REALLY REALLY bad day today.

[hiball3985]

Good for you Rich, it's refreshing to see some of us old guys still tackle these jobs. I suffer from the same aliments so I understand what it takes..

[rmk57]

  X2. That is a big job wrestling in an engine on your own with front end still on.

[CobraJoe]

Any engine job with the nose on the car is a lot of up and down doing it alone at any age. Nice job!

[Wirenut]

I'm glad you were able to install your engine, Good luck with the rest Rich. Thanks for letting us follow along with your progress.

[Ford Blue blood]

Rich that light at the end of the tunnel is not an on coming train!  Keep at it guy, just finished my project.  Only took two days for the body to say "THANK YOU" for not having to get down on that hard concrete!  I do spend time thinking about what I will need when down.  For all you young guys out there, the getting down part is real easy, it is the opposite that the lo bones don't like......:<)

[RICH MUISE]

Of course I still have my fingers crossed that all this work and money is not for naught, and that this engine I'm putting in IS actually a good engine. Won't know that for a while yet.
It took me most of yesterday, with all the up and down, to finally finish up the engine to tranny attachment. With the engine forward a few inches, I was able to get to all the bolts. Now I'm working on attaching stuff to the back of the engine so I can push it into it's final resting place.
I had been picking up crap on my tranny dipstick. Yesterday I pulled the tube off the tranny and got it cleaned up. The factory paint on the tube was also inside the tube on the tranny end for a few inches, and that paint was loose/coming off. That's what my dipstick was picking up. Got it wire brushed inside, flushed it real good, put a new o-ring on and now trying to get bolted to the back of the engine. Even that's not cooperating, lol.
Next will be a few electrical connectors after I sort out where all the wiring branches go, then the downpipes. I need to attach the downpipes before I move the engine back, and at the same time guide them onto the H-pipe tubes I did get my downpipes wrapped with titanium heat shield.
A few pics to follow. The first one is one of the things I discovered during this project........my hood pins were wearing thru. The one in the pic was getting dangerously close to a breaking point (those wire ties are holding up my hydroboost out of the way.)
The engine on hoist pic: after putting a few small scratches in my front fender ( ) from the engine swinging as I tried to move it, I figured out I could stabilize it by attaching some ratcheting clamps hooked on to the back of the motor mounts on each side. These not only kept it steady, I was able to tip the front of the engine up instead of down. The strap type lift worked great.......didn't want to use chains and damage my newly powdercoated valve covers. Only problem with it is it's a single point attachment at the lift, so can't use a load leveler.

[hiball3985]

WOW! You would think the hood pins would be stainless or hardened. Or is this another case of you can't harden steel in a wok? 

[RICH MUISE]

Haha. I am using the oem hood bumper locations for the pins, and the 3/8-24 thread is hard to find hood pins for.  I was surprised yesterday when I removed one to double check the thread size so I could order new ones and realized they were aluminum! Not sure if I knew that when I installed them or even thought about it, but that explained the wearing thru. Anyway, after an hour of searching for stainless, I finally gave up and ordered "steel". They appear to be polished, so not sure what I'll get. I would have called, but my Chinese is a little rusty.
I decided last night I need to set a direction for this reassembly so I can get a test fire of the engine done asap. That means not hooking up any steering components except for the fluid lines, not installing any coolant hoses and  radiator stuff, and not fussing with the wiring too much as far as neatness, no driveshaft, no brakes, still on jacks. The hydroboost will just be hanging there, but the fluid lines will be attached, as with the rack. I'm guessing there's not too much residual coolant in the engine. They did run the compression test, but no serpentine belt so the water pump wasn't pumping the engine dry. I'll only crank it with the fuel shut off at first to make sure I'm not missing something, then see if I can fire it up. The tranny will be very low on fluid.
Any thoughts on all that?
Yes, I have added the oil already.
btw, yesterday I was not careful enough with reinstalling the tranny dipstick tube and I bent it right in the area where it goes into the tranny. Couldn't find one online last night, so today is a salvage yard trek. If I can't find one I may order a Lokar made for aode and 4r70w.....what's another 100. 

[RICH MUISE]

Had a brain fart...........when I start it I'll just remove the serpentine belt, that way none of the pumps/systems will be operational.

[Hoosier Hurricane]

Rich, just a thought.  If there is not a yoke or a plug in the trans. output, oil may be pumped out, even if the level is low.   John

[RICH MUISE]

I had pulled the yoke off my driveshaft and installed it there a while back, but a friend did mention to run a loop of hose at the tranny cooling line inlet/outlets .............that is something I hadn't thought of. Thanks
I did order a Lokar dipstick.

[John Palmer]

I would guess the reason the hood pin shows wear "on the side" is due to an alignment issue.  When aligned with the hood hole, the direction that it holds, is up/down not side/side.

[Tom S]

I'd say the reason the hood pin shows that much wear is because it's aluminum. There's always gonna be a little tiny unnoticeable side to side hood movement when running down the road.
All the hood pins I've ever seen were chromed steel.

[djfordmanjack]

Rich, it's good to see that you have come that far already! Now I personally would not rush the test run. Would not want to run it without coolant, waterpump, and without a yoke/ driveshaft like John already mentioned.
How is the engine going to run correctly without a water temp sensor reading? Even with low trans oil level and in neutral, there must be oil coming from the output shaft w/o the yoke, no?  Honestly I would not try any of that. Please take your time to hook everything up properly, even it takes some more days. JMHO. Guenter

[Ford Blue blood]

Rich I have to agree with Guenter.  Ya it is a pain if something goes wrong to undo all the stuff but there is no sense in "trying" to create another issue.  Put just water in it.  Make sure the transmission is ready to go.  Make sure the emergency brake is set or have it on stands for the first fire up.  The opportunity for a major "opportunity" is just so overwhelming.....

and I am a firm believer in a check list!