May 21, 2001 - Finally Getting Around

Yay.  The engine is now ready to be taken apart.  After scrubbing for 45 minutes at the car wash, the block was finally clean as a whistle!  Actually I lied.  It was still pretty nasty (hey, if you hadn't had a bath or been cleaned in 30 years you would be pretty nasty too!).

Check that out.  Accessories removed, engine still dirty, but not as bad.

All the stuff that was bolted on to the engine gets to sit on the floor so that it doesn't get lost (*snicker*).  Got a carb, EGR setup, TH400 long shaft transmission, plug wires, alternator, power steering pump, and many bolts.  Took about 1.5 hours to get it all off (hey, I am a first timer at this engine rebuilding stuff).

That's a vintage FRAM filter we've got here.  Bet it's worth something... like a fine from the EPA.

Pull the valve covers and we look good.

From here on out the pictures (what little that were taken) turned out bad.  It got really messy and really nasty really quickly (think turning motor upside down to get coolant out and forgetting to drain old oil out - yeah that kind of nasty).  We, I should say Monty as he did the work because I suck and was too slow (he had the whole thing done in 45 minutes where I would probably still be out there trying to get those bolts off), took the intake off and noticed a rather milky substance in the port.  Crap.  Probably just water from sitting and getting a bath the previous week, but better check it now rather than later.  Pull heads.  Cylinders in good shape, just a bunch of carbon build-up and one rust ring from sitting in on cylinder (nothing a little sanding won't clean up).

Here's the finished product, a 455 ready to be cleaned up and assembled.  Going to change the water pump and fuel pump while we are at it, bead blast the intake, replace the oil pan (looks like the car bottomed out a few times), and check the freeze plugs (wouldn't that suck, to have to pull a motor to change a freeze plug that probably could have been done painlessly earlier).  Then paint it.  And it will look cool.  Almost too cool for words.  Once again, major thanks to Monty for letting me use his shop.

The 350 from Blue Bird is for sale for anyone who wants it.  $650 for the whole thing sounds fair as the motor is strong and will just drop into anything.  Drop me a line with offers or send me hate mail about how much of an idiot I am for expecting to get that much for an engine that grows on trees, whatever makes you feel better.

Hopefully next time we can get a nicer looking engine and some more pictures showing details.

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Last updated  May 22nd, 2002 at 1:51AM