Tag engine rebuild

Hey guys, Ed here. Welcome back to Bullnose Garage. And you may have noticed I’m not posting as much lately as I have been in the recent past, and that’s just because of the time of year that it is. Spring and summer, man, there’s so much going on. I got a huge honeydew list, and, uh, you know, we got a bunch of stuff to go to: birthday parties, Easter stuff, man, it’s crazy. I haven’t had a free weekend in, well, pretty much since I put out my last video, and that’s not going to change anytime soon.

So, uh, I really do want to keep working on stuff. I do plan on it, I just haven’t had time. And you can see right here, the engine is pretty much still in one piece, and that’s like the biggest thing that I want to do, but I haven’t had a chance. So to make it up to you guys, um, I made you this quick little music video. Now I know what you’re going to say: Ed, if you have time to make a music video, you got time to, uh, make a regular video too. Well, no, because this music video was, uh, written and produced completely by AI. So enjoy, um, this completely tongue-in-cheek, over-the-top AI fever dream of a music video.

Just a guy in his truck being judged from afar by thousands of people on YouTube. I’m swapping out my inline six for a 408 stroke, but you’d think I kicked my dog or took a shot at the Pope. Purists crying mortal sin in social circles online, calling me a hacker, whack, and say I’m wasting my time. They say, ‘Boy, you flap your gums way more than you wrench.’ Well, I call that content, not just riding the bench. I film in the garage, do voiceovers in the hall. My kid walked in mid-take, now she’s famous, y’all.

Just so you know, I ain’t building it for you. I’m building it for the dude I was when I was 22, that young broke kid dreaming chrome and steel, watching Dukes of Hazard, saying someday I will. Making content ain’t a walk in the park, all right? I film my edit till well after dark. You hit play once I’ve sat through take 22, so before you judge, remember I ain’t doing it for you.

Got a comment last night said, ‘I ain’t got smarts, but my truck runs fine.’ And the channel buys parts. ‘You’ll ruin that truck,’ they cry from the couch, looking like a judgmental Oscar the Grouch. Half my comments say I’m doing it wrong, and the other half ask why I’m taking so long. But I like the challenge, making sure it’s done right, and I like free parts or cash on the side. I write the scripts, run the site, shoot the vids, fix the trucks, then some joker shows up griping about my AI crutch.

Yeah, I use some AI, so what’s the crime? It don’t wrench the bolts, just saves me time. Son, I’m using AI to help, why is that so wrong? Ain’t nobody got time, hell, I wrote this song. You gripe that I’m slow, then gripe when I get an assist. Maybe gripe less and check something off your own damn list. I torque when I can, but the kids come first. Long days, long nights, flu season’s the worst.

The truck’s been almost done since the 4th of July, but dreams don’t have deadlines, and neither do I. Got a Bronco in the yard, yes, she runs like trash. Truck in the garage, he runs, just not that fast. People say, ‘Man, you ever going to get it done?’ Right after dinner, bath time, and a Bluey rerun.

Just so you know, I ain’t building it for you. I’m building it for the dude I was when I was 22, that young broke kid dreaming chrome and steel, watching Dukes of Hazard, saying, ‘Someday I will.’ So call me slow, call me clueless, or maybe even insane, but I’m making smoking magic for the kid in my brain. And when she roars into life as the dream comes true, you’ll know without question I didn’t build it for you.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to torque a head bolt, find a juice box. Where’d I put that camera? Is this thing on?

