Project: Bullet-proof V-10

[BOTTLEFED]

40. The alternator is attached with two 9/16” bolts. Remove the bolts and wriggle the alternator up and out.

You must be registered for see images attach

41. Remove the coolant hose that runs up to the coolant tank. Mine has a hose clamp; yours might be a spring clamp.

You must be registered for see images attach

42. Next remove the coolant hose from the line running along the valve cover. Also remove this line/pipe from the valve cover. It is attached with two bolts to the cover itself. This piece is removed to make the next step easier. BTW, you will see in later pics that I use another plastic elbow to connect the two coolant hose that were just taken off to keep them from leaking and tied together and out of the way.

You must be registered for see images attach

43. There are no pics of this step because every case will be unique. This is the time to remove the exhaust manifold/headers. I have Borla and they attach at a collector before the turnout. They are pretty simple as far as headers go, but you may have a more difficult setup. I’ve never had the stock manifold so I can’t give any tips there either.

 

[BOTTLEFED]

44. The oil cooler lines should be visible now that everything is out of the way. The larger fitting is on the line and takes a 1” wrench. You can hold the fitting on the oil filter pedestal with a 7/8” wrench while you loosen the line.

You must be registered for see images attach

45. Unbolt the thermostat housing and remove it and the thermostat. Stuff a rag in the opening so nothing falls in. The bolts are the standard 7/16” that hold everything else on the motor.

You must be registered for see images attach

46. By now, you should have the hood off. The hood springs and bracket get in the way when removing the engine. Unbolt the bracket from the spring. There are two ½” bolts on each spring holding it to the bracket. Fold the spring down and out of the way. Lay the bracket carefully down. It will still be in the way, somewhat, but you will be able to move it up out of the way as you lift the engine out.

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[BOTTLEFED]

47. You will want to start getting things ready to pull the engine out now. Under the car, you will now need to find the motor mount nuts. The frame has a cradle that the engine sits in. There is a large nut and a tab that align the engine in the cradle on each frame rail. The nut is ¾” and very tight. Get a ½” drive socket and breaker bar to loosen these nuts. Remove the nuts and the motor will just sit there until you are ready to lift it out.

You must be registered for see images attach

48. The last steps before lifting the engine. Get a jack under the transmission to hold the front half up as you unbolt the bellhousing from the engine block. From underneath, remove the flywheel cover. There are four 3/8” bolts attaching it.

You must be registered for see images attach

49. Still under the car, there are two larger bolts from the bellhousing into the block. These are 5/8” bolts, one on each side of the bellhousing. First pic is the left side and the second pic is the right side looking up from the bottom (the bolts with washers that are in focus).

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[BOTTLEFED]

50. From the top, there are four 9/16” bolts attaching the bellhousing to the block. These are tight like the larger ones on the bottom. They are not easy to get to, even with everything out of the way. The first pic is looking down from the driver-side, and the second from the passenger-side (sorry for blurry pics). I use a long, adjustable 3/8” ratchet with a short socket to get to the bolts. You can see how well it works.

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[BOTTLEFED]

51. Here is the engine all ready to be lifted out. Once the engine is free and loose, recheck all around it to make sure, again, that you didn’t forget to disconnect any wires or remove any bolts or loosen any hoses that could break or keep you from lifting the engine out. Attach your engine hoist securely at 3 or 4 points on the block, front and back equally. You will first lift a little to get the engine up out of the motor mounts. Then the engine will need to come forward to pull out of the transmission. I use a pry bar between the block and bellhousing to help them separate. Make sure the jack is still supporting the transmission as you do this. They will usually pop as they release and the engine will be free to lift out slowly. Remember the hood bracket and move it as needed. Have someone guide you out to make sure you are not snagged on things such as the A/C compressor, coolant hoses, or frame rails. Cover the engine bay and front fascia as leftover fluid will most likely be dripping out as the engine is lifted and moved.

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

52. With the engine out and away from the car, you can temporarily set it on a block of wood until you can get it up on an engine stand for teardown. This will not harm the engine or oil pan. The teardown is next.

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[BOTTLEFED]

53. Before you put the engine on a stand, you will want to remove a few parts. First, remove the clutch. There are eight small flanged bolts holding the pressure plate to the flywheel. Loosen them in a star pattern to release it evenly. The assembly is sitting on some alignment pins and the plate will slide off once all the bolts are out. The disc will be loose behind the plate, so don’t drop it when pulling off the pressure plate.

You must be registered for see images attach

54. The best way to remove the large ¾” flywheel bolts is with an impact gun. If you don’t have an impact gun then you will want to move to the next step and make the flywheel holding tool. I loosen all the bolts in a star pattern to reduce the chance of warping the flywheel. I leave 2 bolts in and then tighten them back on just enough to hold the flywheel steady.

