I've got a 98 that I've beat the ever loving dog poo out of for the last year. It had 97K on it when I bought it, and I was told then that I needed a bunch of new gasketry (intake manifold, probably head, and timing chain), but then proceeded to up the ante to 216K miles, all the while pulling loads I shouldn't even be thinking of pulling with the 4.2 5spd. I've been through clutches, etc, whatever. I have to say I'm very impressed with the 4.2. And I've always liked fords. (I could never have gotten away with all this using a bowtie)

The point is, I'm an amateur engine rebuilder (I've built a couple rally cars, but they were cars), and was wondering if anyone had any advice outside the Haynes manual that would assist me in doing some work to my 4.2. Should I take it out or leave it in. If I take it out I'm going to do a full teardown and rebuild on the engine (as long as it's out).

Can I do the head, intake, and timing chain gaskets without pulling it?

My mechanic friend said something about pulling off the front end or the cab itself to get the thing out of there (frankly I wouldn't be surprised what with all this cab forward BS.)...

I guess I'd just like to be reassurred by someone who's done it that it ain't so bad.

Thanks,
Cerberus.

I have a shop crane, plenty of jacks and stands, and consider myself a competent mechanic, I'm just generally lazy, and since Jumbles won't fit in my slim single car garage with winter approaching... I don't think I need to say more. Oh, yeah, and I'm generally broke. So the less NEW parts, the better.

 

Hey Cerberus, We got 5 97's at the shop where I work, and We have successfully replaced intake, timing cover and head gaskets without pulling the engine. We have also pulled complete engines with out dissasembly of the cab (other than hood removal). It is kinda tight though.

tim

 

Thanks, Tim. I've got two rally cars in the shop right now, both sans engines, and the wife doesn't want me starting another project that will uglify the homestead. Hearing that it can be done in situ gives me a lot of hope.

Thanks,
Cerberus.

 

As of yesterday morning, Jumbles is back on the road. Somewhere in the process I developed a fuel leak, which I plan on fixing tonight.

Yeah, I took her for a shakedown run last thursday, when I finally got everything put back together (It wouldn't have taken more than two days, but I got sick), and the whole truck ran like dog-poo. Knocked like crazy, and no real amount of go, not to mention the shakin'.... Got her home, put he up on the rack, and hey, I forgot to put the #1 spark plug back in all the way. That explains the knocking... Hey, I also forgot to hook up #6 fuel injector, hell's bells. Got that all hooked up last night, and VROOOM, the thing purrs like a newborn kitten.

Thanks again, Tim, knowing that there was someone out there who'd done it without all the rigamarole kept me focusing on the prize.

~Cerberus.

 

Thanks for the update.
You know, somehow I managed to miss your initial post back on 9-5-06. I generally check FTE every day. Somehow I missed this one.
Either way, I couldn't have offer a lot of help as I have never been that deep into a 4.2 project.

I am glad it worked out good for you.

In general, did you find it to be a fairly straightforwad project, or was it more of a pain in the butt than you had expected?
What all did you replace while you had it down?
Did you go back with all stock internals?

Thanks again for the update.

 

I've found I'd rather have a couple of teeth drilled, but in comparison to the rally car building I do in the garage, this was not a really bad deal. A LOT of parts. All references to right or left were from my POV, which was in front of the truck with my head jammed firmly under the hood.

Pulled the intake (one bolt, two wire connectors, one tube for PCV.)

Pulled the Throttle cable assembly (two bolts, two quck cable disconnects, one bolt for cable hanger, right side)

Pulled the coil pack (6 plug wires, 3 harness wires, 3 mounting bolts)

Unbolted the solenoid rack from the left side (two bolts, then two studs) and pushed it out of the way.

Unhooked the PCV valve and coolant thermo sensor from the back left of the plenum, I just disconnected at the tees in the heaterhosen, and the PCV. (don't forget to hook that back up, boy does she smoke!!)

Pull the plenum (12 mounting bolts, three more hoses, vaccum hose by solenoid rack, hose right under throttle body, and hose going to brake booster area.)

Could immediately see coolant pooled in cylinder one intakes. Oh. That makes life easier. Probably not a head gasket. Still no coolant in the oil, so probably doesn't need the timing chain gasket either... Wheeew.)

Tried to remove intake manifold, removed six bolts. Failed. Consulted haynes manual. Couln't locate other 8 bolts. Had a beer.

Bought a shop vac. Got an old prying screwdriver and started flaking mud off the intake manifold into the intake of the shop vac. Super. 6 more bolts.

**A note to all of you who have haynes manuals. IT LIES about the locations of the last two bolts. Unless you have a quadrouple jointed socket thingy (which I haven't found a small enough one to fit anyways) you NEED to remove the air motors that actuate the secondary intake runner butterflies. The man says they're accessible, they aren't.**

Swore a lot due to the preceeding information. Consulted another beer. Called my mechanic. He laughed at me. Upped the beer count to three.

Removed the air motors (1 rod retaining clip, 1 harness wire, 1 vacuum line, 2 bolts. Each.)

Finally decided to remove fuel rails. (really should have thought of that earlier.) (four bolts. Two quick disconnect thingies - hey, these are stuck... Stupid sons of.... Don't bother disconnecting fuel lines, just clamp the fuel rail to the defroster vents so it's out of the way.)

**Special notice. For those of you who haven't cleaned your injectors, now would be a good time to pull the little green hats off the end, the end seals, and the little black spacer o-ring, and wash then in a parts treating bath, being mindful of the electrical connections. I stood mine up in a small tray with a quarter inch of fuel injector cleaner cut 50/50 with gasoline. Let soak an hour. BOY WILL THOSE BABIES GO!!**

Remove the intake manifold (two more bolts at this point, now made easily accessible by the removal of the air motor.

Use the shop vac to clean up the area, then a damp rag soaked in solvents (gasoline or kerosene work great), and make the top of the engine shine. It's VERY IMPORTANT not to drop any dirt or slime into the engine at this point. Oh, and don't clean in the engine valley (where the lifter rods are), that needs to be lubed, unless you dropped dirt in there, that's gotta go.

By now you'll be able to see the mangled portion of your lower intake manifold gasket, which makes it very obvious where the failure is.

Reassembly is the reverse of disassembly, but with a lot more beer. By now your knees will hurt from kneeling on the upper radiator mount, and your back will be out from leaning over into the engine bay to get to all this stuff. Those who can still feel their fingers are the lucky ones.

I'm an average mechanic, and I figure the process noted above would take about two to three hours now that I know what I'm doing. Maybe less.

If I ever get the pictures off my digital camera, I'll host them and detail this further.

Hope it helps, Good luck to all you backyard mechs!

~Cerberus

 

Hey Ceberus, YOU ARE THE MAN! Congrats on the successful job. Bet you are just giggleing about the shop labor you saved. xtra money for the rally car! Happy motoring

tc