Pulling engine for H/C swap

coopdog123

coopdog123

greased lightning
Heads and cam are sitting around and need to go on sometime soon. Is it worth pulling the engine out to do the swap? I really want to so that i can paint it and clean/paint the crossmember and frame rails.

Ive pulled a couple mills from carb vehicles so im not accustomed to all the wiring hoses, etc.

Basicaly, talk me out of it. I really dont want it to turn into a while im at it situation simply because i broke/bent/damged stuff removing it and replacing it.
 
I popped a head gasket and it turned into a two year "while I'm at it" project. Just sayin'!!

As far as the connectors and hoses just take lots of pictures and label everything with tape and a sharpie. I also wrote down notes in a notebook as I went. Just to be sure. Wasn't all that hard.
 
by the time you remove the front cover and heads, you almost have the engine out anyways.
I did it in the truck on the first one, out of the truck on the second and all future ones will be out of the truck.
 
I'd pull it clean it pull the pan check the mains and rods put your heads on stick the cam in it paint and stuff it back in there!!...What cam you putting in it?
 
That's cool at least you know it will have good street manners. I'd definitely pull the engine when you do it that way your not hanging over the fenders of your truck and you can check out the other things
 
mojo racing said:
That's cool at least you know it will have good street manners. I'd definitely pull the engine when you do it that way your not hanging over the fenders of your truck and you can check out the other things
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and from what i understand the stock cam has pretty good turbo characteristics.

Thats the other thing ide like to avoid, killing my knees bending over the fenders for an entire weekend.
 
Another benefit of pulling it is you can more easily seal any leaks it may have. If its never been out of the truck it may need a freeze plug or two and those are much more easily changed on a stand.
 
You can replace the main and rod bearings and bolts (rods will need to be resized for new hardware) while you have it out. The bearings will give it a longer life and the hardware will give the rotating assemble a little more strength.
 
Blurry94 said:
You can replace the main and rod bearings and bolts (rods will need to be resized for new hardware) while you have it out. The bearings will give it a longer life and the hardware will give the rotating assemble a little more strength.
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see, thats that 'while im in there' stuff i was wanting to avoid
 
If it makes you feel better i did it with the motor in the truck and avoided any while i am in there mods. Stock shortblock has over 200k.
 
You could take the front clip off, but there's a lot of while-I'm-in-there going that route too...
 
coopdog123 said:
see, thats that 'while im in there' stuff i was wanting to avoid
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While you have the motor out, you can check the crankshaft end play with a dial indicator to check the wear on the thrust bearing. You can also pull a couple of the main and rod caps off to check bearing health. If everything checks out ok then you can simply re-install and re-torque. One possible sign of a worn thrust bearing is a leaky rear main seal, so it wont hurt to check end play while you have the motor on a stand.

If the end play is too excessive and/or the bearings surfaces are worn then this would be an excellent time to replace those. Main and rod bearings kits are about 35-40 bucks for each set. I think I paid a machine shop 80 bucks the last time I had a set of rods resized for new bolts.
 
And then while its out you might as well throw some better h-beams in and forged pistons lol. Only time my motor will come out is when a dart block goes in!
 
I've done both and the only leave it in there that gave me a problem was my last cam swap in my 79. It leaks oil pretty bad from the pan and I was careful. 1 piece gasket too.
 
The real ticket is to just lift the cab off the truck. It takes less than 30 minutes to have it off and have access to everything. I think we did the last one in 20 minutes. Of course a lift makes this pretty simple.
 
Hey Matt is there a way to get the cab off "easily" without a lift? That may be a very good option for getting at the engine components. Faster than pulling the engine anyway lol.
 
ty.thompson1981 said:
Hey Matt is there a way to get the cab off "easily" without a lift? That may be a very good option for getting at the engine components. Faster than pulling the engine anyway lol.
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From Matt's pic I'm guessing he's a Gen2 guy, hence the pull the cab comment.

Windsor heads are not huge like modular heads, don't pull the cab. Pull the engine :cool:
 
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