03 Mach 1 open heart surgery

[Rusty67]

OK guys the donor motor is here. I have my MaxJax bolted down and almost leveled out. I'm going to buy a new set of shims because the ones I've got just aren't going to get me as level as I need to be.

The last challenge before work starts is getting the lift points properly picked up. I am debating on using a 2" spacer on the lift pads at the rear of the car or lifting the car from the pinch welds and using an adapters like the ones from LMR.

I also need to start ordering new gaskets/seals. I want to do as many as I can while the motor is out of the car, especially the valve covers and front/rear main seal.

I'll try and take some pics this weekend of what I've got done so far.

[Big Ron]

Good luck with your journey. I always envy the guys that are willing to some of these things. I can wash, dry, and wax with the best of them; but when it comes to boiling water I'm lost.

Keep us updated (with pics).



Big Ron

[ASH302]

For sure keep us posted (with pics)
Next, I would suggest if your wanting anything painted i.e valve covers, timing cover, etc. have it done. also if the shaker needs sprayed.
Good luck for sure.

ASh

[Rusty67]

I'm going to call up LMR and review everything I'm going to order with them this weekend.

Work has been keeping me way too busy during the week to do much. I'll snap a few quick photos of the motor and post it up this weekend.

Currently, I'm planning on doing valve cover gaskets, new intake manifold gaskets, front and rear main seals, oil filter/coolant adapter gasket and maybe exhaust manifold gaskets. I'm also going to replace the sensor in the valley under the intake (I think that is the knock sensor?) since there is no intake on the motor and I'm right there anyways.

Are there any other gaskets or sensors you guys think I should replace while I have the motor sitting around on dolly?

[ASH302]

If I remember right there is a cooling mod that is good to do when the motor is pulled that is at the back of the engine.

ASh

[ASH302]

http://www.modularmotorsportsracing....roducts_id=514

ASh

[Rusty67]

Ah yes, the MMR head cooling mod. I actually own one of those kits but I can't be found at the moment. It has been "organized" by someone who is not me and can now not be located. Maybe I'll buy another kit for it.

That reminds me, I also have an electric water pump kit that I never put on which I think I'll do that during this process as well.

[ASH302]

Originally Posted by Rusty67

Ah yes, the MMR head cooling mod. I actually own one of those kits but I can't be found at the moment. It has been "organized" by someone who is not me and can now not be located. Maybe I'll buy another kit for it.

That reminds me, I also have an electric water pump kit that I never put on which I think I'll do that during this process as well.

also the the upgraded thermostat too.

ASh

[jbrad88]

Originally Posted by Rusty67

I'm going to call up LMR and review everything I'm going to order with them this weekend.

Work has been keeping me way too busy during the week to do much. I'll snap a few quick photos of the motor and post it up this weekend.

Currently, I'm planning on doing valve cover gaskets, new intake manifold gaskets, front and rear main seals, oil filter/coolant adapter gasket and maybe exhaust manifold gaskets. I'm also going to replace the sensor in the valley under the intake (I think that is the knock sensor?) since there is no intake on the motor and I'm right there anyways.

Are there any other gaskets or sensors you guys think I should replace while I have the motor sitting around on dolly?

Should be two knock sensors...just FYI

[Rusty67]

Originally Posted by jbrad88

Should be two knock sensors...just FYI

Thanx, I'll take a look this weekend. The motor lift plate is on there right now so I'll have to pop that off to take a look and double check.

[TKat13]

which lift plate are you using?

Also, in for pics.

[Rusty67]

Originally Posted by TKat13

which lift plate are you using?

Also, in for pics.

I saw your post in the other thread, 2.5 hours to yank the motor out of your Mach? Impressive man!

The lift plate I'm using is this one:
https://www.motionraceworks.com/prod...4-6-lift-plate

These days, this doesn't go without saying so I want to make sure to state this up front in case anyone is wondering. I am not sponsored by any company. No company is giving me product for free or at any kind of a discount in order to plug their stuff on forums. I'm paying for everything 100% out of pocket. My opinions on products will only be rendered after having used them and you will get my honest, unfiltered opinion if you ask me what I think about anything I've used.

That being said, I've used the Motion Raceworks lift plate and I'm not sure I could be happier with it. The thing came with its own set of bolts to use in case you need them. The construction on it is great and when I lifted the motor I didn't notice any deflection in the plate at all. I haven't seen many other motor lift plates for the 4.6L but I've seen my fair share of lift plates overall. This is one of the nicest I've used. The one killer feature on this lift plate is that it has holes drilled and tapped into the metal so that when you don't have the plate bolted down to the motor, you can store the bolts screwed into the motor lift plate so you never lose them. This is such a fantastic idea. I once made a motor lift plate for a 5.0 push rod EFI motor that bolted to the lower intake I really wish I'd thought of that feature because I ALWAYS misplace the bolts for that lift plate when I am done with it.

[Rusty67]

Here is the motor now that it is home and on the dolly. I don't have an engine stand but I really don't think I need an engine stand for this project since I'm dropping the K-member.

Today I'm going to unwrap the motor and inspect it just to make sure there isn't anything obviously wrong with it.

I saw the AC compressor hanging off the bottom there, I guess they didn't remove it from the motor. I'm planning on leaving my AC compressor in the car and bolting it to the donor motor once it is back in the car so I don't have to evac and refill the system since my AC works just fine.

[Rusty67]

OK, so after unwrapping the motor I took a look around and pulled as much of the accessory drive as I could. I need to borrow a harmonic balancer puller but I'll probably wait until I've got the K dropped so I can pull them both at the same time. I'll give the timing cover more of a cleanup before I put the accessory drive back together.