was about damn time I got started on this thing right. Today I’m finally getting hands on with the classic piece of Ford V8 history, the 351 Windsor. If you’ve been following this channel for a while, you might recall that, uh, years ago I did a deep dive in 351, uh, Windsor engine. Lots of diagrams, historical tidbits, bunch of stats, uh, all that good stuff. But this time I’ve got the real deal sitting right here in front of me, ready for a tear down. Even better, I’m going to take this mild-mannered Windsor and turn it into a 408 stroker that’ll make some serious power. Howdy folks, Ed here. Welcome back to Bullnose Garage. This is going to be the start of a full series where I take a basic 351 stock Windsor, strip it down to the bare bones, check every single component, and then rebuild it from the ground up. By the end, I’ll have a stroker motor that’s ready to rock in just about any Ford project you can dream up. Mine is going to go in my, uh, ’85 F-150. From turning this block down and inspecting the crank journals to picking the right parts for the rotating assembly and finally firing it up, I’m going to cover all the steps, share all the notes, and almost certainly screw up a few things ’cause I’m no pro and that’s bound to happen. Hello! Now before I start ripping into steel and iron, I want to talk about what makes the 351 Windsor so special. Ford introduced this engine in 1969 and it quickly found a home in everything from Mustangs to trucks. The chassis DNA with a 289 and 302 small blocks, but there are a few key differences. The 351 Windsor is built on a taller deck, which translates into more stroke potential. Basically, the block is a bit beefier all around. It’s got bigger main journals, a stronger bottom end, and enough structural integrity to handle the, uh, the kind of power that I’m aiming for in a stroker build. That’s one of the big reasons enthusiasts love turning the Windsor into a 408 or even beyond. It can handle the extra displacement without acting like, uh, it’s about to explode every time you lay into the gas pedal. So let me get specific on some numbers. The original 351 Windsor typically sports a 4-inch bore and a 3.5-inch stroke. Deck height is in the 9.48 to 9.53-inch range depending on the year, which is noticeably taller than the 8.2 inches you’d see in a 289 or 302. Compression ratios vary, uh, they were all over the map depending on the year and emissions. Early on, you might have seen ratios around 10.7 to 1, while later engines dipped into the 8.0 to 9.0 to 1 range, like this one here. It’s a ’95. As for weight, fully dressed with iron heads and intake, you’re looking at about 500 to 520 lbs, so it’s not exactly a featherweight, uh, but you know, if you’re looking for that, get yourself a 289 if weight savings is your ballpark. Now, if you ever find yourself staring at a Ford small block and wondering whether you got a 351 Windsor, a 302, or a 289, here’s how to tell without playing the guessing game. So first off, casting numbers can give you a clue. They’re over here, uh, underneath on the driver’s side, uh, but they don’t spill it out for you. Take the F4TE 615A block that I have here for example. That C number doesn’t straight up scream 351 Windsor, but it does give us some breadcrumbs. The 6015 part, that’s just Ford’s generic block identifier. It doesn’t tell us the displacement, uh, but the F4TE means that it’s a 1994 truck block. Now that means it’s either a 302 or 351 W. So how do we know for sure? Well, here’s where the physical differences between those two different blocks come in. One of the easiest ways to spot a 351 over a 302 is the deck height. Uh, the 351 is noticeably taller, measuring 9.53 inches compared to the 302’s 8.26. It’s a solid 1.3-inch difference, which spreads the heads further apart and it makes the engine physically larger. Now you can’t, uh, fiddle with it to get it right where 9 and a half is, but yeah, you can see it’s pretty close right there. Uh, now if you turn to the bottom end, uh, Ford gave the 351 Windsor a much beefier foundation compared to the 302. I don’t have this apart so I can’t show you, uh, but one of the quickest tells is the main cap bolts. They’re 1/2-inch bolts on 351 versus the smaller 7/16-inch bolts on a 302. Uh, the extra strength is one of the reasons that the 351 Windsor can handle stroker builds and, uh, big power without turning into a, yeah, pile of metal shavings. I mean, not that the 302 can do that, but 351 is more robust. Uh, speaking of beefy internals, the crankshaft main journal is another great big difference. The 351 Windsor uses a hefty 3-inch main journal compared to the 302’s 2.5 inches. You know, so there you go versus there you go, right? Uh, if you got the crank out, a quick measurement will tell you exactly what you’re working with. One more subtle clue is the oil filter boss, uh, location on 351 Windsor. The oil filter mount sits slightly higher on the block than it does on the 302. Now this is not super easy to spot, especially when the engine is inside of a bay, uh, unless you got them both side by side sitting out. But if you want to look for that, it’s just another piece of the puzzle. Uh, so you know, the next time you’re thinking through a swap met or picking through a junkyard, uh, keep those checks in mind. Uh, now if you’re looking at a small block Ford, uh, installed in an engine bay from the front and trying to decide if it’s a 351 Windsor or just another 302, my go-to way, what I think is the easiest, uh, and it’s a quick way to tell at a glance is to check the area around the distributor mount. Um, I’ll get you a closeup here in a second, but, uh, on a 289 or 302, the pad the distributor mounts, uh, is almost flush with the block. On a 351, there’s almost an extra inch of, uh, material here. Uh, it’s much visibly taller. It’s due to the deck height and the taller deck is what gives the 351 Windsor its extra stroke and displacement. So it’s the quick visual indicator, this deck height here around the distributor, uh, to tell if you’re looking at, uh, a 351 or a 302 if the engine is sitting inside of a, of an engine bay, especially if it’s fully