[Calehedron]

I wish I knew when the mounts will be ready. I ask every 2 weeks and get the same "Really busy, I'll get on them in a few days" reply.

So after taking a break from the building and looking at my pictures again, it hit me where the bracket on the vac pump needs to be cut. It doesn't matter until the wiring harness is on and then its pretty clear. Cut at the red line (I will later) and then you only need to remove the 2 bolts on the left, unplug the crank position cable, and the bracket will move out of the way to remove the vac pump.

By the way, 15ft/lbs on the bolts on the pump. Thankfully it was this one I over tightened and it can be fixed very easily. Maybe I can find an M6 helicoil kit at work! I haven't done that kind of repair in a few years, would be nice to brush up on it a little. Probably best for this soft aluminum and hardened bolts all the way around.

The other bracket to cut is only when you remove the engine and makes moving the A/C compressor in and out easier. The extra metal around the bend is only to hold the end of the clutch enable cable but it completely blocks the lower bolt. If you wanna get fancy, you could figure out the center and drill or mill a hole for the bolt head but until I put the engine in, I won't know if the compressor would roll in over the bracket in place. I'm gonna cut if off, weight reduction and less metal to heat up! 🤣

 

[maschinenbau]

I finally caught up, start to finish. Excellent build thread! It's valuable having all these different pictures and explanations of this engine on the internet. Looks like you're doing everything as right as you can. When you got your replacement long-block, did you save all the other parts like water pump, brick, etc or buy new? Also what types of sealants did you use? I know the water pump sealant seems to be especially important on this engine.

 

[Calehedron]

When you got your replacement long-block, did you save all the other parts like water pump, brick, etc or buy new? Also what types of sealants did you use?

First, Thank you for reading through it all! Lots has happened in almost 3 years of ownership. I do it for myself to remember everything as much as I do it to share the knowledge and findings.

I re-used every part that I could that also didn't need an upgrade to handle new power levels. New Pistons and Rods (my choice on the rods), over bored my block, and I had to buy a used head to be ported and polished and reuse as many valves as possible. I think 2-3 had to be replaced because they weren't perfectly true or burned and the machinist didn't want to use them.

Mopar has 3 different sealants called for in a build. One for Crank Cradle, one for Oil Pan and valve cover, and one for the Water Pump. The first is designated "no expansion" as not to change the bearing gap after torquing the snot out of the cradle in 24 places. Ok..... Second is oil resistant only and has all kinds of instructions for application, its hard as a rock when dry, and expires in the tube in 1 year. Third is coolant resistant only and has the same instructions and expiration. They are expensive and you might even receive them already expired or damn close as Greg and I found out the first try.

Greg called up J-B Weld engineering, laid out the needs, specs, use for them and they came back with ONE sealant. J-B Weld 31314 $6.36 for 3oz on Amazon. I've had a tube for a year now, used a bit over the fall, and just used it again this weekend and its still perfect. No expiration.

 

[Calehedron]

All the blame goes on @Mike34 for this. I honestly did not know these even existed and at first I was not going to buy it. Somehow I missed the old thread about he and @depotdan buying these and anodizing them. But the more I thought about all the money spent on "doing it right", it didn't seem right not to for both the aesthetics and more durable than the plastic cap. I will drop it off to be anodized tomorrow or Monday so it will match the RED pulley.

Mahalo Mike!

 

[depotdan]

All the blame goes on @Mike34 for this. I honestly did not know these even existed and at first I was not going to buy it. Somehow I missed the old thread about he and @depotdan buying these and anodizing them. But the more I thought about all the money spent on "doing it right", it didn't seem right not to for both the aesthetics and more durable than the plastic cap. I will drop it off to be anodized tomorrow or Monday so it will match the RED pulley.

Mahalo Mike!

View attachment 83119

View attachment 83120

Just be careful, when transferring the bypass valve. It’s fragile. Mike and I are very happy with a very expensive questionable oil fillter cover. If only I went with the RED. DA

Dan

 

[Calehedron]

Filter cap is at the anodizing shop, Beta3 motor mounts are in Mesa to be delivered tomorrow. Gold heat sleeve will be here Wednesday. I guess it was about time to get motivated to hang the electric hoist.

By the way, the Phoenix valley is the first place that I have seen that finishes the garages. I mean completely; mud the joints, textured spackle, and fully painted. Can't see the studs at all without a finder on the walls and my ceiling is a complete mystery since the master bedroom is above, there is insulation and extra plywood under the drywall and the studs are NOT on 16" centers. 12" apparently after 100s of tiny holes. Stud finder was useless, a finishing brad couldn't get through the drywall and plywood, so a drill bit it was and a little thumping and strategic exploration until I found a stud close to where I wanted it.

Gonna rig up that load of 400# of lead i had in the engine bay to give it a test lift once I get some lunch and cool down. It moves faster than I expected so I am probably going to use the extra pulley to slow it down and lower the stress on the motor even more. Rated at 440/880 so I am more than fine.

 

[Calehedron]

396# of lead on a sling. Holds well, like the doubled over cable with extra pulley much better. Now to worry about height clearance. May have to do a coordinated lift of the car and engine at the same time to raise the engine bay up around the engine.

 

[SpiritedAway]

Nice! Still waiting on the brackets?

 

[mr20turbo]

The thought of having a full engine hoist taking up space in the garage has never been super appealing. I like this solution. Especially with the portable/positionable quick jacks.

 

[alltimesaresoon]

Filter cap is at the anodizing shop, Beta3 motor mounts are in Mesa to be delivered tomorrow. Gold heat sleeve will be here Wednesday. I guess it was about time to get motivated to hang the electric hoist.

