ratchet strap you can support the trans long enough to get the truck back into its final resting place.

Still jack the trans for ease of eng removal and then strap it over the top side of the frame rails and come back to the middle to connect and tighten. Meaning double under the trans.

I posted those mobile I-beam pics to give you an idea, easy to build and cheaper. You are connecting the lift chain to the heads (look where the mount p/s bolts go and there a few open spots above them and on the back side of the r/h head, and not the intake bolts right?

 

Nice stash of parts and are you going to reuse the remote eng oil filter? How to your front cab mounts look?

 

Yes to the labeling. Its sometimes difficult to want to stop and do it, but so far almost EVERYTHING has a tape label on it. Also I have about 10 pictures of every step before and after. I only try to post interesting, or at least substantial progress ones here.

I was going to ask about how to lift it out. I had seen so many things done.

A plate that mounts where the carb is...That seemed like a terrible option.

Chain to a couple of intake manifold bolts....seemed better, but still lifting off something cast aluminum.

So I guess you have answered it. Mount them to the heads!

I almost forgot to show you all my "real" pride and joy. This thing is about worth its weight in gold around here. 100% rust free Arizona bed with but just a few teeny dents. Found it on CL up in ME at a very reasonable price considering what it is. Here are some pic's while it was still in AZ thereby authenticating it!!!

 

Man! all i can say is that east coast road salt is some nasty stuff good luck on the build

 

That remote is actually a filter for the transmission cooler. I was going to ask if that was a stock feature or not. It goes in and out of that right before entering the bottom of the radiatator and external finned cooler mounted to the face of the radiator.

The cab mounts look perfect. SOLID, both sides. Now hopefully when the cab gets removed I dont find what I found with the radiator support. But given they dont look near as bad as the radiator support looked before I got it apart, I am anticipating them to be all set. Fingers crossed.

 

Yes, this truck was built in NJ with a dealer code out of Boston, MA. So it has been in state it's whole life I believe. I got the orignal operators manual with it and had a typed sticker from the dealer with the original owner name and address. He lived just a couple towns away. I believe I am the third (possibly fourth) owner of the truck. I was told the previouse owner did a mild "go through" of the truck. Definitly patch work to the body and got a paint job then, and likely the Edlebrock carb and Weiss intake at that time. Thats about all the mods to the motor I see. Im hoping there is a lousy smog-timed 351 in there now just waiting to be unleashed to a 400. The code says it was a 351m. The code for the paint was black with silver tone over it. I presume silver was within the racetrack as evidenced by my pic of the back of the cab with the bed off it. You can see silver there.

 

I was just looking at that as well, it's ironic how the rest of the undercarriage is completely toast, but yet the cab mounts look virtually new....those fender splash shields are real cab mount savers for you east coast guys, they make for an excellent retro-fit for 73-75's, as only the 76-79's came equipped with them.

 

Do not believe that remote trans filter is OEM, but ya never know with Ford, between special order or dealership installed items. I thought it was a eng oil remote??

That's the great thing with FTE I am always learning stuff.......

Good call on the mounting the chain to the heads, and congrats on the cab mounts condition and that bed deal.

As far as turning the 351M into 400 sound like a plan, here is a link to a FTE well known as far as that.

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct...xYdNlkxOui0ahQ