Fox Project Progress Thread (87 Lx 5.0 Hatch)

TXAZ33

New Member
Dec 6, 2014
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Tucson, AZ
This is going to be my project progression page. I bought my 87 LX 5.0 on black Friday but unfortunately it is leaking everywhere. I cleaned it up as best I can only to have it looking about the same a few days later. My wife didn't like the mess it was leaving in the garage either, so I ordered a full gasket set and have now gotten to work getting the engine out for a complete reseal. I hope it stays as just a reseal and I don't end up finding anything wrong with any of the internals. I am not a seasoned mechanic and this is my first "solo" engine pull. I will be doing 95% of the work alone with technical/moral support from a good friend of mine who is a mechanic but lives roughly 1000 miles away. The rest, I will have to take it to someone here locally. If anyone has any special tips or dos and don'ts of resealing the 5.0, feel free to drop a line in the thread or send me a PM. Here are a few pics that I took before getting started and through stage 1 of the tear down.
 

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Got the gasket set a few days ago but I have only gotten this far with the tear down. Engine mount bolts and trans cross member bots are all loose just need the time and space to get it all pulled. I hope to have enough time mid week if I get lucky. Then I will be summoning the expertise of the regulars here to help me identify what I have as far as internals go. From what I can tell, the po/builder liked to spend money on this thing judging by the intake, headers, and the fact that it had zero trouble passing AZ emissions. Can't wait to see what I have....
 

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Ya pretty much clean up, gaskets and identification/evaluation of internals. I will know what direction I want to go from there. I would like daily driver dependability with enough "get up and go" to turn heads.
 
Don't forget to disconnect the fuel lines at the rail. You will need a fuel rail disconnect tool- $10 at any parts store. My advice is to label every wire, hose, and connector, and put the bolts in labeled zip loc bags for when you reinstall the engine.

Before you spend dollar one on gaskets, pull the pan and a rod and main cap and see what the bearings look like, pull the valve cover to inspect the top end.. Regardless. you will need to replace the rear main seal- get the Felpro one with the teflon ring. I would also replace the oil pump., timing chain and gears, and new bearings.
 
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Thanks Mike. I already had the line tools and I disconnected them from a little further down the line just after they came off the engine bay. I ordered the complete gasket set from LMR so I hope that works. It came with the rear main seal. I plan on replacing at least the oil and power steering pumps since they were also contributing to the mess. I'm not positive but I think it has a fresh timing rebuild. I've done my best for the labeling and I use ziplocks for everything around the house so when it came to this it was second nature lol.
 
Honestly I don't think the P.O. liked to spend any money on that engine just from the LOOKS of it. Do yourself a favor and follow @mikestang63 advice of labeling and bagging items with a description on them. DO IT if you haven't done it yet. You might think this is going to go quick and you'll remember how things will go back together but you won't and there's a chance that things might be apart longer than you expect. Mine is going on 1 year now and I bagged and tagged everything and assembly is much easier now.

Looks like you have your hands full. Are you doing any HP upgrades during this engine removal or are you only resealing? When replacing the oil pump and pick up screen I recommend you purchase a new ARP oil pump gear.

Also don't forget RTV gasket maker for the oil pan, thread sealant, red locktite, etc.

You mentioned checking the internals? Are you removing the heads? If you have stock cast iron heads then there is zero reason to remove the heads to inspect anything else unless they're leaking or damaged somehow. Most likely the P.O. only put a upper/lower intake manifold on it and left the heads alone. If it's not broke/leaking, don't fix it.

edit: I saw that you are labeling in your previous post