Alright, it is time for me to get a thread going on this. For those that don't know, I sucked water into my engine while playing around and it went capoooow. I have since been looking for engines around Alaska and believe I may have found one and the seller is willing to deliver it to me. For those that don't know, I live and work in a tiny little town of 800 people about 1.5 hours away from Wasilla, AK. (No I can't see Russia, and I don't want to see Palin.) My point is that I am trying to get every thing ready because it will quite hard for me to just run and grab something if I forgot it.

Right now the truck is literally parked on the side of the road near our local park and this is where I intend to do the swap. I haven't done a engine swap on a truck before but I have several engine swaps under my belt. I figure I would use this thread to start ironing out any problems that you guys can point out for me.

I figure I will spend a day or two before the engine delivery taking the old one out and using the time to remove what ever parts I need to swap over. New engine is out of a 97. Truck was a roll over and according to the guy that just picked it up said it fired up nicely and while it did smoke he assumed it was from the roll over. He said the smoke went away after a short while.


Will my truck need to be up on ramps for this or can it be done just sitting as is?

Easier to pull engine and tranny out or just the engine? (I have an auto)

Am I going to have a insanely tough time swapping the manifolds over? ( I envision a nightmare for some reason)

What will I need to be swapping over to the new engine from my 01? Exhaust and intake manifolds? Injectors, HPOP, and blocking off the old mechanical fuel pump holes? Anyone got any pictures of the what I will be looking for?

Am I going to need any special tools? I am going to buy a torque wrench next week.

What all do I need to remove from the truck cosmetically to give me enough room for this? Grill, and fender flares?

Any tricks to getting the engine out? Once tranny is loose and all the harnesses are unplugged and set aside, can I literally just undo the engine mounts and tadah? Easy to type I know, but I realize what this will entail.

What sort of prep should I do on the engine while it is out? What about before turning her over for the first time? I will be putting fresh oil in obviously but what other things can I do? I will be throwing on a new fuel and oil filter as well.

Sorry for all the questions, figured I would get a thread going with as many questions as I could figure out so that I can try to envision and prepare for this swap. Ideally I will take the engine out and set it in the bed of my own truck about a day or two before the new one arrives so that I can literally drop the next one in the moment it arrives.

Thanks for everyone help in looking for engines and coming up with ideas!

Alex

 

Are the treehuggers gonna let you get away with that?
Dont you dare let a drop of anything hit the ground.

Make sure you get yourself several West Virginia creepers (cardboard) to crawl around on the ground with, it'll be easier on the back. Probably need a floor jack to hold up the trans while pulling the engine. I hope that its on asphault cause you'll never get the hoist to roll if not. Take lots of pics in case you forget where something goes.

 

I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't have a tarp and drain pans to catch everything. And no it is not a cement road either. Very compact dirt with some gravel. I will have a team of beer drinking people on call when it is time to push the hoist around.

I fear this project with every bone but if I can pull it off my life will be complete again.

 

When Cory(Ziggy) did his, he used rachet straps from frame to frame to hold the trans up while the engine was being pulled out. It worked very well

 

All I can say is Dam the bad luck Alex. I hope it goes well or you. Cant you get your beer drinking buddies to pull you some where else to do this?

 

See quote above and replies in red.

 

I've found it a little easier to set both engines side by side before you start swapping cause that takes a lot of the guess work out of it. But since you are trying to get a head start, take pics. I would think the hardest part would be getting the downpipe out and the torque converter bolts out. If your engine hydralocked from the water pull the injectors so you can turn it over to remove the TC bolts. anything that you are switching over from the 01, make sure you have new gaskets or o-rings for it. It would be a good time to do the thermostat, water pump, oil pan (rust?), cps, rear main, switch to ELC coolant. what about the freon? are you gonna vent it? From pics I've seen, looks like everything on the front of the truck has to come off to include the bumper and headlights.

 

I can tell you right now you're gonna be F'ed if you start doing it there on the side of the road (haha!) and you get to the point where you need something you dont have, IE a solid working surface for the hoist, an engine hoist, an air compressor with tools, a suitable shop to work in, etc. My advice is haul or take it somewhere you can work on it under a roof with the tools you need

 

need freeze plug in valley for mechanic fuel pump hole.

 

What he said.^^^^^^^

 

................

 

I'm going with Mike and Kris on this one. If you've got enough beer drinkin buddies to help, then one of them's surely got a pickup to pull you into town!?!?!

I think this plan to do it on the side of the road is a trainwreck waiting to happen. The "earth muffins" are going to be all over you if ONE spec of something gets into the atmosphere or no the ground.

We're talking about the heart of your beast here so don't screw around and make sure it's done right. Otherwise your truck will still be setting on the side of the road with one bad motor in pieces and a bent up cherry picker and tipped over motor next to it. These motors are very heavy and it's taxing on a cherry picker to lift one and roll around even on a nice flat concrete surface. Packed road or not, you hang 1000 lbs out there on those little wheels of the picker and it's going to sink!!

This is what you've got to take out of the way to get the motor out. Just unbolt the a/c compressor from the bracket and using a heavy blanket over the fender, put the compressor in the battery tray with the condensor over the fender. That way you don't have to break the connection and loose all your freon.

 

Buy new plenums, don't try and reuse your old ones. They are cheap and no big deal to ship.

 

I'm all over everyone's suggestion to take it somewhere. I'm installing a long block in my 99. These guys have covered a lot. I have a website that I'll plug just for the pictures to give you an idea. http://www.technicalmercenary.com My long block without all the ancilleraries was like 827lbs shipping weight according to the freight company. That makes 1000lbs pretty likely for a dressed engine. I didn't have enough hard surface for a hoist, so I used quite a few bags of cold patch asphault to make one, and then still used lumber under the casters in hard areas. These things are Heavy. another thing, don't try to use a load leveller, you'll never get it under the front cowl with enough room to lift the engine free of the mounts. Use a big piece of steel bar that can support the weight between your lifting points and lift in the middle with your chains on the outer sides of the lifting points to keep it from sliding off the bar. Little trick I learned here. Seriously, a tow can't be that expensive, get it somewhere hard, even asphault is difficult to roll a hoist on. Smooth concrete is almost a neccessity.

Chad

 

Thank you for all the little tips and pieces of advice. This is exactly what I was hoping for.

I know this idea seems completely crazy to many but my options seem very limited. The truck IS in town but the town is maybe 6 by 3 blocks? No stop lights, couple of stop signs sorta town. Its a town of 800 people!

I agree I need to find a better place but I don't know where I can go. I may put a sign up on the local post office wall about renting a shop or something. I will put further thought and effort into this. Worst comes to worst I just buy the engine next week and leave it under a tarp in the bed until I can relocate the truck. I have AAA so I can get it moved 100 miles in any direction, but how many people do you know let random kids with trucks onto their property to work on the vehicle? If I weren't here, I wouldn't be nearly as screwed as I am. You all make a good point about the weight of a engine lift and the engine.

Just to clear up what happened with the engine. It sucked in water made a pop sounds and kept running. It did so with much vibration and way down on power. Oil was also leaking down on the ground and the engine finally gave out when most of the oil had dripped out while trying to get it to a place to park.

For now I will focus on getting a second engine, you are all right though. I will work on finding a better place for this operation.