Engine's in!
 

Well all that's left is for me to customize my mid x pipe to fit long tubes, Some cleaning, Fluid filling and hook my steering shaft back up. Took a week and a half of Evenings to swap it but it is in!

https://www.cmoc.ca/attachment.php?a...ine=1409892097

I made a big mess! Next time I will drain the tranny before removing the dipstick.

https://www.cmoc.ca/attachment.php?a...ine=1409892097

Out and swapping parts that I didn't have doubles for.

https://www.cmoc.ca/attachment.php?a...ine=1409892097

Ready to go in!

https://www.cmoc.ca/attachment.php?a...ine=1409892097

Its in but it still needs a bath!

https://www.cmoc.ca/attachment.php?a...ine=1409892097

The engine has extremely low mileage at just over 32000km. Looks great inside the front cover! :tup

By the looks of inside the front cover I'd say it was well looked after.

Props to you!

That job takes a lot of time, skills and equipment. Looks like you got it covered.

Well guys, Bad news. I've taken a few days off from even looking at the car as I am pissed. I filled up 16 Liters of coolant and it was still low but I was out of coolant and didn't want to fill the rest with water so I moved on to filling the oil before running back to the parts store, Filled 5 Liters of oil and checked the level and the dipstick was wet nearly a foot up with coolant. I did some looking and have come up with a cracked block. It can't be a head gasket as the level isn't high enough to get to the head and the car still hasn't even been run yet to build up any pressure. I'm thinking the guy I bought it from stored it in bad weather with straight water in it and it screwed it up... Back to the old drawing board. Anyone in Calgary have a good bottom end they want to part with for cheap?

Wow, was reading the start of your thread, getting all excited, then i read your last post, and my excitement for you crashed hard. So sorry to here!!!

That really sucks, sorry to hear about your bad luck

Thanks for the kind words guys! I'm thinking of finding a NPI and swapping the heads so I get the bump in compression. It's time for me to try to look at the bright side... I have a lot of great parts that will assist me on getting me more power!

It's one way of keeping a smile, and not letting anything go to waste.

Just a small note to you guys... Do not trust a couple of transmission pan bolts to hold back the deluge of fresh tranny fluid from giving you a shower with the consistency and feeling of melted butter. (it also sucks in the eyes)
That is all.

You say that like a golden shower of melted butter is a bad thing. Depends what you're in to. :D

Sounds like its the same stuff your into considering that we are both up way to early in the morning!

Damn that would suck. :?

It did suck. Next time I will also have some rags right by me too!

The engine is back out but I haven't had a chance to have a look at what's wrong with it yet. I'm hoping to find something simple!

Well its apart. But I'm still no closer to figuring out what is causing it to mix the oil and coolant. I'm really hoping that it is something simple though as this engine is in nice looking shape inside.

https://www.cmoc.ca/attachment.php?a...ine=1410925474

https://www.cmoc.ca/attachment.php?a...ine=1410925474

https://www.cmoc.ca/attachment.php?a...ine=1410925474

The Crosshatch in the cylinders is in excellent shape, no ridge to speak of and there is nothing for carbon build up... but, I'm thinking that is was only ever filled with water as the water jackets all have some calcium or grit build up that I can't quite figure out. The head gaskets look good (to my eyes). I'm really getting stumped!

Anyone here live in Calgary that can come by and lend me their eyes?

Where are you in Calgary? I should be able to scrape up some time to look at it.

I PM'ed you TURBOSTANG. And for anyone else curious I live in Martindale in the NE.

Props to you for helping him out :tup

Have you ever been so busy looking for a small problem that you fail to see the large problem? Well folks that happens to be the case here! Earlier on in this post I shared a picture that would have shown me (and everyone else) what was the problem that I have had.

Here is that picture.

https://www.cmoc.ca/attachment.php?a...ine=1410997920

Have you found it?
here's another hint.

https://www.cmoc.ca/attachment.php?a...ine=1410997920

Yeah I don't know how the hell i missed this, Maybe because there is absolutely no trace of it anywhere! Not in the pan, no shrapnel anywhere!

https://www.cmoc.ca/attachment.php?a...ine=1410997920

DAMNED INVISIBLE FROST PLUGS!!!

I am glad I took a better look at the engine though as I did find that where the lower rad hose attaches to the aluminum neck on the block, has a gasket underneath that is shared with the oil filter and it was in desperate need of a change soon.

Thank you to everyone that took the time to look at my posts and also to those that took the time to comment to me.

This is what I looked like and felt like when the tranny took a dump on me!

https://www.cmoc.ca/attachment.php?a...ine=1410997920

Glad you found the problem! Also glad you shared it cause I had no idea just looking at the pics!

Glad I could help, lol.

Good job finding the leak, offer stands if you have any problems in the future. I'll help if I can.

Turbostang. Thanks for the offer. I haven't put anything together that has an overhead cam on it before so I may take you up on that!

That's crazy! Didnt take long to find the issue.

