Can you believe it? Only one week between updates!

Yesterday was a good day. The engine is in. The actual installation didn’t take all that long, but getting ready certainly did. Nothing is quick, at least not in my garage. I spent the better part of Saturday afternoon getting everything prepped, and got the group together Sunday afternoon for the event. Ted was debating if we needed him (as the fourth). I’m glad he was there. Here’s what I learned and how it all came together.

Fortunately, on Friday I decided to check the header bolts. I went the stage 8 locking bolt route. I had ordered the coarse thread bolts from Summit, based on what it said in the catalog. If I had thought about that for a minute or so, I would have remembered that the studs I pulled from the block were fine thread. Needless to say, the coarse thread bolts didn’t fit. Thank God for Saturday delivery! It was an expensive (in shipping) lesson, but I got the right bolts delivered on time. Next up was getting all the prep work done on the engine itself – like motor mounts, transmission mounts, water temp sender and oil pressure sender. Everything was good with the exception of the water temp sender adapter. I described that little obstacle in this thread here:

http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showt...hange-the-size

After I posted that thread, I took a quick trip to the hardware store and got an adapter that did the trick. Then I saw JDAV’s response that he found one in the kit. Yes, I had one too – it was in the oil filter relocation bag. Like JDAV, I used that one and can return the other one to Ace.

Here are some photos of the install.











Four people worked well because it allowed us to have one on the crane, one on each side and one holding the transmission down. We raised the front end just enough to get the crane legs under the frame, and had the rear end up on jack stands. The angle helped a lot. Having the right engine hoist also helped. Last time I tried this exercise it was with a one-ton hoist. It just didn’t have enough reach. I sold that one, got the two-ton and everything worked much, much better. Having the experience from the trial fit last fall also helped. We knew where the problems were going to be and were able to avoid just about all of them. It’s a much tighter fit when the headers are mounted!

Next up: this week will be all about getting everything organized again and moving ahead on fine points, like tightening all of the bolts and lining up the transmission. There are some questions about how much clearance I have for the J-pipes. I used the older style “L-shaped” motor mount spacers on both sides of the block. I’m wondering if I’m going to need shims on the mounts to keep the J-pipes from rubbing the frame. Thoughts on that subject (or the torque specs for the driveshaft, which I didn’t see in the manual) are appreciated! I’m excited about moving into a new phase of the build. The good news is that I feel like we’ve made a lot of progress over the past three weeks and things are starting to come together.