The Official Hot Rod Thread - Part 4: Burnouts for Distance

[ChristianPatriot]

OK... So it's about what I thought it would be. You planning to install one yourself to get the costs down to something realistic?

Yessir. Cheap engine swap and ride it out for a few more years.

 

[maxwelhse]

Yessir. Cheap engine swap and ride it out for a few more years.

Cool. You have a buddy with a 2 post lift you can use or you going to have to gut it out the hard way?

 

[ChristianPatriot]

Cool. You have a buddy with a 2 post lift you can use or you going to have to gut it out the hard way?

Gonna have to be the old fashioned way

 

[ChristianPatriot]

“New” engine looks clean as a whistle on the inside. Can even see the manufacturer stamp on the top of one of the pistons.

 

[maxwelhse]

Gonna have to be the old fashioned way

Oof... I don't envy you. I'm having nightmare visions of pulling not a lot more than a short block as one piece out through a minivan hood. Hopefully it's not as bad as I fear.

The replacement does look clean!

 

[ChristianPatriot]

Oof... I don't envy you. I'm having nightmare visions of pulling not a lot more than a short block as one piece out through a minivan hood. Hopefully it's not as bad as I fear.

The replacement does look clean!

It looks like I would have to pull pretty much the entire front clip off to get the engine out from underneath the cowl.

Seriously considering dropping the whole front subframe. Put it on furniture dollies and roll the whole thing out from underneath. Looks like there’s maybe six bolts holding the whole thing in. Disconnect the front suspension, steering knuckle, trans and power steering lines and out she’d come.

 

[maxwelhse]

Seriously considering dropping the whole front subframe. Put it on furniture dollies and roll the whole thing out from underneath. Looks like there’s maybe six bolts holding the whole thing in. Disconnect the front suspension, steering knuckle, trans and power steering lines and out she’d come.

If you have the garage height to do that, it's far and away the most practical way to go about it. Personally, I believe the investment in some quickjacks and building up some wooden cribbing would be well warranted for this job. The quickjacks pretty much don't depreciate so you can sell them on later if you need to.

 

[Jaybird1980]

This guy has access to a lift and still does it the old school way.

My experience is strip the front of the block, label each side of every connector so you know where they go. Remove radiator.
Take your time, the balancer and exhaust may be what gives you the biggest fight. And take pics for reference.

 

[Jaybird1980]

Oh yeah, new water pump, hoses and belts while you're at it. .
Did I mention take your time, if you get frustrated take a break. Keeps you from breaking things

 

[Biggredchev]

Id just drop the subframe. Thats how i did the timing belt in my moms equinox. Did it in my driveway and its not near as bad as it seems. Also id just unbolt the struts vs steering knuckle, unbolt the ac compressor and let it go with the body so you dont have to recover/refill the freon. Forget the furniture dollies, leave the wheels on, put it in neutral and roll it out from under there.

 

[Biggredchev]

I dont have a hot rod so heres my truck on a wet road (tires aint cheap).
Its an 08 gmc 1500 with the 5.3. One of the AFM lifters died so i did the delete, all new ls7 lifters, ls9 cam, milled down the factory 243 heads .010” on the surface grinder at work to make sure they were nice and flat (has to dig out 4 exhaust manifolds bolts to freakin gm) . Tuned with EFI live. Its on 34” mastercaft cxts, 3.73s. trutrac posi. Needs long tubes, and i just picked up a 6.5” lift.

 

[maxwelhse]

This guy has access to a lift and still does it the old school way.

My experience is strip the front of the block, label each side of every connector so you know where they go. Remove radiator.
Take your time, the balancer and exhaust may be what gives you the biggest fight. And take pics for reference.

I only skimmed, but it sounds like he'd never done one before (and in all fairness, neither have I) and he was using language like "hopefully it comes out the top".

"Why?" is the question on my mind when you've got it occupying a lift already?

They build that at the factory from the bottom up for a reason and it seems like he's fighting city hall there.

 

[Jaybird1980]

I only skimmed, but it sounds like he'd never done one before (and in all fairness, neither have I) and he was using language like "hopefully it comes out the top".

"Why?" is the question on my mind when you've got it occupying a lift already?

They build that at the factory from the bottom up for a reason and it seems like he's fighting city hall there.

I would guess rust, the undercarriage is always the worst and after you break stuff dropping it out the bottom you still have to pull it off the top of the carriage anyways. Really you cut out the whole dropping the carriage step

 

[Jaybird1980]

In all fairness I never watched the videos either. I remembered seeing them when I was watching an electrical diagnosis he did.
He's pretty easy to watch, explains stuff pretty simple, figured it might give CP some insight

 

[churchmouse]

Change the timing belt. Just do it.

 

[Jaybird1980]

Change the timing belt. Just do it.

I thought he had already said he planned on doing that, if not definitely do it

 

[churchmouse]

I thought he had already said he planned on doing that, if not definitely do it

I missed that.

 

[ChristianPatriot]

I thought he had already said he planned on doing that, if not definitely do it

Yep. Got the whole kit in the mail today. Timing belt. Timing belt tensioner. Water pump.

Definitely not gonna through all of this work and NOT do that while it’s all out and accessible.

 

[d.kaufman]

Yep. Got the whole kit in the mail today. Timing belt. Timing belt tensioner. Water pump.

Definitely not gonna through all of this work and NOT do that while it’s all out and accessible.

If you can afford it change the hoses, t stat, and plugs as well. Serp belt and tensioner may not be a bad idea as well

 

[maxwelhse]

I would guess rust, the undercarriage is always the worst and after you break stuff dropping it out the bottom you still have to pull it off the top of the carriage anyways. Really you cut out the whole dropping the carriage step

Pulling it off of the engine cradle is no big deal. Like, 2 bolts. Like CP said, a few bolts and the whole thing drops out of the bottom, vs. all of that screwing around taking the entire accessory drive off in-vehicle, removing the cooling system, etc.

CP has his own thing going on, but I can't imagine a pro shop doing this job on a vehicle that is so rusty that the cradle won't come out. The quotes CP got already exceed the value of it so maybe South Main was just doing it that way for the YouTubes..?