Head/Cam Swap day 1

[1105]

Just thought I'd post some progress pictures of my head and cam swap. Worked on it for about 3 hours tonight, got all the head bolts off, one head off, alt bracket off, radiator off, intake off. All I think I have left for removing stuff is one more bolt that holds the power steering pump bracket which is beind the power steering pump pully so I have to remove that to get to it

Does the A/C condensor have to come out to get the cam in? Heres a picture of my progress so far. Hope to get the rest of the stuff off tomorrow and everything put on this has probably been one of the better christmas I've had

 

[RIO5.0]

Ya baby...What a freakin mess of hoses and such, huh,...Theres so much crap on these motors....

Just undo the condensor bolts and gently lift it to the pass side, the AC connectors will swivel inside themselves....need an extra hand or a bungee to hold it ouuta the way..
pull the cam out (got your long bolt?) have the other cam all lubed up, and slide it right in...drop the condensor back down...

Edit...looking at your pics I see you have the fuel rail still connected??? watch out for those injectors....last time i did it that way, one fell out, hit the deck and blam...snapped the end...i had to hunt for a few days to find another..pull em out....i just tapped one and it was out.... That'll put a bind on your reassy..

 

[1105]

What long bolt are you talking about RIO? my dad is going to help me the rest of the way taking the remaining stuff off, and putting the new parts on... I got basically all of the hard work done tonight... just have to remove that other head, cam, clean, and reassemble and pray that it runs I dont know of anything else I can do tonight that wont cause a lot of noise for cleaning so I guess I'm going to have to wait for tomorrow to come around. Think we'll be able to get it put back together and running correctly in 1 day?

 

[RIO5.0]

What long bolt are you talking about RIO? my dad is going to help me the rest of the way taking the remaining stuff off, and putting the new parts on... I got basically all of the hard work done tonight... just have to remove that other head, cam, clean, and reassemble and pray that it runs I dont know of anything else I can do tonight that wont cause a lot of noise for cleaning so I guess I'm going to have to wait for tomorrow to come around. Think we'll be able to get it put back together and running correctly in 1 day?

You still gotta get that timing cover and crap off the front of the motor, unless your further than your pics show...

remember there a 4 bolts in the oilpan that secure the timing cover....

if you don't have a PS pulley puller, grind down a wrench to slip behind the pump to grab that bolt...its slow, but it will work..

i use a 6" long bolt to grab the cam with...its a tough mother to snake it in and out without one...you don't wanna smack the cam bearings and damage em...try snaking the cam in all the way without a way to hold onto it...you'll see, its a long mother.. you get near the end and have to weasel it around the bearings to get it in....take the timing gear bolt and go to a hardware store and get a bolt with the same threads 6" long...it'll be much easier...trust me..

 

[1105]

Yea I still got to take the timing cover off... Like I said I got most of the hard work outta the way. The rest shouldnt take long at all to finish.

Thanks for the idea about the long bolt. I'll have to give that a try if it's too hard to get in by hand. I'm going to say about 45 min to an hours work left until I can start putting it back together again.

 

[mytight95]

i have snap on tools etc. if you have a slim line high quality open end you won't have to grind one down. Like Rio said i did the injectors the same way and payed for it,if you were going to do it that way anyway i would at least bleed the fuel rail and then pull the injectors they are hard to find at a decent price one at a time.


Good luck, its a lot of work


jason

 

[1105]

A lot of work is an understatement... all of the bolts and fittings on the engine have never been messed with before so they are a PITA to get off no bloody knuckles yet though so I'm happy.

I'm going to pull out the injectors tomorrow just so I wont have one fall out and break. Would have never thought that would fall out without some persuasion, but they've never been off for that long.

As for that bolt... the ONLY thing that will remove thoes is a 6 point socket... everything else will strip the bolt down so I have to remove the pully to take that bolt out. Anyone got some 24 pound injectors they want to sell that are still good?

 

[RIO5.0]

Heres a small tip....grab a box and stuff your timing bolts in place as you remove em...I replaced the w/pump at the same time....had like 20 freakin bolts...
The bottom 4 are the oilpan bolts...

 

[1105]

wow thats a lot of bolts... thanks again for another useful tip in making my life a lot more easier RIO

 

[OinkAodeOink]

lookin good zach! Gota start on it early man, so we can all hit speedworld up by 6-630! Think i might go ( and run) with James.

Head swaps arent fun, but atleast your learning, which is good.

By the way, yea youl have to pull the radiator to get the cam out/in. Not sure if the condensor has to come out, because i ditched mine before i changed the cam/heads. I wouldnt think so though.

Just make sure you put everything back in real clean, clean the piston tops off,all in the heads/valvetrain with brake cleaner and cam lube the cam with some oil. Make sure all gasket surfaces are clean and free of any old material.
Im sure you know all this though, just a reminder.

 

[OinkAodeOink]

have you checked this thread out.. theres your MAF and injectors!

http://forums.stangnet.com/showthread.php?t=405317

 

[94GTLaserRC]

Heres a small tip....grab a box and stuff your timing bolts in place as you remove em...I replaced the w/pump at the same time....had like 20 freakin bolts...
The bottom 4 are the oilpan bolts...

SMALL TIP? That looks like a really GOOD tip..Those bolts are always ALL over the place, and there are always 1 or 2 left over
RC

 

[zenboy99]

I'm jealous, wish I was doing a H/C swap. What combo are you going with?

 

[DavidF]

I'm jealous, wish I was doing a H/C swap. What combo are you going with?

Yeah, I can't wait to replace my cam and intake. To me, this looks like fun

 

[red94fiveo]

Thanks for posting this thread. I am just starting my H/C/I swap and all this info has been very helpful. I'm not quite as far as you, I don't have either of the heads of yet, hopefully soon.

 

[1105]

Hey mike, I dont know if I'm going to run my car at OSW until I get a new balancer... the rubber behind it is almost all the way out. Stop by on your way to OSW if you want... just give me a call if your going to be by.

zenboy99, I have an Edelbrock Performer 5.0 Intake, 65mm TB, TW Heads, TFS Stage 1 Cam, LT's with o/r h, Flowmaster Catback.

I plan on having it running within a few hours, its 4:00 right now. My dad went to pick up some header gaskets and spark plugs and all thats left to do is adjust the rockers and put the valve covers back on sounds like very little but it's probably going to take awhile

 

[urban96]

rio ive never thoguht about laying the bolts out like that in cardboard im definatly gonna remember that when i do my t-moss lower and any other engine work... i usually set them on a bench in order that i took them out and hope i can remember what bolt goes in what hole

 

[sldghmr]

Heres a small tip....grab a box and stuff your timing bolts in place as you remove em...I replaced the w/pump at the same time....had like 20 freakin bolts...
The bottom 4 are the oilpan bolts...

Sseriously that's an awesome tip and the kind of thing that makes this board/forum worth reading.......... thank you!

 

[zenboy99]

That will be a nice combo, please show us more pics once you've got her all together. Maybe even a wav file of your exhaust?

What LT's and H-pipe did you go with?

 

[Rootus]

rio ive never thoguht about laying the bolts out like that in cardboard im definatly gonna remember that when i do my t-moss lower and any other engine work... i usually set them on a bench in order that i took them out and hope i can remember what bolt goes in what hole

Luckily with the water pump the bolts are all different sizes, so if you do forget where they go, it's not too difficult to figure out which bolt goes where. I know this because I didn't catch the tip about marking where they came from until after I had them all out and bagged up .

Dave