Monday, June 6, 2011

The heart of the . . . beast


Saturday, I pulled the engine.  There is a great equipment rental place right close to my house, and they rented me the engine hoist for a very reasonable $35 or so.  I began by cutting out the exhaust, as all of the clamps/bolts were too rusted to wrench on.  And regardless of what I do with the engine, it will be getting dual pipes down the road.

After cutting out the exhaust, it was a simple matter to disconnect the shift and throttle linkage to the engine.  Next, I removed the driveline and unbolted the tranny from the crossmember.



Here you can see one of the engine mounts.  I thought at first I could just undo them, but in the end it was easier to completely remove the mounts.  There are only 3 9/16 bolts on each mount, and you have to get your arm up in the suspension to get a wrench on the inside to turn them out.  Not very difficult at all.



After it's all unbolted, the engine slides right out.  No muss, no fuss.  I do admit, I could've chained it up a little better, but it worked just fine this way.  However, I would definitely chain it up properly for re-installation, as you'd need a lot more careful control to line everything up right.  You don't need much in the way of finesse to yank that sucker out of there.


The real bad thing was all the nasty rusted coolant that poured out of that engine.  I dread to even think of what it looks like on the inside.  But, if I do rebuild the 250 instead of a 4200 Vortec, I'll have the block cleaned up and some machine work done.  Shouldn't be a problem---just takes time and money!


Once it's out, things look pretty empty in there.  One thing about it, the car looks smaller every time I take something off.


Then engine is sitting on some blocks.  I'll cover it, and keep it around while I make up my mind whether or not to do the 4200 Vortec.  I really like the idea of a modern straight six and a four or five-speed automatic in this car.  When I'm finished, I want it to be something you can get up out on the highway and eat up some road.
The only thing is, I haven't ever re-assembled an engine, and I'd like to have a go at it.  I could add fuel injection and electronic ignition to that 250, maybe run it with a Megasquirt.  But I think it would turn more heads with that Vortec under the hood. . .  Gotta keep thinking on that one.
One thing's for sure:  That Powerglide has got to go.  Maybe I'll put it up on KSL.  I know some folks use them in drag cars, and I really hate to throw perfectly good equipment away.

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