dressed. So, uh, while I got the engine still together, although it won’t be for long, there’s a few other things that, uh, I want to point out here before I start tearing this thing down completely. First off, we’ll take a look at the oil pan. Now I’ll be sure to show you the pickup tube and discuss how it affects oil delivery once I’ve got all this stuff here off. Still so much grime. So another thing I want to show you real quick while the engine’s still together is that I still have the, uh, stock exhaust manifolds on. Now they’re fine for a stock build for the most part, but, uh, you know, they’re definitely not going to be okay for a 408 stroker. Now I’ve left these on here because I didn’t want critters and stuff getting in the open holes while I was sitting outside, but now that it’s in my garage, I can, uh, take those off. I’m not doing that right now, but I am going to show you what I’m replacing them with to give you an idea of the difference. So to do that, let me turn this thing back around. Now this thing is definitely top-heavy, so, uh, and it is a beast, so I got to have a little bit of a cheater bar here to, uh, see if I can get this thing turned around. Here we go. H! All right, so here you can see the, uh, stock exhaust header. Let me, uh, try you down a little bit so you can get a better, a little bit clearer shot. And here is the new one that’s going to go on. These are long tube headers. I got them, uh, actually I got them for free from, uh, DynoX, so they provided those for me. I’ve got a video on these, um, where I’ll show you what these are all about. But yeah, man, that’s going to, that’s going to look pretty sweet and sound pretty sweet. Yeah, we can look forward to getting those on. And lastly, while we’re here and this thing is still together, you can take a look at the stock intake manifold up here. Uh, you know what? Actually, let me get, uh, this plate off the top here and I’ll show you what I’m talking about. All right, now that I’ve got the, uh, plate off the top, we could talk about this, uh, stock intake manifold. Now there’s a couple things going on here, um, that need to be addressed as far as my build is concerned. First, you know, these documents are okay for low-end grunt, um, and stock applications, but for a 408 stroker build, uh, they just don’t flow enough air. So I’ll be definitely looking at some aftermarket intakes for this. And, uh, also because this one is a fuel injected intake, not a carbureted intake, um, I will be swapping this to a carbureted engine. Uh, and you guys may go, oh my God, carbureted engine, why would you ever do that? Fuel injection is so much better and more reliable and all this other kind of stuff that people end up doing. Uh, so a couple things. One, uh, I’ve never messed with carburetors before, and so I don’t have that, that little bit of jadedness that some of the carburetor guys have. Uh, and I need to get that. I really need to, to figure out, I need to internalize why carburetors are so horrible, right? So I want to build my engine with a carburetor. I also really like the old school feel of that, and I like the old school look. So if I do get tired of the carburetor, uh, even though I’ve got a carbureted intake, I’ll just get myself like a sniper EFI or something like that that looks like a carburetor, uh, still gives you that old school look, but you, it will work with the intake that I’ve got, but still gives me the, uh, the modern sort of drivability and reliability of an EFI setup. So that’s my plan there. So once I got everything taken apart, disassembled, I’m going to dedicate an entire episode to walking through each of these parts so I can show you exactly what it does and why it’s important. I’ll lay out the crank, rods, pistons, heads, and anything else that I’ve yanked off this block right here, uh, and I’ll put them on a bench and I’ll give you a crash course on small block Ford anatomy. Honestly, it’s going to help me brush up on my own knowledge too because, you know, there’s nothing like pointing at each component and telling you exactly what it does and figuring out how it all comes together to, uh, keep your mind on track. That’ll be good for me before I, uh, build the new engine too, so we’re going to do that. Uh, I mean, Lord knows I need as much help as I can get. If you’re wondering why I picked a 351 Windsor for a project like this, one, you’re obviously not a subscriber to the channel, and two, let me sum it up. Uh, there’s a ton of them out there, it’s durable, and the aftermarket part support is insane. You know, there’s a lot of options for intakes, exhausts, uh, man, all kinds of different stroker kits and just pretty much whatever you’re looking for. So as I’m going along, I’m also going to chat about the history of the Windsor, uh, ’cause it’s really interesting and that’s part of the fun for me. I really like digging into that stuff. So now here’s the part that I’m going to get yelled at for in the next episode. I’m going to start tearing this thing down. Oh my God, Ed, all you ever do is flap your gums! I know, right? I’ve been waiting on this for four years, but I want to do it right and take it slow, so I’m taking it one episode at a time. Next time, I promise I talk to you about this engine, I will be taking it apart. I’m going to show you exactly how I pull the heads, yank the cam, and see if there’s any hidden damage lurking down into this block, right? I’m going to measure the bores to see how much I need to overbore for my stroker pistons. Now hopefully I’ll get lucky and this thing is basically still stock. I think it is, and if it is, then I should probably only have to go 30 over, but you never know. Maybe I won’t, and that’s part of the adventure. So once I know the status, I’ll pick out a nice stroker kit that matches my goal, something that’ll give me a nice bump in torque and horsepower, get me up to 408, and, uh, you know, something that won’t turn this engine into a ticking time bomb. Excuse me, uh, so that’s the plan and I can’t wait to get my hands dirty. If you love classic small block Fords or just enjoy watching some dude in his garage try not to drop a cylinder.