You must be registered for see images attach

55. I have made this tool for other motors in the past to remove front hub bolts and it has worked beautifully. It is a simple 3’ piece of angle iron (available at Home Depot/Lowes/most hardware stores). Lay the pressure plate on the angle iron and mark two of the close bolt holes. Drill those holes in the angle iron to the size of the clutch bolts so that you can attach the piece to the flywheel like in the pic. Make you attach it on the left side of the motor so that is pushes down on the ground as you loosen the hub bolt. You will need to turn it around if you using it to loosen the flywheel bolts or tighten the hub bolt.

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[BOTTLEFED]

56. The front hub bolt is notoriously difficult to loosen. It was tightened to 150ft/lbs and doused in loctite. I’ve noticed that a 1-1/4” socket fits on the bolt, but have been told 31mm (1.22”) is the correct size. Get a large ½” or even ¾” drive breaker bar and maybe a 3’ cheater bar on top of that. Use one foot to stabilize the engine and loosen the bolt. The flywheel holding tool will push against the ground to keep the motor from turning as you twist the bolt loose.

You must be registered for see images attach

57. Once the hub bolt is loose, remove the flywheel tool and the bolts holding the flywheel. The flywheel is kind of pressed on the crank shaft so you may need to tap on it slightly to break it loose. With the flywheel off, get your stand attachment ready and bolt it up to the rear on the engine block. Then lift the engine up to the stand and you are ready to start tearing it down.

You must be registered for see images attach

58. The rest of this will not be quite as detailed at the first part since I feel that if you are going this far, you are probably comfortable with your understanding of engine internals and should have a factory service manual (FSM) to reference.

59. Remove the valve covers. There is a sequence to loosen the bolts in the FSM. The bolts are the typical 7/16” bolts used on much of this motor. It is easier to use a torx (star) bit to get these since they are sometimes too close to the cover and you risk scuffing the coating on the cover if you use a socket.

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[BOTTLEFED]

60. Now to remove the cylinder heads. Again, follow the FSM for the sequence of loosening the bolts. I remove the small 7/16” bolts at the top first, then loosen the large ¾” bolts in the proper sequence. Put something down to catch all the residual coolant and oil in the heads, because once the head is loose, it will leak. Remove all the bolts and keep them safe for reuse later. Get a place that is close and clean, ready to put the head before you lift it off, trust me. There are alignment pins, so just lift the head straight up and off the block. The gasket will most likely not be reusable.

You must be registered for see images attach

61. Now turn the engine over on the stand. Remove the oil pan bolts. Again, these are the same 7/16” bolts from the rest of the motor. There is no pick up tube in the pan like most engines, so just pull the pan off. Here you can see the reusable oil pan gasket. Remove the windage tray as well.

You must be registered for see images attach

62. This is with the windage tray and gasket removed.

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[BOTTLEFED]

63. Move to the front of the motor. Back the hub bolt out a bit and attach a puller to the crankshaft balancer/damper. Remove the hub bolt, pulley, and balancer/damper.

You must be registered for see images attach

64. Remove the front timing cover. From the pic you can see most of the nine bolts holding it on. Once you have them all out, you may need to pry/tap the cover a little to get it unsealed. With the cover off, you can remove the cam bolt and slip off the timing chain and sprocket. Here is all of those removed.

You must be registered for see images attach

65. Now for some internal disassembly. This is how I do it. Others have different ways. Mine my not be the best, but it works.

 

[BOTTLEFED]

66. Put the hub bolt back in the crank with a few thick washers under it to keep it from bottoming out the threads. You will use it to turn the crankshaft so you can get all the connecting rod nuts. Turn it so that rod nuts you are removing are top and centered like pictured.

You must be registered for see images attach

67. Loosen the nuts on the connecting rod caps. Do this one at a time for each rod. Use a very soft hammer to tap the stud and loosen the cap.

You must be registered for see images attach

68. I use this brass drift wrapped in masking tape to tap the piston/rod assembly out the top of the block (the bottom with the motor in this position). Be very careful not to gouge/damage the block as you are doing this. Allow the connecting rod and stud to touch the cylinder wall as little as possible, especially if you are not boring the block. There are special caps to go on the studs if you are really particular.

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[BOTTLEFED]

69. Carefully slide all the pistons out and lay them out for inspection. Make sure you label them if you are reusing them and be sure you get all the bearings off the crankshaft and back in their respective caps.

You must be registered for see images attach

70. With all the pistons/rods out, you can remove the crankshaft main bearing caps. Follow the FSM for the proper sequence to loosen the caps. These are four bolt mains and this is a very long crank, so it is critical to loosen it properly to avoid warping the shaft. With the main caps removed, remove the six rear main seal plate bolts and finally the plate.

You must be registered for see images attach

71. This crankshaft is 85lbs. so you may want a friend to help you lift it out.

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[Ron]

Enjoyable read - Thanks for taking the time!

 

[BOTTLEFED]

If anyone has anything to add to this, please let me know. I'll be finishing up a full writeup of this for the how-to section and I need to know of any changes/corrections I need to put in. So if you have a tip or change, I'd like to know before I finish it. Even any typos or grammatical errors, please tell me.