The AC pump is crunchy/toast so I'm not going to save it.

The power steering pump has about 1/8" of slop on the shaft where it can pull out/push in so I'm fairly confident that unit is toast too. That isn't normal on other pumps I've worked with but I haven't touched a pump off a modular before. After 160K miles, my factory PS pump was still humming along with no issues so I'll just stick with it.

You can see in the pic that the flywheel is the proper Cobra unit so I'm feeling really good about this motor being the correct unit out of a manual trans Mach 1. I'm still debating how I'm going to remove the pilot bearing. You guys think I should go buy a loaf of wonder bread or should I rent a puller tool from the local auto parts store?

Oh and I did verify that there are indeed 2 knock sensors in the valley of the motor.

[Rusty67]

Just put my first parts order in from rockauto:
FEL-PRO MS96139 Intake Manifold Gasket $ 74.79 $ 0.00 1 $ 74.79
FEL-PRO BS40644 Crankshaft Seal $ 14.42 $ 0.00 1 $ 14.42
FEL-PRO TCS46114 Crankshaft Seal $ 6.25 $ 0.00 1 $ 6.25
FEL-PRO 70415 Oil Filter Adapter Gasket $ 4.01 $ 0.00 1 $ 4.01
GATES K060935 Belt $ 18.60 $ 0.00 1 $ 18.60

They didn't have the motor mounts I wanted. I'm going to get some factory replacement mounts from LMR. The ones on the new motor are CRUSTY and my old ones have 160K on them so new motor mounts while I'm here seems like a good idea.

What do you guys think about new exhaust manifold gaskets? Worth it?

[ASH302]

I would for sure stick with stock motor mounts and while you got it out go ahead and replace them.
On the gasket, I mean while you have easy access to it, I would go ahead do it. It would suck to get it in there and there be a leak.
Better to be safe and get everything taken care of while it is out.

ASh

[Rusty67]

I'm a little worried about how rusty the exhaust manifold bolts are on this motor. Being from the west coast I've never seen an engine this new with manifold bolts that look this bad. Then again, it gives me the perfect opportunity to try out my inductive heating tool that I bought a while back and never got to use on anything...

I'm going to hit the bolts with some penetrating oil tonight and the next few nights then see if I can get the manifold bolts loose this weekend.

[Rusty67]

So here is a quick reference for anyone that is pulling a harmonic balancer and can't figure out what the damned bolt size/thread pitch is. Normally the 4.6L takes M8x1.25 bolts that screw into the balancer. Mine happens to be M7x1.0 (thankfully I've got a reasonably sized tap/die kit). Going to the hardware store this morning in a bit when they open to grab myself 3 properly sized bolts.

[Rusty67]

OK guys, I'm apparently an idiot. The balancer bolt holes were indeed M8x1.25. The balancer was so crusty that the M7 bolts were actually holding on 2/3 of the bolt holes after I used the M7 tap on it, but the bolt pulled out a few times one one of the holes. After the second or third time the bolt pulled out, I realized that the holes needed to be cleaned up with the correct size tap (which I luckily had). After cleaning up the holes, the bolts when in fine and I was able to yank the balancer off the new motor just fine.

I've got the car lifted up on the Maxjax and I've started working on it. I got the exhaust h-pipe out, the drive shaft disconnected from the rear end, quite a bit of the wiring disconnected, coolant drained and a few other things taken care of.

I've got a few other things done on the car as well but I don't remember exactly what. I snapped a few pics along the way which I'll post up in the next day or two.

[TKat13]

Originally Posted by Rusty67

I'm still debating how I'm going to remove the pilot bearing. You guys think I should go buy a loaf of wonder bread or should I rent a puller tool from the local auto parts store?

Oh and I did verify that there are indeed 2 knock sensors in the valley of the motor.

I used a wooden dowel from hobby lobby, packed it with grease and tapped the dowel in , grease just pushed it back out. It was pretty awesome.

[Rusty67]

Originally Posted by TKat13

I used a wooden dowel from hobby lobby, packed it with grease and tapped the dowel in , grease just pushed it back out. It was pretty awesome.

The hydraulic force of grease vs the hydraulic force of Wonder Bread. Which will be more fun? =)

Been a busy week so I never got the pics up from last weekend (and the website was down for a bit).

So I just tried posting a bunch of pics from Google photos and that totally doesn't work. I'll make a new post with some pics....

[Rusty67]

Wiring in the engine bay is mostly disconnected.

[Rusty67]

Exhaust is off an in the rafters of my garage.

[Rusty67]

Here is a quick shot of my Mach lifted up on the MaxJax.

[Rusty67]

So you guys might find this a bit interesting. MMR sells a light weight racing PS pulley but they don't say how much lighter it is. I figured I might as well post that up here because lighter weight rotating mass means less HP waste and in this case the lower number is better, because SCIENCE! I posted pics in both grams and ounces so that we have freedom units as well as scienticious units available because who wants to waste time converting, am I right?

Now the one thing I noticed about the MMR unit is that there is no slot cut into the nose of the pulley for a puller tool. I called MMR about it and they said to remove their pulley you either need to use a 3 jaw puller or take the pump off the car and use a press to remove it.

As far as weight, the stock pulley weighed in at 1lb 2.4 ounces (or 522 grams) and the MMR pulley weighed in at 14.2 ounces (or 402 grams). As we can see, the MMR pulley is 4 ounces lighter (if my math is right) or 120 grams lighter (if my math is right...).

How much HP does this free up? Who knows but I figured while I was doing all this other stuff I might as well swap this pulley just for the hell of it. What do you guys think?