Head on his foot then, uh, this series is definitely going to be for you. I, I, I, I’m designing this series so that some guy like me, who’s never done this before, can start from episode one and work all the way through. By the end, should know everything they got to know to build the same kind of engine that I’m building here. And that’s, guys, that’s why I’m taking it slow. I know that, uh, you four guys that have built before probably look at this going, oh my gosh, this guy is so slow, it’s like watching molasses go uphill. But you’re probably not who this series is for. But you might find it interesting, so I hope that you do.

So guys, do myself and yourself a favor and make sure that you’re subscribed and have those notifications turned on because next time, I swear to you that you see this engine, I will be tearing it apart to see what’s salvageable and set the stage for the 408 stroker build. Um, it’s going to be a lot of work. It’s going to be a lot of head scratching for me ’cause I’ve never done it before. Um, it’s a big, uh, big task and, uh, I’m sure there’ll be a little bit more than just a little bit of cussing under my breath. Um, but I’m looking forward to it.

You know, let me know if you guys have done a stroker engine yourself and how it went. What was a dream come true or a frustrating odyssey of stripped bolts and missing gaskets? Because it is intimidating for a first timer, uh, but I want to hear about it. If you have any other questions, comments, concerns, gripes, internet ramblings, as always, stick them below. Thanks again for watching and we will see you next time.

She’s rough around the edges but she’s doing fine, tinkering away, getting things to shine. No garage, she’s considered divine. Thanks again for watching, we will see you next time. Thanks again for watching, we will see you next time.

4 years, that’s how long this donor chassis has been rotting in my backyard, mocking me every time I walked past it like it was earning a PhD in Rust and regret. Well, the wait is over. In today’s video, I finally dragged its sorry frame into the garage to kick off this build series from my 351 Windsor into a 408 stroker.

Howdy folks, Ed here. Welcome back to Bullnose Garage, where small block dreams meet backyard ambition. This isn’t just another project; it’s the start of a long-awaited dream. The day kicked off with a caffeine-fueled tow job where my wife and I, armed with determination and questionable life choices, wrestled that chassis into position. Then, with the help of brute strength, an army of munchkins, and my shiny new floor-mounted shackle with a cal along, we hauled it into the garage.

Once it was in, the real work began. I disconnected everything, yanked the engine out with a hoist, and got it set up on a stand. The transmission soared out of there like it had tickets to a circus audition, straight onto a pallet where it belongs. It’s not your everyday procedure, but hey, I’ll take an easy win when I can get one. But here’s my favorite part: with the dust settled, my 4-year-old stepped in to help manhandle the husk of a chassis and get it parked outside. Seeing her take charge of that big frame was a perfect way to cap off the day.

And now, standing here next to the 351, I’m pumped to finally say we’re ready to tear it down and turn it into the 408 stroker that I’ve been dreaming about. This is the first chapter in an epic saga that promises grease, grit, and enough excitement to keep us all on the edge of our creepers. Let’s get started!

