Gregski

So I decided to transfer the old 289 from the orange engine crane onto the [Ford] blue engine "crate". I bought this beauty on Amazon when it was on sale for $29 bucks plus free shipping. And I gotta tell you it sucks. It must have been built on the Wednesday afternoon right before Thanksgiving if you know what I mean. It is held together with grade zero bolts unless there is something weaker, LOL, and the bolt holes do not align with the engine block at all. But hey it was either use it or toss it, and I for just rolling the engine around the garage it will do.

I know this is not the engine stand for rebuilding an engine, I plan on getting one of them too, cause I would like to flip this thing upside down some day and remove the crank.

Note the BFH in the lower left hand corner, I used it to [ahem] align the bolt holes as much as I could.

Gregski

Why am I doing this, why don't I just throw this engine in the ocean. I am going to be swapping it out for my 302 after all. Well because I am learning. And if you would like to learn about engines, I encourage you to find a free or a cheap engine on Craigslist and tear in to it, it is so much fun! Yes you do learn a ton from disassembly.

Ok I think I did this backwards, I think if I removed the 3 small bolts first I could have removed the pulley and then focused on the one big 15/16ths bolt that only holds the harmonic balancer, oh well.

Note: The smart use of a wooden stick to keep the crank from turning whilst we loosen the pulley bolt, brilliant I tell ya, brilliant.

66 tang

this is pretty cool, i wish i was as organized and patient, although i like a big mix of tools on the floor

Gregski

thanks bud, and I'm just faking it, behind the scenes the place is a mess, LOL

Gregski

In order to get that cam out I have to remove the timing cover, in order to remove the timing cover I have to get the harmonic balancer [ahem] "Damper" as Ford calls it off.

Now I joked about being a two bolt mechanic before, and stated that the intricacy of the repair can be directly correlated to the bolt count, well here's something that trumps that. If and when you graduate to using specialty tools, that is a whole new level. And in this case we will be using (not a one piece, not a two piece, but a 46 piece) puller. Ok we don't need all those pieces but we do need this specialty tool to slide the balancer off the keyed shaft...

CAUTION: One of the holes on the balancer that you screw the puller into bottoms out due to the weight behind it, so you can't screw that bolt in as far as the other two, this is important, because you want all the bolts in the same way so the puller is level and pulls the balancer straight off and doesn't **** it to one side. [I can say **** but i can't say **** s h i t - WTF?] LOL

Gregski

second verse, same as the first, but a whole lot louder and a whole lot worst - LOL

just wrenchin' along

Gregski

OK, first of all I am one of those people who can stare at things and not see anything or read about stuff and not learn anything, but you get me to do something hands on and it's embedded in my head for eternity [or at least 'till the next Bachelor party, LOL].

So calling this intricate piece a "Timing Cover" is like calling Michael Jordan a "Good Dribbler". By the way I count 13 bolts, or at least bolt holes, lol.

I mean this thing does a lot. It holds the dip stick (hey I didn't realize that until I almost poked my eye out when it all came off as one piece). It gives the fuel pump a place to attach to (and I could have sworn it bolted up to the block), it houses the hockey puck looking mechanism on the cam sprocket that actually operates the fuel pump and pumps the gasoline. It gives the water pump a place to attach to. Why wedge this aluminum piece with precious oily bits between the block and the water pump full of coolant (ie the enemy of all oily bits) I don't understand. And oh by the way it covers the "timing" components, ie crank and cam sprockets/gears and chain LOL. So I think it should be called "I do a bunch of things as well as cover the timing in my spare time" pun intended.

So without further ado... AND NOW, from the university of North Carolina at point guard, number mber er twenty twenty ty three hree ee MICHAEL JORDAN (or equivalent in this case)

Gregski

I removed the fuel pump drive doughnut thing, so that I could remove the cam sprocket in order to get to the thrust plate.

All these steps make me think about those people to whom everything is easy. I hate them! You know the type that are across town when you call them and say, hey man the thing's about to start where are you? And they say I'll be there in 10 minutes, than they show up 45 minutes later.

The type that say, oh swapping the cam is easy it's like 2 hours and you can do it without removing the engine out of the car. Well, those guys either A. never replaced a cam in their lives - OR- 2. they have but it took them 2 days and they did a half @ss job and had a couple parts left over, can you think of anybody you know like that... [I'll wait] LOL

Gregski

OK, finally got the cam out, how long did that take, two hours? LOL

First thing I noticed is how heavy that thing is. I wanted to weigh it but I loaned my digital scale to some gremlins. I'm guessing it's about 12 pounds.

OK, so could someone take a look at the cam close up and tell me if those lobes look worn, they have darker spots on the corners, and I have no idea what that means if anything.