90 Gt Vert, The Bananna Spider

stanglx2002 said:

Did you make a decision on your path for the engine? It looks like your engine will be very happy to see a good cleanup

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Well, kinda. I need to replace the oil pan seal as it is leaking and the motor mounts need replaced also. After I took the lower manifold out it was aparent, this engine is DIRTY! It is a sludgemonster. I do not have the bankroll to rebuild the whole thing, but that is what it needs. I am leaning towards pulling the motor and fixing it all. Still have alot of other work to do as well including front wheel bearings, rotors, rear diff fluid and new seal, fix the rear vert windows. Before I can pull the motor I would need to find a used engine stand too.......anyone have the number to chip foose or richard rawlings? I need to borrow their wallet, just for a minute

If I pull the engine, I am definitely putting on new heads and pulling off the stock A/C At this stage of deconstruction it would not make sense not to.

Yes, thanks! So do you think I should crack it open and do bearings too?

stanglx2002 said:

Did it have good oil pressure before you opened it?

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Yes, no issues there. Just thinking with a odomotor reading 57k, assuming 157k might be something to think about. Anyway I got everything on the intake cleaned up and drilled and tapped the ACT sensor and the TB spacer coolant line, I mocked them up just to be sure they tapped well, still have to clean things up. Got the TB, spacer, and intake mocked up together. Looks good. I'm thinking of painting the intake a gunmetal grey, thoughts?

My ACT sensor is caked with egr badness. Mineral spirits gentle enough to clean it with?

Ok I cleaned my head mating surface all nice and clean. Still wishy washy about head swap that I have not found and pulling the engine. Thats a big step for me and I'm gun shy. I do not want this to be a project that never gets finished. I'm addicted to progress.
Anyway, the back of the engine and inner valve covers are a mess. I'm trying to clean things while I try to make a decision. After reading my 302 book and reevaluating the factory lower intake I discovered there was no pcv valve installed and the screen was caked solid. The hose coming out of the grommet was just pushed in and not connected to the back of the intake. So I have a hypothesis and want to know what you guys think.

1. The filthy bottom/back of the engine is from the pcv hose and the rear main seal (which I replaced before replacing the trans last year)
2. The perceived oil pan leak could be from crankcase pressure escape or just draining from the pcv hose.
3. The PCV delete (accidental or intentional) and the nasty egr faults contributed to a super gunky engine inside and out.

What do you all think? How bad would a open PCV return be? How likely is it that this could have been causing my "cut out" issues?

Been doing some painting and polishing just threw the manifold in the car to test the look. Took forever to clean. Still need to prep and paint the upper, it is all cleaned out tho. That factory paint was aweful to peel off. I think I just missed out on some gt40 heads with crane cam roller rockers on facebook marketplace for 275.