Hello! So today, my goal is to get the drive shaft off, drain the transmission fluid, and drain the oil out of the engine so I could prep to move this thing. If I’ve got time, I might change that front wheel too. So this is a two-piece drive shaft. You can see it goes through a mount point there in the middle, back to the pumpkin, and then, of course, up to the transmission. So, uh, back here, I know I just take these 12-point bolts off here, knock her loose, and drop her down. Um, I’m not sure how to get that off of there, and the transmission just, you just yank out of there. So let’s see if I can, uh, get that figured out.

All right, now that that’s dropped down, I’m going to go back here and, uh, take it off the diff. All right, so now I’ll just yank her out of there and get it out of the way, and I’ll figure out how to separate the two parts of the drive shaft later. It does—there we go. Where’s the drain plug in this son? That can’t be it, there can it? I guess we look it up. All right, so learning stuff every day, guys. It turns out that the E4OD transmission here does not have a drain plug on the pan. A common modification that some folks do is to put a drain plug down underneath there. You just drill a hole and pop a plug in. Um, I might do that, but I think that would get—I would get myself pretty messy drilling a hole in the bottom of the thing full of fluid. I guess it takes like, like four gallons of fluid. Holy hell! All right, well, so I gotta figure out how to drain this thing, and I think I’m just going to end up cracking some bolts on the pan down here and, uh, letting some of it drain out that way. You also have to drain the converter, and there’s a plug up here, uh, underneath for that, and so I have to do that. But it’s a much bigger job than I was anticipating for today. Um, and unfortunately, I don’t have a pan big enough, so I’m going to have to go out and get me a much bigger fluid pan underneath this thing because I don’t want all this transmission fluid spilling all over my nice gravel here, even though I’ve already got quite a bit. And, uh, so, uh, that kind of wraps it for today for me. Uh, I’ll be back, but I think I’m going to go ahead and change this tire out real quick first, uh, so I can at least accomplish something.

Well, guys, today is the day. I’ve got the donor chassis moved out from where it’s been sitting for the last 4 years, right in front of the garage. I’m getting ready to pull this thing into the garage. I’m going to pull this engine and this transmission, and I’m going to bring you along for the whole thing. If you’re new here, this is what I call the donor. I call it that because this engine here is going to be pulled, rebuilt, turned into a 408 stroker. It’s a 351 Windsor right now, turned into a 408 stroker and stuck in that truck right over there eventually. The first step is obviously to get it off of this chassis and tear it down, take a look at it, see what’s going on inside, and then get it off to a machine shop to do all that stuff. But before I can do that, I gotta get it off of here, so I’m all prepared for that. My last video, I took all the accessories and stuff off and, uh, did a little bit of calculation to see how much money I made from that stuff, and this time, like I said, we’re pulling it into the garage, and we’re going to start lifting this engine off and getting it on a stand.

So the first thing I’m going to do is use the new system that I just put into my garage with my, uh, garage floor anchor and the hitch mount that I put in there. I got another video on how I did that. You can come along and, by myself, yank this thing into the garage so that we can get a cherry picker in here and start pulling this engine. Once I’ve got it in the garage, I’ll be putting a jack stand underneath the transmission so the transmission will stay where it is. You gotta block that thing up so that when you disconnect the engine, uh, the transmission doesn’t just flop over or bend your frame, bend the crossmember as you pull the engine out. So, uh, I’m going to do that, and then once I’ve got the transmission, uh, blocked up, I’ll go ahead and start, uh, undoing the engine mount bolts and take this sucker off.

All right, kid, ready for this? Yeah! All right, chat it up, attach it up, attat it. I’m attaching it right here. Hey, come here, you want to try this? Yeah, okay. All you do is just go like this, just move it back and forth. Oh, okay, okay, just be careful with it. All the way back, all the way down, all the way, and then back. It’s a bun! It is! You’re moving a huge vehicle! Look at that! Oh boy, it’s not going up! The bun, it will! Oh, hey Dad, look at you! I can’t, I can’t touch that Fortran hair! Okay, look out, girls! Dad, how did you do that? I didn’t know you could do that! I didn’t know that! Holy moly! Yeah, I think that’s far enough. What do you think? That’s good! That’s good! Heh, put them behind the back wheels, okay? And you put yours behind the front wheels, okay? Okay, good job, good job! Okay, this one, put that one in front. Why? Well, that one will keep you from going forward, just in case.

