I am pulling just the engine for now. Rod knock!! I am about ready to pull it out, actually I am down to one bolt left to remove I think. The third starter bolt. I have the bottom two out and I am having no luck what so ever getting the the top bolt. Any pointers or tips you guys/girls can give me on getting to that 3rd bolt??
Do I really need to pull the starter out before I pull the engine or can I work that puppie out around the starter?? In the past on other cars and trucks I did remove the starter before pulling the engine.
Thanks for the help and stay tuned for bottom end pics coming soon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1yXmgM3rJw
my rod knock vid

 

Pretty sure it needs to come off. If you have a pivoting universal and a long extension it makes it a lot easier

 

You need a minimum of 24" worth of extensions, a swivel socket and good feelings in your finger. Try and get your arm over the exhaust pipe and reach out until you feel random square sticking up from the bell housing, on the other side of that is the bolt. Feed the extensions and socket up onto there and hope to god it doesn't come off. I recommend taping the swivel part of the socket to make it a bit stiffer. It's a real pain in the butt to get off but it that should do it.

 

Well I did get that last bolt. The bolts are at 6, 9 and 12 o'clock positions. The 6 o'clock is the easy one. The 9 o'clock you can get with a long extension. The 12 o'clock position bolt cannot be had with long extensions or swivels. I used a socket and a short extension. Total length of socket and extention was 6.5 inches.

I was ready to pull the engine out with my brand new 2 ton hoist and of course the cheap POS fell apart on me. Strike two will be today after werk.

 

That right there makes it time for a beer break!

 

It is out, I didn't have time to rip it down today tho. How can I add some more power to this thing when I put it back together?

 

Well you had much better luck than I did. I'm glad you got it out. How much do you wanna spend? If you're keeping it stock then why not port and polish the heads and intake?

 

I have a pretty small budgit but I do have some time, so I can can save up if something strikes me right. I'm sure I will need a crank or have this one turned and some connecting rods along with bearings. I will check into what cams are available and see about porting the heads. I'm not looking for tons more power but a little extra can't hurt as long as it doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

 

And you can always learn how to do it yourself

 

Does anyone have any suggestions on rotating assemblies? Where to get them from, which ones are good and which ones are trash... If I go with a 5.0 stroker kit will I need better heads or a different intake? What else would I need to run this kit besides crank bearings? http://www.modmaxracing.com/product_p/99025150.htm

 

Well I got it torn down last night. pics later. The bores still look to be in great shape I can still see the marks from the hone job. At the least the crank needs to be turned or replaced. I will have to check the connecting rod but my guess is I will need at least one of those too. A few of the other rod bearings showed some scoring but nothing to bad. The bearings on the bad rod were actually on top of each other never seen that before. lol

 

spun bearing. My first car - a (used) 68 Olds 442 spun a bearing after about 6 months..

 

 

a quick vid

 

Thanks for the pics. Nice to see one "opened up." That socket extension in your cam housing may have been the cause of the knock sound

 

Yep - that's what my bearing looked like. Knocked with every stroke.

IIRC I didn't have to buy a new crank. They turned it and I got bearings .010 over.

 

yep that is probably what I will have done. I am just a little worried about the cams and bearings up there.

 

I took the crank and one connecting rod to the shop yesterday. 130 to turn the crank and 20 to fix up the rod another 90 or so for the bearings. I got a free gaskit kit from a friend. Then I need to find a timing kit I think a stock set will do tho hopefully for a few less than 300 bucks. http://www.modmaxracing.com/product_p/tfs51800500.htm
Also pulled one of the caps off the cam it looked a little ruff under there. I will have to mic it out.

 

ok a couple of questions.
What will I gain if I change pistons to increase compression? Say from 9:1 up to 10:1 or even 10.5:1
What are some things I can do now to improve performance? Better heads?? Different cams? Which ones and what will they do for me?
Should I replace my timing chains and gears? If I stay stock should a replace my rings before I put it back together?
The engine has 65k on it.

 

Depends if your gonna boost your car or not. Mine is N/A and it has 11 to 1 compression. Generally the higher the compression. The higher the HP. But if you have plans of boosting I would stay at 9 to 1 to stay away from detonation problems.