Bout to pull my first motor (STOKED!). I do have some questions. First of all I do not have the $ to overhaul the motor right now. It does run but I have 2 rocker arms that have come loose from the push rods and I had a leaky valve cover gasket (wondering if the twocould be correlated).

My goals:
-Get some hands on experience (the best kind)
-Check the overall condition of the motor (I know nothing of the condition right now)
-Clean and repain the engine bay
-Basic cleaning/ detailing/ maintencance of the motor

I am hoping for some insights as to the do's and don'ts; possible dangers of a newbie taking a running motor apart (with NO expert supervision, just a Haynes restoration guide and the first half of a college education). Some good cleaning products, techniques, equipment (do not want to spend the money to get this profssionally done (I have some common sense and ALOT of patience)

Basically I would like some experts to tell me what I am getting into, or if you feel it necessary, talk me out of doing something stupid. Thanks up front for any advice

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This motor is not old.Its from a pre-fuel injected mustang(early 80s).Take the codes and look the year up to find out what parts to order.Be warned you will have to buy a complete gasket set to do your exploring.The learning could end up costing bigger dollars than you expect but maybe not either.Heck,its fun.The hard part will be figuring out what is not stock and just what to order for new stuff.Try just fixing the valve train before pulling it,take awhile to think about it and research it fully.

 

You don't mention the reason for an overhaul. You said it is a running engine, does it use a lot of oil or is it making noise? If it runs ok and you don't have the bucks for a complete overhaul now I would leave it alone and just fix whatever it needs right now. Have you tried readjusting the rockers and rolled the engine over by hand to be sure the cam lobes aren't wiped or any other valve train problems? If all seems well there and there aren't any other issues you could simply replace whatever gaskets are leaking, clean up the engine and engine bay and put it back in and run it till you have the money to go completely through it. While it was out though I would pull the oil pan and check the rod and main bearings if you're concerned about the condition of the engine. Just my .02 cents worth.