Bill Ball

Many people are successful in breaking the crank bolt free by putting the tranny in 5th gear to "lock" it. Take the fans out to give you more room to get at the crank bolt. You'll need a 27mm socket, at least 1/2 inch drive. I would use 3/4" drive with a long breaker augmented by 4+ feet of pipe as I have found this bolt to be way overtorqued commonly. You'll be surprised by how little 218 ft-lbs is when you reinstall it with a proper torque wrench.

sifufrank

Thanks for the advise.

I have decided to pull the motor for the experiience and so that I can clean up the doghouse and parts of the engine that are hard to get to. I plan on getting more of these cars in the future and would like to know my way around them. I have disconnected everything according to the manual and the only thing left are the motor mounts. The tranny is loose and I am supposed to push it back 5-6 mm .200-.240 approx. I cant figure out the best way to pry it back. I tried to put a pry bar back by the tranny and the cross member that crosses the car below it. I pryed a little but it didn't come loose. I don't want to hurt anything and I am sure there is a trick to it. Whats the trick?
Any other advise at this stage is welcome.

Bill Ball

If you removed the tranny mount bolts from the rear crossmember and the four bellhousing upper and lower bolts from the block, it should slide with not much effort. Sometimes the locating pins on the bellhousing can be jammed. It may help to lightly jack the front of the oil pan to relieve stress on the pins from the motor tilting forward on the mounts as it tends to do. You will generally need to do this during reinstallation too to get the bellhousing and block aligned. Also it helps to have a 1x2 between the front end of the torque tube and the stamped metal crossbrace under it to support the front of the TT at the proper height for easy sliding.

WallyP

Double check to make sure that you have unfastened the wire harness that runs along the crossmember! Many people have tried to lift the car with the wire harness...

sifufrank

Wallyp, are you talking about the wire harness that goes to the alternator? I believe I have it loose. I have not lifted the motor yet. The jack under the oil pan sounds like a good idea. i'll try that tomorrow.

Imo000

If you are planningon removing the balancer, crack the crank bolt loose before lifitng the engine out.

sifufrank

Do i need to loosen the crank bolt before I pull the motor? Will the motor fit on an engine stand for a chevy motor? I believe that it is adjustable.

sifufrank

I got the motor seperated from the clutch housing. I used a small sharpened flat screw driver between the clutch housing. There was a small seperation between the two when I put some lift pressure on the engine. I slowly increased the size of the wedge as I raised and lowered the motor. I will check for wire harness as I lift the engine.

I removed the outboard plenum boxes on this 1986. The paint or plating or whatever it is is chiped and flaking off in big pieces. I have seen some beautiful engines in the forums. How are people painting or plating the plenum boxes and tubes. Also the valve covers. Since I am pulling the engine prior to the leak down test I want to do the maintenance that is needed but also do all the cosmetics before I go back together.

I also notices some oil laying in the bottom of the intake below the mass air flow sensor. Is that normal?

Any info on these questions will be greatly appreciated.

Podguy

Bad luck. Best guess from experience is that two valves on the first cylinder of the right head are bent. A leak down test will tell you. No need to put on a new belt to test this. Remove the belt and put the crank at the 45 degree point. Then you can safely turn the cams to position for testing. The bent valves should be immediately evident.

The engine has to be removed from the car with the 85-86.5. The head is held on with studs and not bolts as in the S4 so there is not enough clearance to remove the heads.

A machine shop should be able to go through the head for about $300 plus parts. Used valves can be an option if you can find any. Gaskets are going to cost as much. Valve guides do wear and should be checked. That will determine if you do the left head as well. Check carefully on the left bank where the head meets the block. The head gasket on the 85-86.5 tends to fail near the front of the engine and leak oil.

Then you are looking at all the rubber on the engine - about $400. Parts for the timing belt will also run about $400. It is good to check the main bearing end play before you invest anything. The 85-86.5 are not generally susceptible to thrust bearing failure but it is still worth checking. When the engine is apart is is a good time to power coat certain parts. With a new belt the valve timing should be set. The 85-86.5 heads have offsets for the bolts to the valve cover. These are really obsolete and have a tendency to break. A broken offset is easier to fix with the engine out of the car. The offsets should all be removed and the bolts for the valve cover replaced with S4 bolts. You will be glad you made this upgrade later when it comes to servicing the engine.

The injection and engine wiring harness probably need some attention. I use new shrink tube to rebuild the harnesses. Motor mounts should be changed to Ford Solid mounts.

Good luck - the truth is given the age of the car except the bent valves all the other things need to be done anyway.

sifufrank

What kind of ford solid mounts? Is there a particular part number for the mount?

Imo000

Contrary to popular beleif, the heads on the 86-86 32Vs can be pulled with the engine in the car. I did it twice.

Cosmo Kramer

Best to take off the boxes and tubes and sand blast them. After that you can paint them or powder coat. Mine I sandblasted them, washed thoroughly, sprayed with zinc cromate primer and painted with Duplicolor engine enamel and topped them with engine clearcoat. They turned out nice and the finish is pretty tough.

Oil in the valley is normal, probably one of the crankcase vent tubes has a leak and that causes the oil to accumulate in there. Best to refresh all the hoses and vacuum lines WYAIT and the motor is out.

WICruiser

Agree with Kosmo on the prep - in my case I powder coated my intake parts. The main thing is to make absolutely sure that you get any blast media out of the parts. The stuff will wreck the cylinder bores before you know what is going on.

sifufrank

Got it! Roger at 298's R US said to blast with walnut shell media. It wont hurt the bore if some is left over. My father, who is a drag racer at 68 years young, said that you can also blast with baking soda. This would also be better for left overmedia. The painting sounds good both ways. I am pulling the motor tonight. Still alittle nervous about wire harnesses. I hope I know where all of them are. I plan to start to bring the engine out slowly and look over the surface to see things I have missed. In one of the last post a guy said that several people have left a harness connected and tried to lift the car with it. I have not disconnected the haness that runs into the cabin through the firewall. I can't see where it enters the firew wall. I plan to raise the motor and pehaps create the room I need to see where it enters.

This is a first for me so any info on bringing the motor out is appreciated. You can't ask too many questions.

Cosmo Kramer

Good luck Frank! Just take your time pulling out, go slow and watch for anything connected and you will be OK.

You might find baking soda blast media to be not strong enough. The paint flakes off in some spots but other spots it is tough as hell. I had spots where glass beads wouldn't touch it. I just ended up sanding those spots by hand and blending it into the new finish.

Here is a better pic of my intake then the one in my sig. Letters were hand painted with automotive touch up paint.