Engine is Back Together !

Here is a picture of the current state of the motor. All assembled and Ford Blue. It is a huge difference from how it started. All new parts and ready to go. I stayed with the 2 barrel intake and carb, so I need to go thru a rebuild kit for the carb. We put plenty of engine assembly lube on everything because it will sit for a while.


Fresh tins. We blasted the covers and there was still some pits in the valve covers. The oil pan is perfect, to bad it is under the car !! I chemical stripped everything and painted with Ford Blue hi temp engine paint.
Brass freeze plugs and the heads are ready to go on.
All new pistons and rings.

Sheet Metal Starts

Pulled the RH Front apron off today. I wanted to start on a bad panel to get used to the spot weld cutter and chisel. Worked pretty good. Next is to keep cutting the RH loose until I get the frame rail out. I attached some pictures of the front frame of the car. It has a bad spot at the bottom. I am going to blast it and hopefully have metal.

I also finally got a good look at the cowl vents. They are rusted, so I have to pull the front cap off that section. I am not looking forward to that since ther are about 50 spot welds to get the cap off. The work is going to get worse before it gets better!!

Progress Update

So I haven't posted in a while and decided to give a little update. I now have the car sheet metal only from the front bumper to the back seat. Everything is out of the dash and engine bay. Here are a couple of pictures, but they don't show much. Since the pics, all of the dash parts are out. The windshield is also gone, we pulled it last night and luckily it is still in one piece. I am ready to start stripping and blasting paint on the front to find all of the rust. The main work is foing to be replacing the RH front frame rail and the LH kick panel. I need to do some more research on if the LH cowl vent leaks, but it looks like the water came from the washer fluid pump that is over there. I need to pour water in the cowls to make sure though.

The engine is ready to go back together. We bored the block .030" and it looks good. The heads have been surface ground and the seats cleaned up. Looks like we had three burnt exhaust valves, worn valve springs, and worn rocker arms. All of these are going back new. It also looks like the engine was rebuilt sometime early, maybe in its warranty life. There are 2 number 1 connecting rods. All of the parts are FOMOCO, so we think maybe the rebuild was done at the dealer. With the new bore and heavier cam, the engine will probably go from the old 195 hp, (130-150 in its current state) to somewhere around 210-220hp. I am thinking about going to a 4 barrel carb and intake manifold. That would make this thing scream, but I don't think it is in the budget right now, maybe later.

I am starting to order parts so that I can have the engine completely ready to drop in the hole when its ready. I am going with all new "reliability" parts. New starter, starter solenoid, voltage regulator, alternator, pertronix solid state ignition, water pump, plug wires and distributor, radiator hoses, and a carb rebuild kit. That is a lot of cash in a small area, but I think it is worth it to make sure when we want to go for a ride, all that is involved is finding the keys.

Engine Tear Down

Tore down the engine yesterday. A friend of mine has a shop, and the expertise, so it was good to have him help me tear it down. That was the first time I had been that deep into one. The diagnosis:

Block: some wear, but no issues otherwise.
Heads: One head looks fine, but the other may need some work. Several valves are seated deeper than the others.
Valves: 3 Valves have worn tops, which may also need rocker arms.
Cam: Looks ok, not too much wear.
Crank: Looks ok, will need to mic in order to determine wear.
Crank Bearings: Look ok, we starting to wear off top coating.
Rod Bearings: Same a Crank bearings.
Rod Seats: Look ok, will need to check for round and open up if they are egg shaped.
Pistons / Rings: Look ok.

Overall the engine showed it's wear of 180,000 miles. There was nothing terribly wrong with it, however it was time re-build based on the wear on the bearings. It is much easier to rebuild an engine that is worn rather than one that is broken. The timing chain was wore out, but that is expected. We are going to put in the following kit:

Master Rebuild Kit with:

Pistions
Rings
Cam Shaft
Cam Bearings
Rod Bearings
Crank Bearings
Seals
Freeze Plugs - Upgrade to stainless or brass
Oil Pump
Double Row Timing Chain / Sprockets

Then we are adding:

Harmonic Balancer
Oil Pump Shaft
Rocker Arms and Valves we need
Valve Seats we may need

Engine Parts Coming Off

Here are a few pics of the engine being torn down. I got it mounted on an engine stand. The water pump, distributor, wiring, and fuel pump are off. So far it looks pretty good, I am going to need a new fly wheel due to 40 years of starting. There were also some weird spacers and washers on the starter. Next is pull the thermostat housing, main pulley, and carb.

Engine's Out - Now What?

Well. Its out. This went really smooth with the help of a lift and load balancer. Now that I have the engine out, there are a couple of things left on the firewall and the front is stripped to the metal. Now I can send the engine out to be rebuilt and start cutting welds to get that frame rail out. The other major project is to clean up and store all of the parts. My shop is a wreck.

Engine Ready to Come Out

Here is a quick update of recent progress. I have all of the steering and suspension out of the front end. I have the muffler out and the drive shaft removed. I bought an engine lift, so I am ready to pull the running gear. I did splurge for some coil spring compressors as well. I thought there wasn't any pressure on them when the control arms were loose, but it had enough force to fly about 8 feet across the shop. There is a nice glamour shop of my new welder too. It's alsmost ready to do some work.

Work Summary:

Pull Front Suspension - Done - 6/14/2009
Broke Bolt on Sway Bar. Need all new bushings.

Remove Front Brake Lines - Done - 6/14/2009
Broke Line from Master Cylinder to Dist Manifold

Remove Steering Box / Links - Done - 6/14/2009
Need all new bushings / etc

Remove Drive Shaft - Done - 6/16/2009
Needs new U Joints

Remove Drive Shaft Tunnel Brace - Done - 6/16/2009

Remove Muffler - Done - 6/16/2009
Had to Cut in Half to get out of car

Unhook Heater Core Hoses - Done - 6/16/2009