I'd like to post and record my Cab On Engine Removal and Install Project here and on YouTube. I hope these posts will help others and solicit expert advice from other members of this incredible network.


Project Description:
After about 230k miles, my 2003 Excursion with a Powerstroke 6.0 with EGR delete finally blew a head gasket and suffered an oil cooler failure. The symptoms were a high pressurized coolant system and high temperature deltas between the oil temperature and coolant temperature even on short trips and reasonably low to mild ambient temperatures (20+ degrees F).

As I plan to drive this Excursion until the DMV takes my license away and the replacement costs of trucks are outrageous repairing the truck was a easy choice (For me, not so much for the wife). Given the fact that the engine had over 230k miles and the receipts the previous owner provided as proof of maintenance appear to be bogus (that's a story for another post) I decided that a built long block was the way to go.

I shopped around and liked what I saw at Dynamic Diesel Performance and Machine opting for their Deluxe Stage II build with new front cover, a Stage II Cam, Heavy Springs, and ARP 625+ Studs. I also got a new oil cooler, new HPOP, and a set of 155/30 Injectors from them and in doing so, got a 5 year warranty. Turnaround for the build was just under 8 weeks and given the influx of COVID money, I'm glad I got my order in as Paul seems to be very busy.

Along for the build I purchased:

• Odawg SR2 Ported Intake Manifold
• EPP Ported Exhaust Manifold
• IPR Full Flow Coolant Filter with Coolant Manifold Cover
• All New Sensors
• Dieselsite Late Model Water Pump (I got a new updated front cover)
• DieselRX Glow Plug Pack
• Mishimoto Radiator
• Powersteering Pump (my old one was whining after I connected a Mile Marker Hydraulic Winch last year).
• Upgraded and self rebuilt the turbo with a Powermax and Compressor housing kit from Turbo Labs of America.
• 4" MBRP Stainless Turbo Back Exhaust with Cat.
• TamerX Fuel Crossover Line
• DFuser ICP relocation kit

In a deal with my wife, I agreed to to the removal and install myself to save funds. I'm not quite sure that will work out as planned but I am grateful that I have the time to go through the removal and install process myself and take the time to address issues before they become larger problems as well as dress up the engine compartment to help remove and prevent rust.

To that, I found I need to get a engine lift and after searching, decided to fab one up myself with a friend.



In preparation, I purchased the Ford Manuals, watched a lot of YouTube and read a lot of forum posts. I found DieselTechRon, s33therfan and TooManyToys videos very helpful as well as several posts and members such as TooManyToys, SmackDaddy, MisterCMK, Yahiko and others on this site. Thank you. (And Yes TMT, there was some warpage due to the excessive welding but the plate is usable, good call!) I've also spent some time of the phone with Ed of FICMrepair.com. He's been generous with his time and I appreciate it greatly.

I've pulled and installed engines before but I figured this engine would be a bit different.


I also purchased some some Go-Pro Cameras and paraphernalia to record footage and am still learning to use them (Honestly, could they make it any more convoluted to use??). Saying that, I don't have a lot of usable footage through the removal because of 'technical difficulties' but I plan to get a lot more footage to share while I finish this project.

My next post will be a summary of how I got to where I am now (engine removed) along with links to whatever footage I can use to date.

 

I’ll be following along

 

In preparation for a hunting trip to Wyoming last year, I installed a large bumper last year to house a MileMakrer hydraulic winch. That thing is a beast and is designed for an ’05-’07 truck. It fit on my ’03 Excursion with some modifications and for a year I drove with the ’03 grille. As part of this project I will replace the grille and, due to a happy accident, I am also replacing the headlight support as my modified one was damaged due to a son bumping into it and breaking at a weak point where I may have taken off too much material.

So, to start off the project, I drained the radiator, disconnected and drained the winch and power steering system and took off the grille.



Below is a link to the footage. It’s a bit rough but things will improve by the time you get to where the engine is removed.

 

Subscribing. I'm glad to see you are documenting your project. I just dug into mine and tore stuff apart and took a few pictures at milestones like engine out, etc.

It is really not a bad project. Worst part is disconnecting the torque converter nuts unless you use the access window on the driver side above the oil pan. I've had to disconnect them a few times. 2 transmission swaps and an engine swap

Make sure you pull the up-pipes, the engine will NOT come out with them on. Ask me how I know.

I "properly evacuated and recovered the A/C refrigerant" and then didn't have to worry about that piece. Set the power steering pump aside. After that it just comes right out. The 6.0 is really not bad to work on!

Make sure you have your flex plate aligned with the converter studs otherwise you get to pull that out again and line them up. Ask me how I know.

 

Very nice! Subscribed

 

It's been awhile since the last update, just thought I'd catch you guys up.

I left off with pulling the bumper and gaining access to the engine through the core support.

I then turned my attention to the turbo. As most '03, removing it was not a pleasant first-time experience. I'm not looking forward to reinstalling it.

