Once the engine was out the interesting part of this project was on the horizon. Remember not to discard bearing or gaskets, they can provide important information on what was going on inside your engine.
The first thing I did was to get my engine ready for the engine stand. I seperated the transmission, bellhousing, clutch and flywhell (right). The stand easily attached to the rear of the block and the teardown began. With the engine at a confortable working hieght and a clean bench ready for working I was ready. First I removed brackets and the distributer.
The first surprise was after removing the valve covers. The springs were topped off with a set of Competition Cam full roller rockers, about a $400 investment. Although i may have not like the previous owners overkill cam, the rockers redeemed him. Next was the intake manifold and baffle that rested right below it.
The pushrods had to go. Removing the rockers allows the pushrod to slip right out, if your lucky you may only have to loosen them and move them to the side. Number and record were each pushrod came from. With the pushrods out the lifters are next the need to be numbered and returned to the same spot. With the vavletrain removed the head came off, I couldn't imagine doing this without an impact wrench. On Cast Iron heads loosen sequence make no difference; in contrast, you'll warp your aluminum heads if you pull bolts at random. (Look at the numbered pushrods and lifters behind the heads)
KEEP IT CLEAN! Cover your engine when you finish working, however later on it will be even more important to keep dust and worst of all METAL CHIPS out.
Now I'm ready to dissemble the Short Block (pistons, crank, rods).
This is what i have to work with, I mean look at that oil pan. Everyone hates leaks.
After removing the Oil Pan I could take a look at the rotating assembly. All original except for the pistons, no suprizes. Before you start pulling everything apart make sure everything is marked on its position and order. Mark the rod caps to the rod and the main caps to the block. Use a prick punch or a number punch for marking. Loosen the nuts from the rod caps and use a mallet and a prying tool to fight them off. Slide a small length of fuel hose over the rod bolts to protect your crank journals. Then rotate the crank so the piston reaches TDC (top dead center) this way you'll have less distance to hammer the piston out. Use a long 2 by 2 and hammer to drive the piston out. (if your bore has a ridge you must use a ridge reemer before you pull the pistons out)
I really like these pictures, the engine is right side up however the background is upside down confusing.
Next is the Timing Cover a.k.a Front Cover. Remove the water pump and set it aside. Remove your Harmonic Balancer with a special puller. The reason I don't have pictures of this is due to mysterious reasons, I slipped it of with my hands. Remove the front cover bolts and pry it off. Timing chain or gear drive will now be visible remove them by unbolting the fuel pump drive and using a pry bar to pull them both off at the same time.
Make sure your main caps are marked. Then unbolt them and pull the crank straight out. This is pretty much it you can let the machine shop pull the freeze plugs and clean the oil passages. They will all so remove and install new cam bearings.
Remove the freeze plugs by hammering in one side and pulling them out with pliers.
We loaded the block into the truck and took it to Westside Performance Machine Shop. We found out all we needed was a hone on the cyclinders and the block was already 0.060 over.
Now it time to start ordering the parts that will go into to the new 455 stroker engine. There are rumors of new aluminum heads and maybe even TBI fuel injection.