All right, guys, now that I’ve got this truck in the garage, or what’s left of this truck in the garage, it’s time to support the transmission before I pull the engine. Now, I’m sure most of you guys already know this; it was news to me when I first started out in this whole adventure. The front of the transmission is only supported by its connection to the engine, so there’s nothing underneath the transmission here holding it to the frame of the truck. Now, in the back, there is a crossmember here that holds up the transmission, but the front, there’s nothing. So if you pull the engine without supporting the front of the transmission, it’ll bend down and bend your crossmember and do all kinds of crazy stuff, right? So you’ve got to support the front of your transmission. I am just going to use a jack stand for this. Uh, it’s super simple. Everything that I’m doing here is actually really simple because everything is removed, but it’s kind of cool because now it allows you to kind of see everything that’s going on. So, uh, I got my jack stand and kind of figured out the height here, and it is almost at one click the perfect height to support this transmission. All I gotta do is just jack the truck up just a little bit and get that jack stand under there. So I’m going to go ahead and do that. I’m just going to use a bottle jack for this. Now, I don’t have to go up very much because this jack stand clicked at the first clicker in there is actually just about exactly the right height to go into the—so I just got to come up like less than half an inch to get it up there. And there we go! And now lower this down, I should be pretty tight. So for extra support, I’m also putting my bottle jack with a block of wood underneath the transmission pan. Uh, this I’ve never done this before, so I want to make sure I’m not missing anything, that I’m not going to, um, you know, supporting this this way isn’t enough or, uh, that it wobbles or anything when I’m trying to pull the engine off or anything. So I just want to make sure that I’m good and supported here. So that’s what I’m going to do. I’m just going to go ahead and, uh, support the oil pan area as well with a little bit of pressure, and that way I should be good to go.

And so the next thing that I’m going to do is take the bolts out. What? I’ve never done that before either! Yep, there it is, almost ready to go. See, in this way, since I’ve got this tight, if there’s any wiggling or whatever when I disconnect these, that way this will hold it because you don’t want to leave anything to chance when you’re pulling an engine. This is how you move it; you hold on to this and you push it around. Wow! I a try! Okay, so here we are all hooked up. I just want to kind of show you guys how I have this set up. So this is, uh, obviously a plate that I bought that fits the EFI version of the intake for the 351 Windsor. Uh, fits a bunch of different engines, but it does fit this one. And then I bought a load leveler just to make sure that, uh, nothing goes squirrely on me. And I put the load leveler, uh, chain hooks here through the, uh, the plate that I got. And what this is actually going to allow me to do is, is this—you can’t really do it now because it’s pretty tight, but this can actually move back and forth. There we go! And it lets the engine kind of wiggle and sway, um, if I needed to. And these are tight enough that they’re not going to come loose, but, uh, I might tighten them up a little bit more just to make sure they don’t wiggle too loose. But this should, uh, allow the engine a lot of free movement so it’s easier for me to get on my stand. So that’s how I got that set up. I have to disconnect the, uh, engine from the transmission.

I need to sleep! You need to sleep? I need to sleep too, kid! Tired? Yeah! Back later! Okay, bye-bye, stinker! Bye, stinker! All right, now that I’ve got the transmission, uh, properly supported and my engine is also supported, I’m going to go ahead and, uh, disconnect the transmission from the engine. I can’t tell you how much easier this is going to be without the chassis and stuff everywhere. Uh, this is like a cakewalk compared to doing it with, uh, you know, a vehicle with all the stuff on it. But, uh, this is my first time ever doing it, so I’m actually really happy that I have this set up like this, um, so I can kind of, you know, cut my teeth on something much simpler. It also gives me an opportunity to show you guys from a very clear angle exactly how this is going to work. So, uh, here we go! I’m going to go ahead and start unloosening the bolts that, uh, keep this thing attached to the engine. I don’t know if my impact would work. Let me see. It’s not a very powerful impact. Ooh, that’s a lot easier! Thanks! So when you guys watch my videos, you’ll notice that I almost always use hand tools and very rarely use power tools for this kind of stuff. I think one of that’s lack of experience and, uh, also because I don’t really have a lot of great power tools. This is the only impact driver that I’ve got, and it’s not air. Eventually, I’d like to get an air impact, some air tools, but right now all I’ve got is this one. But actually, it seems to be working out pretty well, so I will keep using it. I can’t get out of there, so I got a little overzealous. Instead of taking these bolts out, what I really need to do is get underneath there, um, and take off the inspection plate from the bottom of the transmission so I can get the torque converter unbolted and then take the starter off as well. So I’m going to go ahead and work on that. So let’s see if we can get this starter out of here. He’s already got unplugged there. Only just two bolts to it. I don’t know, I ain’t never done this before! Here, that size, you are half inch. Should probably distract those lines. This is a little easier. I’ll let you know when I pull the engine, okay?

