My lil GT had exhaust leaks and valve seal leaks. So I got all my Felpro gaskets in and started to pull it apart. I got a late start tonight so after an hour all I had done was the top intake and throttle body off. It is 11pm so I'm calling it a night. Getting up early to pull the heads. Hope I can get it all back together and make it run. This is the first time I have broke into a car motor alone. I have been a motorcycle mechanic for may years but auto is new to me. Any easy tip would be awesome.
My lil GT had exhaust leaks and valve seal leaks. So I got all my Felpro gaskets in and started to pull it apart. I got a late start tonight so after an hour all I had done was the top intake and throttle body off. It is 11pm so I'm calling it a night. Getting up early to pull the heads. Hope I can get it all back together and make it run. This is the first time I have broke into a car motor alone. I have been a motorcycle mechanic for may years but auto is new to me. Any easy tip would be awesome.
Stop where u are at...Dont worry with the valve seals and put the top parts back on. The exhaust leaaking is probaly a cracked manifold and will need pulled off and welded.....Save any money u are gonna put into the 2.8 and save for a swap..
Take off the deck lid, remove dogbone and use jack to tilt engine to remove front/firewall exhaust manifold. I probably have 2-3 in storage unit. At least that way you can enjoy your car until you decide if you want to sink money into a swap. Maybe Mstangs can give you an idea of what cost you can expect on a swap doing it yourself or having it done for you and how long it would be before you're driving again.
O trust me I would have been more than happy to just do the Manifolds. But I had 3 broken bolts. So had to drill and tap the head, kinda hard to do in the car, lol. It took me about 6hrs and I had everything off. I took it to the shop and they wanted $60 to fix head. So I did it myself. Tomorrow evening I'm going to change valve seals and port match and paint everything.
Love those broken bolts! I've done them in the car using a 90* angle head before. Still not easy, but I dislike tearing into the intake on the 2.8L. I never seem to get the valves adjusted quite right. Well sounds like you have it going your way.
Been a good day. Took the wife to a few flea markets then got to work on the car. Got valve seals in front head done. Welded cracks in exhaust manifold. Painted intake, valve covers and manifolds. O and found the easiest way to cut out the blockage in the manifolds. After eating up to porting bits (I still can't believe how hard the metal is) I just used a small hole saw. I took the drill bit out and it cut it out and smooth. A had all 4 done in like two mins. Should have heads back on tomorrow. Going to spend the morning at the motocross track with my son.
Got heads done and on the car along withe the lower intake and exhaust all bolted up. Tomorrow is my last day off, so I'll have to work hard to get it finished before I go back to work. Any tips or things I should do before I install the middle and upper intake?
After almost 50 hrs of labor the motor is all back together. I have to pick up a ground wire end and antifreeze tomorrow and should be doing smoky burn outs no time soon.
Been driving it around town. I don't know what made the biggest difference but WOW. Port matching intake, removing the manifold blockage and 1.6 roller rockers was like unleashing the car. I was so surprised at how it runs now.