By the way, the Phoenix valley is the first place that I have seen that finishes the garages. I mean completely; mud the joints, textured spackle, and fully painted. Can't see the studs at all without a finder on the walls and my ceiling is a complete mystery since the master bedroom is above, there is insulation and extra plywood under the drywall and the studs are NOT on 16" centers. 12" apparently after 100s of tiny holes. Stud finder was useless, a finishing brad couldn't get through the drywall and plywood, so a drill bit it was and a little thumping and strategic exploration until I found a stud close to where I wanted it.

Gonna rig up that load of 400# of lead i had in the engine bay to give it a test lift once I get some lunch and cool down. It moves faster than I expected so I am probably going to use the extra pulley to slow it down and lower the stress on the motor even more. Rated at 440/880 so I am more than fine.

View attachment 83417


View attachment 83418

I use a strong magnet til I lock on to a drywall nail. No holes

 

[maschinenbau]

I just leave my hoist outside in the driveway so it doesn't take up precious garage space. In the past I've built a rolling gantry crane for more extreme swaps. That winch setup looks pretty handy.

 

[Calehedron]

The thought of having a full engine hoist taking up space in the garage has never been super appealing. I like this solution. Especially with the portable/positionable quick jacks.

I wish I had thought of it before pulling but I didn't have the quickjack then either so I tore it down to the block and used the cheapest HF hoist they had. The boom was still too short at full 500lb extension so it was still a chore to get the block out being pulled at an angle.

Now the baby is going in almost complete, straight down into the cradle.

I use a strong magnet til I lock on to a drywall nail. No holes

Wouldn't have worked on this ceiling. I found a nail that was just for holding the drywall to the plywood and it was a few inches from the actual stud underneath. I have an idea that might allow me to map the studs since there is a big temperature differential between the bedroom above but might have to wait for winter for it to work best and not cost me $100s cooling the room more. By using my IR camera to scan the ceiling, the warmer floor joists may show through the colder drywall.

I just leave my hoist outside in the driveway so it doesn't take up precious garage space. In the past I've built a rolling gantry crane for more extreme swaps. That winch setup looks pretty handy.

The HF one I have folds up and with the engine stand nested in the same footprint, they only take up 3'x2' in the corner and I roll them out when I need the space. I will see if I can unload the hoist now or it goes into a locker with the 2 motorcycles soon so that I can completely redesign the layout of the garage from bullet casting and reloading to full auto shop.

 

[Calehedron]

I've built a rolling gantry crane for more extreme swaps.

This was what I REALLY wanted, I could have lived with loop chain drive with this. I searched all over and most in my price range were just a few inches too tall for my garage. It is just under 96" with plywood and drywall stacked and most ran 96-100" tall. To be able to traverse side to side on the crossbar while moving front to back on the wheels is perfection.

I was looking at modifying a drywall hangers rolling platform for a minute but the extreme extension of everything, especially wide enough to straddle the car, wasn't worth the time or money. I may figure out how to hang (or stand off the floor going wall to wall) an I beam side to side when I re-arrange after everything is complete, then I can put the winch on a trolley!

 

[maschinenbau]

RE: gantry crane. Here's the one I built. You really need 12ft ceilings for it to work with a chain drop due to the height of the header beam. I've lifted about 1000 lbs with this setup, or half a Datsun.

 

[Calehedron]

They aren't pretty by any means but they will work for now. Getting a complete redesign and new jig made for the actual production sets, then I will get a set of those to replace these. Now to figure out my last lifting point(s), have 3 identified that may be enough but more won't hurt!

 

[Calehedron]

This shit is killing me! I am tweaking on adrenaline and want to put it in NOW! I just don't trust my boys at all to assist with this part, I don't even want them in the garage when its going in.

The rig measures 36" from hook to bottom of the pan. With the car sitting on the floor, there is ~48" of clearance with the winch at max lift. I either lift the car around the engine in the air or place with the car on the floor and then raise to put the rest of the bell housing bolts in place.

So on to the leveling rig installation. I removed the upper timing cover in case the chain jumped but it could have stayed on and even more so if I had flipped the brackets to the outside of the sockets used as standoffs. Bolted right into the tensioner cover block that is bolted on to the block in 5 places with the spare motor mount bolts M10x60ish thus the standoffs since the holes ain't that deep! The rear is bolted to the LIFTING BRACKET installed at the factory, now if they only put something on the OTHER SIDE to balance the load. I thought about trying to make another spreader sling side to side to hook to the mounts and clear the delicate stuff but it wasn't working out fast enough for me. It lifts fine with 3 points but has one helluva gangster lean without something to balance out that corner. So 1" tie down strap to the rescue! I fed it down and around the coolant manifold at a zip tie mount point to keep it in place and when snugged up, it clears everything and just rubs the valve cover a little at the ground wire point.

Perfectly balanced in all 4 directions and 4" off the cart.

Front connections

Rear

 

[Calehedron]

So just in case you were wondering what an engine weighs dry, minus the cat and A/C....... About double what the short block weighs alone.

I feel better now knowing the weight going on to that wire and 2 3/8"x3" lag bolts.

 

[chilicharger665]

260 lbs, it looks like? So probably a nice, round 300 with the AC and cat on it.

 

[Calehedron]

The $260 Filter Cap!

Engine placement tomorrow starting around 10am. Found someone I trust enough to assist me that has also done various engine swaps before so he knows the overall plan already. Charging up the GoPro batteries so I can record it all then figure out editing it down for the important parts. Hoping the ECU shows up this weekend also. Asked for it a few times over the last few months but hey, it wouldn't fit the overall scheme of things if it were already here.

 

[Calehedron]