All right, now that those lines are out of the way, makes it a bit easier, and there is the starter out, kind of. All right, well, now that the starter is out of there, uh, I can work on the inspection cover of the transmission. Y’all, all right, damn it! That’s a good way to round off both heads. Ah, this is easier! We’re sa—some time from the start. No, you gotta be lazy! Y la, you bastard! Here, look at that! Ooh, I got one right there!

All right, guys, sorry for the glare coming through my garage door. Uh, I gotta leave it open ’cause the truck won’t fit all the way in, so this is what it is. But here you can see the flex plate that’s, uh, actually attached to the engine on one side and the torque converter on the other. Now, I want to disconnect this from the torque converter so the torque converter stays with the transmission and the flex plate stays with the engine. So that’s, uh, this right here is a flex plate. You can see the teeth here that engage with a starter as it turns, right? And there’s, I believe, there’s four of these nuts on here that I gotta get off, right? There’s one there, and you can see one right there as well. But you really want to get to them from through this inspection cover here. And so what I’m going to do is I’m going to go ahead and take this one here off since it’s available to me, and then you turn the engine over with a breaker bar or, uh, you know, a socket set depending on how tough your engine is to turn. Mine is really easy ’cause it’s disconnected from everything. And, uh, get to where you can get another bolt, and you just turn it until you got all four, and then the flex plate is disconnected from the torque converter, and you should be able to just, uh, yank the transmission off or the engine in my case. Oh, that turns on me, does it? All right, so that means I gotta get something in here to keep this from loov. Gotcha! Come on, man! Oh man, these are a pain! One! All right, now we go! Turn the engine! There we go! Blop! All right, flex plate disconnected!

All right, it is time to undo the engine mount bolts. Let’s see if I can get this done. All right, let’s see if we can break her loose. All right, there’s one! All right, guys, I gotta move you out of the way so you don’t get creamed. See if that was enough. Okay, I think she’d be free. Nope! I’m just getting this plate and wiring harness out of the way to make it easier to move around and pull the stuff when the time comes. Also, I don’t want to crunch any of this stuff, and I’m strapping up the transmission to take off the chassis, so just get it out of the way. No dice! Anybody wants to buy me a pneumatic impact for Christmas? Dear Santa, I’ve been a good boy this year!

All right, here we go! Let’s see if I can pull it loose. I’m not quite out of the mount yet. All right, I’m off the mounts now. See if I can get off the transmission without dropping the transmission on the floor here. Oh, I missed one! Missed one bolt right there! Right, and off it comes! That’s been a long time coming to get that engine off of there, but it is finally free!

All right, now that I got the engine off, I’m going to go ahead and, uh, drop this transmission down so that it rests on top of my jack here, just to give it a place to go until I’m ready to actually take it off and move it somewhere else. All right, transmission secure! Now to mount the engine to the stand. All right, let’s see if my impact will take this flex plate off. Looks like a big old no! Santa, if you’re there, air impact gun! All right, now can I get them on? If you had the right size, Ed, maybe! But who knows where you put the right size ’cause you’re always laying tools all over the damn place and not picking them up and putting them where they should be? Let’s see if I can get my breaker on the front of this thing and keep it from moving. Gotcha! Woo! That’s a tight SOB! Uhhuh! One more! Come on! Gotcha! And that’s the flex plate sorted. The, uh, what’s the plate that sits between the engine and the flex plate called? That plate is called the engine spacer plate, or sometimes just the block plate. It sits between the engine block and the flex plate or flywheel and serves a few key purposes: one, alignment; it helps ensure the starter motor meshes properly with the flex plate’s teeth. Two, protection; it acts as a shield to prevent debris from entering the area around the torque converter or flywheel. Three, spacing; it provides the correct spacing for the torque converter and transmission. You want to keep it in good shape, no dents or warping, since a damaged spacer plate can cause alignment issues with the starter or transmission running as a go.

