I have been working out in the garage quite a bit lately, but I've fallen behind in my blogging. Today I attempt to catch up, and as a result this post is pretty dry. Apologies.
In my last post I connected the headers to the old exhaust system from the previous engine setup. With that completed, I could pull the engine out to prepare the engine bay for final engine install. I had tacked the motor mount brackets in place but they needed to be fully welded. Out came the engine, and I filled the garage with noxious welding smoke.
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| Back out for the last time in a long time, I hope |
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| Fully welded motor mount brackets |
When I installed the front suspension, I used the
blue wrench to uninstall the shock towers. This left a gaping hole in each fender. While this has been useful for accessing the engine occasionally, I felt the time had come to patch the holes. My suspension kit came with bolt in patch panels, but I wanted it to be more permanent.
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| The gaping fender hole |
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| Patch panel bolted in as intended by the suspension manufacturer |
I temporarily bolted the panels in place and marked the backside of the panel with a sharpie, I then traced that line with about a 3/8" offset and cut it to size. After a little fine tuning with a flap wheel, I welded them in place.
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| Scribing the backside |
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| offset from the scribed line |
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| Cut to size |
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| Welded in |
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| Both sides patched |
While I was in the sheet metal patching groove, I took care of the hole I had cut for the turbo inlet pipe.
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| Patch scribed to size |
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| Tacked in place |
With my previous engine setup, I had used D581 ignition coils from a Chevy pickup. I liked them a lot so I decided to buy 4 more and use them on this engine. In the OEM cofiguration and on the old 2.3 Turbo, these are mounted on the valve covers. With the new V8 setup, I wanted a little cleaner installation. While the OEM coil brackets are effective, I found an aftermarket coil bracket kit that would provide more compact and attractive mounting. The newly installed fender aprons provided a good mounting location for the coils.
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| GM factory coil assemblies |
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| Coil bracket kit |
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| Coils mounted on bracket |
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| Coils, flex fuel sensor, and fuel pressure regulator mounted to patch panel |
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| Engine bay ready for the engine |
With the engine bay all cleaned up and a crappy coat of spraypaint on the fender aprons, it was time to get the engine ready to go back in.
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| Took the engine off the stand and hung it on the hoist, |
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| Made some transmission dowels out of half inch rod. |
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| New cast iron flywheel from Ford Performance |
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| New rear main seal |
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| Put a screw in the old rear main seal and pulled out |
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| Blue loc-tite for these flywheel bolts |
Because my old engine setup used a V8 clutch, I was able to re-use my old clutch. I don't think it was even broken in. I love when I have good parts to re-use.
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| King Cobra clutch kit. |
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| Aligning clutch disc |
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| Engine in it's newly furnished home |
The engine went back in without much trouble. While fitting the engine, I noticed the tight clearance between the motor mount nut and steering joint, as well as the power steering lines and the bolt head. I was able to find some bolts with a smaller head and thinner all-metal lock nuts.
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| Original bolt (no locknut installed). Note the tight clearance to the steering joint. |
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| New bolt and nut, much more clearance for steering joint |
With the engine in, and the motor mount hardeware sorted, I turned my attention to fitting the intake. In order to install a heater hose port, I had to take one of the throttle bodies off. When I took it off, I noticed that while the throttle body had an o-ring to seal to the adapter below it, the adapter had no gasket to seal it to the intake manifold below it, so they all came off, and I sealed it up with the Toyota technician's secret weapon, Form In Place Gasket aka Fippage.
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| My small helper |
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| Throttle bodies removed |
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| Adapters removed. |
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| O-ring on underside of throttle body. |
I reassembled the intake and throttle bodies, did a test run, and tried to install it. What I didn't realize was that there wasn't enough clearance around the center manifold nuts. Again I fond myself grinding and hacking (this time with a dire grinder and wood chisel) away on this fine chinesium intake to make it fit. I guess that's expected when you pay a quarter of what it costs for a reputable ITB intake system. I then found that just because the nuts fit on the studs, that was no guarantee that a tool would fit on the nuts. Out came the angle grinder and a sacrificial Harbor Freight wrench became a specialty tool for the four center nuts on my intake
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| Gaskets and studs |
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| FIPG at work again |
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| High quality specialty tools by me. Thin, reduced-diameter closed end 1/2" wrench |
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| If fits! |
The engine is in, and basically all the mechanical pieces of the puzzle are there. Up next, I will tackle the plumbing and wiring.
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| The money shot. |
