OK. so here I am. I have everything stripped off of my 400 in my '78. it looks like its gonna be a tight fit with the headers on. And since the clutch is frozen up too, I think im gonna just leave the bell housing connected to the engine, and disconnect the bell housing from the tranny since some of those bellhousing bolts are hard to get to. Will it work this way? I hope so, because im gonna try!

so, what to unbold first?

motor mounts then bellhousing and tranny?
or bellhousing, tranny, then motor mounts?

and does the starter have to come off? not a big deal to do, just wondering.

thanks

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 29-Jun-02 AT 09:37 AM (EST)]>OK. so here I am. I have everything stripped off of my 400
>in my '78. it looks like its gonna be a tight fit with the
>headers on. And since the clutch is frozen up too, I think
>im gonna just leave the bell housing connected to the
>engine, and disconnect the bell housing from the tranny
>since some of those bellhousing bolts are hard to get to.
>Will it work this way? I hope so, because im gonna try!
>
>so, what to unbold first?
>
> motor mounts then bellhousing and tranny?
>or bellhousing, tranny, then motor mounts?
>
>and does the starter have to come off? not a big deal to do,
>just wondering.
>
>thanks

Yes...the starter needs to come out before you pull it apart. I would unbolt the transmission and place a jack under it and lift it about 1/2 inch. Unbolt the exhaust manifolds (or headers) and unbolt the engine mounts. Remove the fan, radiator, and depending on how you're going to hook the hoist up the carb also. You'll only need to remove the carb if you're going to use a lift plate that bolts to the top of the intake. After that...happy pulling

1978 F-150 flareside. Primitive by todays standards but she was a jaw dropper back then. :-staun

 

Mike B..

When you replaced your rear main seal did you take your pan completely off? I need to replace this seal and am too much of a novice to remove my engine or tranny. I have a 400M too and would love to change my oil pan gasket/rear main seal just by removing the pan...let me know more if you can. If its too big of a job I will take it to the shop and pay way too much, But I cant let my truck drip oil forever...

Thanks,
John T:7

 

John T, it's not that hard but I've got to tell you a couple of disclaimers first. It has to do with the type of rig your motor is in. My motor is in a '79 F-350 4x4 supercab P/U. It has Dana 60 axles front and rear. If your rig is differant you may have more or less clearance than I do. I would think that there should be enough room to get your hands in there and do the work. The other disclaimer is that I'm going off of my memory of about 10 yrs. ago (I don't remember)so here we go.

What I did was drain the engine oil ( needed changing anyways, right?) take all of the pan bolts off, position the pan on front axle and as far foward as possible. You should be able to get at the rear main. I also was able to get at the other mains to loosen them up to help rotate the upper half of seal out and in. Move the pan around as needed. Torque the main bolts ( 95-105 ft/lbs of torque). Wipe out oil pan and slip one end of pan's gasket into pan and then between oil pickup tube and bottom of pan, then position gasket on to pan. That last part is tough to explain in words but I think if you look at it you'll see what to do. If worse comes to worse you could always remove the oil pump and pickup tube, just remember about the oil pump drive shaft needs to go back in when it drops after pump being removed.
After the gasket is in plce and your done playing around inside the oil pan, attach the pan to the block and torque the pan bolts to 7-9 ft/lbs.(it's not that tight, over tightening will actually cause the gasket to be squeezed out of between pan and block and cause a oil leak. Hope this helps. Mike B.

 

Thanks Alot..

My truck is a 4x4 & lifted 4inches so hopefully I should have room. I will try It this weekend. I also have access to my teenage nephew who has little skinny hands incase my hands run into clearance issues. Im not really worried about the oil pan...its the rear main that was scaring me...but sounds simple enough.

With any luck my truck will be leak free and I can park in my drive way again.

Thanks again...I'll let you know if I hit any snags,,

John T
79 F150 4x4
My Daily Hobby Truck

 

PULL THE MOTOR!!!!!! WHEN I REPLACED MY CLUTCH IT TOOK ME AND MY BROTHER-IN-LAW 1 WEEK

 

 

I just realized I never posted the results of my clutch replacement back to this topic. It was suggested to me by Shazam and others that I pull the motor instead of dropping the tranny and I must tell you....THEY ARE RIGHT !! It turned out to be a fairly simple procedure even with just me and a pair of Come-alongs. One tip...
When putting the motor back in place a jack under the transmission and lift it just a bit..it greatly facilitates motor replacement!

Thanks again and again for all the info and support this site offers to us beginners....

 

Thanks for the results!!