All right, spacer plate off! All right, boys and girls, I think it’s time to get this thing on the stand. That’s probably about right; we’ll leave it there for now. Now, a good friend of mine, my brother-in-law as a matter of fact, gave me a little tip. He said that the best way to do this is to actually take this mounting plate off of your engine stand and mount it to the engine while it’s on your hoist. That way, it’s much easier to line up to the stand; you just slide it right in. So that’s what I’m going to do. I went to a local hardware store. Unfortunately, my Lowe’s and Home Depot didn’t have this stuff. Your mileage may vary on that count; our Lowe’s here is horrible. Uh, anyway, and I got these bolts to mount the, uh, the mount plate to the engine. These are 7/16 by 3 and 1/2 in. Now, these are grade eight bolts. Um, you don’t need grade eight bolts for this. Uh, there’s not going to be any real, you know, sheer forces or any kind of bumping or wiggling or anything on this while you’re out on the stand; you’re just rotating it around. So it doesn’t need to be super strong. Grade five is probably even overkill, uh, but grade eight’s not that much more expensive, so I went ahead and got that. And I’ve got some washers here just for spacers in case, uh, I don’t go in far enough into here. I’m not exactly sure how deep these are, so we’re going to find out.

All right, guys, so if you’re using a Harbor Freight engine stand like I am, then your configuration is like this: you got the two flat slides on top, the two slanty slides on the bottom. I will get these, uh, put in where they got to go and tightened up here, but, uh, yeah, that’s the configuration you’re looking for. This part may be a challenge. Yeah, unfortunately, my legs aren’t letting me do what I want to do here. That’s going to be hard to get the legs down. O, I almost got it! So how am I going to do this part? I’m going to put that brick under there to keep this from falling down sideways when I put the weight on it. We’ll see how that works. Now let’s take it real slow, okay? One thing at a time here, get that up so I can get this down. Don’t try this at home, kids! Success! I’m on the engine stand!

So here is my janky transmission. B-rich, just some ratchet straps in my leveler. Uh, transmission door near as heavy as the engine. Spot fly 170, and, uh, out myber P just going to lift it up, read it over to the side, then back to chassis out. So, uh, I’m not going to mess with it very much up in the air, so hopefully, I like problem with this. Uh, we’re going to find out ’cause I’m about to unbolt it this thing. Now, this is going to be very significantly tied without the edge of the transmission, so I’m not that worried about manling disconnected. So now that the, uh, transmission’s out and chassis is out of the way, the garage is open up again. I can, uh, move my transmission onto a pallet back here so that I can put it up on Craigslist and give her soul. I for an e-war would be automatic transmission, and even if I get someday, that someday is so far away, but it’s not worth it to be three to store. I can try to—well, I know you can’t move it. Want to see if I can move it? Oh, you think you can move it with me? Yeah, it’s strong! Look at you! Think it’s strong? You’re good! All right, wait for me! Hey, wait up! Push hard! Push hard! Ready? Okay, here! Okay, right there! Okay, okay, to push back! Okay, y push! Push! Run away from me! Oh, look! Are you nice? I’m surprised! Are you really? Yes! K! Yep! I need to hold it! Can I do one? Get get him! I’m going to tell Mom! Okay, you go tell Mom! I’m going this way! Okay, you go that way! And that wraps it up! Got the engine out, got the transmission out, ready to go! Stick around because for the next episode, I’m going to be tearing this thing down, taking stuff off, going through it with a fine-tooth comb, and showing you exactly what everything is, what it does, how the engine works, and what to look for when you’re rebuilding your own. So if you’re interested in that kind of stuff, make sure you like and subscribe and stick around for that because, uh, that’s what’s coming up next! Man, I can’t wait! I can’t wait to start building this thing into a 408 monster that’s going to go in my Bullnose God! That’s a dream I’ve been looking forward to for a long time! Guys, if you’re with me on this journey, if you want to see more of this kind of stuff, like I said, give me a like, give me a subscribe! It really does help me out! If you have any questions, comments, concerns, gripes, internet ramblings, stick them below! Thanks again so much for watching, guys, and we will see you next time! She’s around the edges, but she’s doing fine, tinkering away, getting things to shine! That no garage, she’s considered! Thanks again for watching! We will see you next time! Thanks again for watching! We will see you next time!