 

[EllowViper]

Pulling the timing chain sprocket off the crank was a PITA for me. I ended up busting it into several pieces as I sheared the teeth off trying to pull it. I think a split bearing press would be the best vice a three/four pronged standard puller...or just let whomever works on t he crank take it off.

 

[BOTTLEFED]

eric, that doesn't sound right
mine fell off as soon as I loosened the cam bolt
it was only held in place by the pin on the cam

 

[EllowViper]

Crank not cam sprocket. Yours is still on the stub. Had to make a jig to press the new one on sorta like how the service manual explains. Didn't think it would be so tough to get off however. Live and learn. I got a complete timing gear set so I had all new sprockets anyways.

 

[BOTTLEFED]

yeah, I didn't notice you said crank
I don't see a reason to remove/replace it unless it is missing teeth

 

[Roy]

nice to read and learn...

 

[speedracervr4]

Great write up!! Thanks for posting. Will help when I decide to do my heads and cam!!

 

[BOTTLEFED]

Well, I finally got my parts back from the machine shop. I had the crank competition balanced, meaning every rotating part, including flywheel, clutch, crank, pistons, rods, front dampener and pulley. I also had the crank journals polished.

In the meantime, here are a few things I did...

TRACTION!! finally...

You must be registered for see images attach

Bought these Nitto drag radials off a member here with only a few miles on them.

Bought a Walbro fuel pump and pulled out my module for modifying (see other thread on fuel possible fuel syst. upgrade).

Wiring in my solenoids and switches for the nitrous system.

Cleaned engine bay really, really good.

Radiator cleaned and back-flowed.

 

[Camfab]

Great write up, but on step "60" just to clarify, the large head bolts should not be re-used. The bolts are of a yield to torque variety. You probably know that, but I thought I would just put it out there for others that don't.

 

[BOTTLEFED]

Another part of the process was honing the cylinders and preparing the block. I pulled the block on the stand outside for cleaning.

You must be registered for see images attach

I used a flex hone to deglaze the cylinders and put a nice cross-hatch back in the bores. I use a generous amount of WD-40 with the drill at about half speed, and work my way in and out at about a 1sec. pace to get that 60° X pattern.

You must be registered for see images attach

BEFORE

You must be registered for see images attach

AFTER

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[BOTTLEFED]

Great write up, but on step "60" just to clarify, the large head bolts should not be re-used. The bolts are of a yield to torque variety. You probably know that, but I thought I would just put it out there for others that don't.

I will mention that in the write-up. That is what the manual recommends, but it is highly debatable that they should be replaced every time. There was a thread on this very topic over on VA that dispels that myth. I have reused them before with no ill-effects.

thanks

 

[BOTTLEFED]

Once I honed all the cylinders, there was a lot of harmful debris in the block that needed to be cleaned out. I started by soaking the block with engine degreaser and scrubbing it really good and rinsing it out with a power washer.

I scrubbed the crankshaft area well with hot soapy water to get all the honing debris out. Then rinsed well.

You must be registered for see images attach

Then I went to work on the cylinder bores themselves. I got a nice clean hot soapy solution and a wheel brush and started scrubbing the bores.

You must be registered for see images attach

I scrubbed and rinsed until I could wipe a clean, white microfiber in each one and get a perfectly clean swipe.

You must be registered for see images attach

Immediately following this I used a rag soaked in WD-40 to wipe the bores down to keep them from rusting. It happens FAST. By the time I dried the bores and checked them for cleanliness, they were already starting to rust, which made it difficult to get a clean swipe.

 

[BOTTLEFED]

I bought my piston rings and bearings from a well-known race shop called Ackerly and Childs (previously Childs and Albert). I would recommend them for rings, but you can get the exact same bearing set cheaper on ebay.

You must be registered for see images attach

I went with the Hellfire rings on recommendation from JD. The race shop also recommended them for my application.
I gaped them big since I wasn't using a torque plate. I was told by many that .030-.035 was where I wanted to be on the top rings. But there was conflicting opinions on the second ring gap. Most the of the old school guys said smaller gap (.024-.026). I did a bunch of research and the newest method is to gap the second rings bigger than the top rings. I went with .033 on top and .037 on second (the pic shows .030 because that is what I was initially told by my machinist for the tops).

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[BOTTLEFED]

OK, so here is what I've been up to the last few days.

I soaked the crank in solvent overnight to clean out the machining dust. I washed it with soap and water and wiped it down with WD-40.

I assembled the pistons on the rods.

Then I installed the crank with new bearings and torqued the main caps to spec.

I carefully installed the pistons with the new bearings last night, and installed the timing chain and cam sprocket to proper time.

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[EllowViper]

What are you doing for a cam and lifters?

 

[BOTTLEFED]

Staying stock for now. I love the 708
I may go with a custom grind once I decide how much boost and spray I'll be running.

 

[KingSnake97]

Very good INFO.........

 

[KingSnake97]

What size are the Nitto drag radials and is that the NT05R?