I removed both batteries and my on-board battery charger. and I removed the AC condenser, intercooler, and radiator. From there I had easy access to the fan. I bought a special tool but it was the wrong size so I used a large crescent wrench to turn the fan clutch nut while using a large philipshead and placed it one of the holes as back up. With just a little pressure, the fan was off.

From there, I moved on to the AC and power steering pumps. They were both easy to remove. As I was replacing the power steering pump, I completely removed it but one could easily just place it to the side for the engine removal. The AC was a little more difficult to reach but I set it to the side with ease. I'm not planning on pumping it down and hope I can avoid having to recharge it all together.

One of the things I learned was that you should take photos of the routing of the wiring harness. Take several photos because you'll need them. Anyone have some tips or tricks about wiring harness routing?

The rest was about disassembling the FICM, Intake manifold, and Upper Oil Cooler Assembly then I turned my attention to the dreaded Y-Pipe.

That job wasn't too bad. I soaked the nuts and bolts every day since day one of the project to make it as easy as possible. The hardest part was getting the 10mm wrench to stay in place because after soaking, the 13mm nuts came right off. After removing the Y-Pipe, the thought of removing the engine became much more real.

At this point of the project, I was focused on removing the torque converter bolts, connecting the hoist, removing the engine mounts, removing the bell housing bolts and then separating the engine from the transmission in preparation of lifting it out of the truck.


Removing the Torque Converter Bolts:
To reach the Torque Converter Bolts I removed the rubber cap on the drivers side and then used a 24" and 10" 3/8" extension. It's best to have a friend turn the engine over with a socket and breaker bar on the balancer/dampener while you look for one of the 6 nuts to appear in the access window.

The issue I first came upon was that it's difficult to know if you have the socket firmly seated with such a long extension and right off the bat I nearly stripped the first nut. Concered I just made the job more difficult, we moved on to the other nuts but this time I make the alignment as straight as possible and used some steady pushing pressure on the socket to try to make sure it was seated well. These nuts did not break too easy and when they it was a real risk for a knuckle buster. After successfully removing all but the stripped nut it was time to try again.

This time I took care in trying to make sure the socket had as much purchase on what I had hoped was the remaining part of a non-rounded nut and used a hammer to gently as possible drive the socket on the nut. Then, with a little luck the nut broke free. When we removed it, we saw just how close it came to being fully stripped. Immediately I ordered new Torque Converter nuts and joke that I was going to make a necklace from the almost stripped nut.

Engine Mounts:
We when loosened the engine mount bolts on the frame side. For some reason I thought there were only 2 per side but as we tried to lift the engine out later, we found that someone snuck in a 3rd bolt per side while we were not looking. Lesson learned? Make sure you remove all the frame side engine bolts for your model of truck.

Bell Housing Bolts and Engine Separation:
Removing the Bell housing bolts didn't go as smooth as I thought it would as well. There was one that we needed to get from up top. If I remember right, there are 9 in total.

Wit that, it was time to lift the engine up a bit, place a 2x4 under the front side of the oil pan and work to separate the engine form the transmission and that's where we ran into a real snag. For some reason the driver side didn't want to separate. We tried several things but it just wouldn't let go. Finally, after over an hour, I used a chisel, putty knife and a pair of screw drivers and went to carefully widen the gap we did have on the passenger side and bottom working my way up the drivers side and finally it separated. Turns out the driver side dowel was corroded a bit and had a good bite on the rear cover.

Now was the time to lift the engine out. That was, of course, when we discovered the 3rd frame side engine mount bolt. Once that was removed, the engine came lifted easy but it became clear we needed to remove the engine side of the engine mounts and that eye hook on the passenger side rocker box kept snagging (I'm deleting that for the install!). With a bit a twisting and turning though, we got the engine out!

It felt great to get to this point. We thought we had time lapse and video footage of the whole operation but alas we have only part of it for you to see below.

 

Check out my rebuild thread and a few others on here and you will see engine harness routing.
good work!

 

I never published the engine-out work. I agree the eyelet is not going back!

This might help someone. For those who work alone like me, here is how I dealt with the TC nut issue.

 

I used an LED light with a magnetic base, a long 1/2” extension with a 14mm deep well socket taped to it. Rotate the crank with a 1/2” breaker bar and socket on one of the harmonic balancer bolts and line up the TC stud with the access hole and remove/install the nut. It’s not that difficult. Also I will mention thaf those nuts are a one time use item. Look at the design and you will notice they are oblong. I reused mine the first time and they were still tight when I removed them 5200 miles later. The second time I bought new ones from White Bear Lake/Tousley Ford.

 

I couldn't get the eye hook off the backside rocker box so I did this instead. I'll be doing something similar for the front side as one of the sensors is bolted on.

 

The allen bolts on mine rounded out too so I drilled them out with about 8 different sized bits.

 

Not installing the rear or bolts at all.

 

I'll get back to the updates in order but I just wanted to show I just installed the TamerX fuel crossover and the DFuser ICP relocation kit installed.

 

For the Tamer-X kit, I added this as a protective sheathing to not only protect the line from heat and abrasion but to also protect anything else it may rub on. It slid over perfectly. .

 

Looking good.