Is this stupid?
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Fleet Owner
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 27,300
Likes: 1,059
From: NM
Is this stupid?
Myy son just picked up a new hi-po short block 302 for his Mustang GT. This is a block that "the best shop in town" just fully machined, polished the rods, you name it. A grand worth of work. So to load it on my truck, they screwed an eye bolt into the crank snout, and lifted it up and into the truck!
Maybe it's just me, but that seems like a really lazy-a$$ way to handle a fine piece of machinery! This is a shop that probably turns out 3 or 4 engines a day, and this is the best they can come up with??? If the crank snout wobbles when it's all installed, you can bet I'll be down there in a heartbeat!
Tell me if I'm being overly sensitive here....
Maybe it's just me, but that seems like a really lazy-a$$ way to handle a fine piece of machinery! This is a shop that probably turns out 3 or 4 engines a day, and this is the best they can come up with??? If the crank snout wobbles when it's all installed, you can bet I'll be down there in a heartbeat!
Tell me if I'm being overly sensitive here....
Hotshot
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 15,882
Likes: 88
From: Durham NC
Not with MY engine they wouldn't!
That's why the factory bolts lift tabs to the block. There is a thrust surface on a main bearing that has precision clearances to keep the crank from "walking" in the block. It's not designed to carry the weight of the engine.
Elder User
Joined: Jul 2006
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From: Rural Southern Colorado
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Postmaster
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 4,190
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From: Riverside, So Cal
Ditto. Color me freaked out!!!
The engine rebuilder in my town gave my engine back rolled out on s unbiversal engine cart the supported it by the motor mount lugs and with a sheet metal bracket custom-made to fit the carb bolts on my intake manifold. C of G, exactly. Pick it up...set it down. Sweet! They handled it like a baby. They made sure it was tied down well before they waved goodbye. I think they cared about how it got home.
And I paid $1025.
The engine rebuilder in my town gave my engine back rolled out on s unbiversal engine cart the supported it by the motor mount lugs and with a sheet metal bracket custom-made to fit the carb bolts on my intake manifold. C of G, exactly. Pick it up...set it down. Sweet! They handled it like a baby. They made sure it was tied down well before they waved goodbye. I think they cared about how it got home.
And I paid $1025.
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Thread Starter
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Fleet Owner
Joined: Jul 2004
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From: NM
Fortunately or unfortunately, I wasn't there, my son told me about it. He thought it was a clever way to pick it. I haven't told him what I think about it because he thinks I'm "too fussy".
Randy, if your engine had an intake on it (was assembled), then you got a better deal, this was just a shortblock. Bored/honed, new Motorsport cam, cam bearings, new pistons, line bored and crank polished, balanced, Clevite bearings, decked, and a new timing gear set (Ford Motorsport). My son tells me it was "a grand", hmmmm....
He's got existing Trick Flow heads, intake manifolds, headers, bigger mass air flow, etc. to complete it. Chip off the old block, eh?!
Randy, if your engine had an intake on it (was assembled), then you got a better deal, this was just a shortblock. Bored/honed, new Motorsport cam, cam bearings, new pistons, line bored and crank polished, balanced, Clevite bearings, decked, and a new timing gear set (Ford Motorsport). My son tells me it was "a grand", hmmmm....
He's got existing Trick Flow heads, intake manifolds, headers, bigger mass air flow, etc. to complete it. Chip off the old block, eh?!
Elder User
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 664
Likes: 0
From: Rural Southern Colorado
Originally Posted by ALBUQ F-1
Fortunately or unfortunately, I wasn't there, my son told me about it. He thought it was a clever way to pick it. I haven't told him what I think about it because he thinks I'm "too fussy".
.....
He's got existing Trick Flow heads, intake manifolds, headers, bigger mass air flow, etc. to complete it. Chip off the old block, eh?!
.....
He's got existing Trick Flow heads, intake manifolds, headers, bigger mass air flow, etc. to complete it. Chip off the old block, eh?!
Postmaster
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 4,190
Likes: 2
From: Riverside, So Cal
Yeah, Ross. My engine rebuild was a long block, balanced, etc. They let me have the heads after magnaflux so I could match-port them. Then they finished the top end and gave it back blueprinted. It's a 351C. They do a couple hundred engines a month. They are 8 miles from my house.
I am pretty pleased with the deal.
I am pretty pleased with the deal.
Last edited by Randy Jack; Jul 28, 2006 at 10:00 PM.
Post Fiend
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 7,493
Likes: 7
From: Erie, pa
Originally Posted by imlowr2
I wouldn't recommend this way of lifting an engine either. Apparently, this machine shop uses this method frequently. That's a scary thought!
Lead Driver
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 8,813
Likes: 13
From: Littleton, New Hampshire
Perhaps the folks doing the loading and unloading are not the precision mechanics??? I know that's not an excuse but maybe they have some former Micky Dees hamburger flippers doing the grunt work and need to know about this! 
Vern
Vern