My ongoing things to correct list continues:

Since I've owned this fine 383 engine, it has consumed a quart of oil every thousand miles. Under hard accel, it also blows a little oil out of the dipstick tube. The PCV system has been repeatedly checked and is ok(Last time I did a quick check with corvette0096 on the phone). Now, I am prepared for the worst as always,and my good friend and mechanic is going to do the re-ring and dis-assembly seeing I strongly feel it has blowby(Oil consumption is down to 800 miles to a quart).

Any particular tips or tricks to getting the engine out a little easier? My mechanic is just that, He works on Fords for a living so the task is safe at hand. He's just not LOYAL to the bow tie :D and doesn't know all the tricks(YET). This process will take place before the good weather gets here for sure. Hopefully everything looks good upon inspection. Valve seals are going to be done as well.

All this for a measly 39.000 miles use :D UN-REAL. (We will be doing a compression and leak down check first of course, but something tells me this course of action is needed)

Thanks in advance for any help.

Jay(Not yet insane)D!

 

Hmm....

Unbolt the accessories. You can leave the waterpump and balancer on.

Unbolt the headers from the engine and the y-pipe, and you can leave them just laying there.

Not sure how you want to deal with your tranny.

Take the plenum and the driver's side runners of to make it easier.

Put the chains to the corner bolts on the intake manifold.

Triple check all coolant, fuel, electrical lines are disconnected.

Get the chain slightly taught with the picker and then remove engine mount bolts.

 

:iagree:

Take your Super ram off before you pull the engine. Jd things have got to get better for you.. Oh one more thing.. Label wires and hoses. :thumbs:


[Modified by corvette0096, 1:47 PM 12/28/2002]

 

Jay

Make sure it is the engine and not something else.

Check for oil leaks and see if oil is getting ucked into the TB.

Also, some engine that run perfect do burn 1 quart every 1K - 2K miles.

A re-ring job is huge, the motor has to come out, then all the rods and pistons need to come out.

Vic

 

Thanks

Sounds pretty straight forward. I'll certainly document the ordeal with photos of course.

Rich, I keep trying to tell myself the same thing. I've been through a lot. . . hopefully bad re-currances(sp?) will be non existant sometime in the near future.

 

If you pull your motor, I would also take the wiper cover off(3screws). It will give you more room, and prevent it from getting broken.

 

When reinstalling the Motor place the motor mounts in the car first then install the motor and bolt the motor mounts to the motor after the motor is in the car with the engine slightly suspended above the motor mounts this will save you a lot of time and energy due to the limited fire wall clearance the motor can be lowered to the proper hight and slid strait back untill lined up with the trany. Also I always cut the head off 2 bolts chamfer the ends and install them in the lowest two transmision bolt holes on the block to act as guide pins this makes lineing the transmision up with the block a lot easier ( just make sure the bolts are long enuff for removal 2'' bolts are what I use).
good luck .

 

Take lots of pics for help later. You might come into a situation where you aren't exactly sure where something goes when putting it all back together.

 

JD, I AM about insane over my transplant using competent, but not familiar with C4 mechanics. These were strongly recommended (and just happened to work for the engine builder). BIG, BIG, MAJOR mistake for me. If you are going to be there to document EVERYTHING with labels, baggies and digi-pix, then you should have a MUCH happier outcome than I.
Really and truly hope yours is plug N' play!

 

:iagree: That's a must. :yesnod:

 

Hey JD,
Believe it or not,I thought the L98 engine removal was the easiest engine removal job Ive ever done.There really isnt much to it once the accesories are off.Just label the few vac lines and sensor/injector plugs and your set to go removing the usual bolts from the converter,engine mounts,bellhousing,etc.6 bellhousing bolts,3 converter bolts and 2 engine mount bolts and its about ready to come out(assuming you did removed the exhuast,hoses,drained the oil,coolant,etc etc etc).
Your mechanic will do just fine.
Also be sure to have the distributor out of the engine..that firewall is too close to take a chance.Pushing the tranny back helps and be sure to support it so it doesnt fall down with the motor coming out.
Have fun and keep us posted!

:D

 

mine came out easily with the headers still on...
matter of fact the bellhousing was still on there too...
in the future i would take the bellhousing off cuz it was kind of a tight fit, but there would have been tons of room without it on there.

i agree that my LT4 was the easiest motor i have ever pulled out.
even though i had to remove the exhaust and the transmission...

 

JD383...

Hope it turns out, were you don't have to pull it :(

What did lingy say about it? I would think their work is good for more than 30k miles :eek:

As for pulling the engine it pretty straight forward. But before you pull that engine, I would do a leakdown test. It will tell you what cylinders are leaking if any. Don't use the compression test to identify the problem. When I did my compression test on my 350 (sveral times). It always returned results that were +/- 2psi. But the leakdown said differently. When I pulled the pistons out, EVERY top ring was broke in two. #7 was in about 15 pieces.

Good luck and I hope the leakdown said a different story.

Has performance dropped off any?

 

Personally I'm willing to bet it had nothing to do with LPE's work at all. JD has had knock issues for whatever reason for a long time that he has been chasing. The rings aren't going to like that.

 

Weren't they the original tuners after his 383 was builtup, and wasn't it sent back for the knock to be retuned? I would think they would be able to work the problems out.

Perhaps he can step in and clarify if I am mistaken.

I knew he had knock too, and I agree with you that it will not take long to ruin rings and also put a hurting on the bearings. :nonod:

 

[EDIT] Forgot to answer you Jesse: I hadn't heard back from LPE yet. I did mention the consumption when I first noticed it back in 1997. It was 1000 miles to the quart. I was told it was normal due to the forged pistons and rings(Like Vic'89 stated) The oil coming out of the dipstick I'm not too keen on,neither we're they,and I don't re-call their comment on that. The rings have to have been hurt a little by the detonation seeing the consumption is 200 miles sooner than it was. We'll see what they say.

Scorp is right on. This engine had quite a bit of detonation. Again, it's a wonder I am still sane trying to correct this problem. It was partially solved by the trip to LPE. It still would not perform quietly(det free) with the timing at 6 deg.

In no way do I blame them. Sure, it's a little frustrating to even ponder the thought of yanking a 39,000 mile motor, but it is the truth, detonation is hard on parts. I think if this thing had anything BUT Forged internals, I'd have an overloaded ashtray by now.

The leakdown test is going to be the one, cause the car has ***** the size of Texas still :D so all is not bad.

Like I mentioned, I am ready for the worst. And to anyone reading this who is building or is even considering building a performance engine. Tuning is CRUCIAL to the lifespan of the engine. I'm again lucky it's still in one piece!

Thanks for chiming in with the help-ideas and feedback. I will definitely keep you all informed on the final outcome and plans.

Jay


[Modified by JD 90 383, 6:04 PM 12/29/2002]