Well time for an update. After spending countless hours of taking the lump apart, checking bearings and clearances. Cleaning and more cleaning I have it almost all back together. I forgot to take pictures of it all apart but I do have some of it now.

https://www.cmoc.ca/attachment.php?a...ine=1411879465

https://www.cmoc.ca/attachment.php?a...ine=1411879465

https://www.cmoc.ca/attachment.php?a...ine=1411879465

I'm thinking about doing the J-mod to the valve body on my transmission but I haven't found a good detailed write up on the 97 era tranny. Anyone here do it before? I have no problem with drilling the holes in the separator plate but my question is what accumulator springs am I to remove as I have found mixed information as to which ones I am to take out. I am wanting to have a very firm to hard shift. (Disregard this about the J-mod, I have found a great write up about it and will be performing the mod before the transmission is mated to the engine.)

Looking good! I see the that the plug is where it should be!! :tup
Can't help you on the auto though.

I found the information that I needed for the J-mod here TCCoA Tech Articles. There's some great information there if you want to do the mod to your transmission.
Today I finished the wiring, put the headers on and did some more cleaning. I'm hoping to acquire the separator plate gaskets and drill bits that are needed for the J-mod on my tranny tomorrow and I hope I will have the engine in the car by next Sunday.
My wife is off to the States and I'm playing Mr.Mom for the next couple weeks though so I really don't know if its going to find its way between the fenders on the timetable that I have set for myself!

Nice tech!!

Wish you luck on getting it done on your planned schedual. Having the kids alone does add to the challenge. Know it all too well LOL. Good thing i love 'em. :)

Well the engine isn't in but I did do the J-mod on the tranny and put in a drain plug in the pan as well, Also replace a broken 1 to 2 accumulator spring and Supercleaned the inside of the transmission. I was going to mate the transmission to the engine but I had gotten ahead of myself earlier and now have to remove one of the headers to give myself the necessary clearance to slide the trans into place.
Oh and another note!!! If you are looking for "numbered" drill bits, do it during the week! At Greggs Distributors or Acklands maybe even a bolt supply place. NAPA, Princess Auto, Autovalue, Partsource and big box stores like Lowes and Rona, they all didn't have them. I had to buy a couple at KMS and then I gave up and bought a kit at Canadian Tire. The little buggers ended up costing me $104.95 there but I talked to one of the guys there and he siad to just return them on Monday! ( I really can't afford to spend $100 bucks right now!).
I also went browsing on Kijiji and bought 12L of Mercon V for the big price of $35. I needed it and couldn't pass that one up!
All in all I didn't get the engine back in yet but I am happy with what I did get done.

Here is by far!!! the best write up on how to do your J-mod... http://crownvic.ca/forum/showthread.php?tid=1990

Alright! Here's today's update... The engine is back in between the fenders! Nothing is hooked up to it but the headers are on and the transmission is behind it!

Here are some of the makings on the separator plate for the J-mod
https://www.cmoc.ca/attachment.php?a...ine=1412654751


Between the fenders!
https://www.cmoc.ca/attachment.php?a...ine=1412654751

I couldn't have done it today without the help of my son Jeremy! He's 12, 5'7", 165lbs. Yeah he's going to be a giant!
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c2...006_181831.jpg

And he even got his hands dirty! That's unheard of these days. I give him two thumbs up. :tup :tup :yourock: I bet when he call's SHOTGUN no one argues with him. :argue:

Awesome progress. Nice to see your son is getting involved!

I'm lucky he jumps right in with both feet! I was having a difficult time getting the torque converter to line up with the holes on the flexplate but with his eyes and nimble fingers got it into place and hooked up in no time, He is a great help! It was just me today though as he had a x-country run after school. I did get the engine completely wired and only have to attach the X-pipe, Transmission crossmember, Transmission cooler lines, driveshaft, Steering shaft, Oxygen sensors, Battery, Fill the transmission and some other unthought of stuff to go! Should hopefully be running tomorrow night.

Good to see a kid with a wrench in his hand and doing some work instead of texting on a goddamn cell phone. Bravo.

IT LIVES! More later.

Awesome to hear!! Congrats.

Still not completely done but we started it today, Sounds good, has great oil pressure and no leaks! I still have to hook up the steering and the X-pipe and put the hood back on but that shouldn't take me too long. It took me nearly 1.5 hours just to hook up my transmission cooler lines to the damn tranny today. The long tubes sure get in the way!

Sounds like things are starting to come together for you.

Well things came together but now it has to come apart again. I think I'm going to give up on this POS this year and look at it again next spring. I took it for a drive and everything was going good but now it has a nice con rod knock. I just can't win.

Bummer, if not for your bad luck you wouldn't have any luck. :banghead:
Maybe it's time for a total strip down and start from the beginning again. :dunno

I'm starting to think its time to pull the 513 out of my mudder and put it in this bastard of a car. It's been many many years since I've had this many problems with just getting a car driving!