17 replies to this topic

[impigfarmer]

Hey guys,
Been awhile since the floor mat group buy , but I could use some advice. I am going to swap out my 302 with a noisy rear main bearing with a 93' 302 that has low miles. Have some headers ready and a few other goodies but my mechanic said that he was planning on putting the van up on his lift and dropping the motor out the bottom. I told him that pretty much everybody that owns Mids found it easier to go thru the side or passenger door. Is there any reason he couldn't or shouldn't do it that way?
Appreciate any opinions
Bob

[69econo]

thru the slider door is how i did mine. after it was unbolted i had it out of the van in about 20-30 seconds. my buddy and i actually did 2 engine swaps the same day on our vans

[impigfarmer]

69econo, on 22 September 2011 - 12:32 PM, said:

thru the slider door is how i did mine. after it was unbolted i had it out of the van in about 20-30 seconds. my buddy and i actually did 2 engine swaps the same day on our vans

Yeah , that's what I have read in the other posts. When the 302 that is in it now went in for the original 300 six , a different guy did the swap out the front.
Guess if he feels comfortable with taking it out the bottom I should let him.

[SquirrelTurds]

impigfarmer, on 22 September 2011 - 12:04 PM, said:

my mechanic said that he was planning on putting the van up on his lift and dropping the motor out the bottom.

Has he actually looked at your van?

I think the only way to get it out of the bottom would be a sawzall. You have steering, subframe, and the engine cradle in the way.

[Tom Snyder]

impigfarmer, on 23 September 2011 - 09:30 AM, said:

Guess if he feels comfortable with taking it out the bottom I should let him.

Don’t let him do that! If you are paying by the hour it’s gonna cost you a bunch of extra bucks. Frankly I can’t really feature how this would be done. Really! How would you even support the engine, lift it off the mounts, & then let it down? This ain’t like changing an old VW engine that has to come out the bottom. I guarantee that he will be very sorry if he tries to do it that way. As Squirrel points out, I’m not so sure it would even fit thru there.

Out the passenger side is the easiest way by far. The hardest part is getting those damn torx head bolts out of the passenger seat base. If you can get those out beforehand it would be a big help. They are the same as the seat belt bolts. They take a # 50 torx. You might want to buy 1 or 2 extra bits to replace the ones you break. The rest is very straight forward & really a snap.
One guy here did it without removing the seat base. Another did it by going thru the side doors instead of the front passenger door. That would take a cherry picker hoist with a long or extendable boom. Thru the front passenger door is the most common way to do it
I have done it that way at least 3 times. That’s 3 out & 2 in.
A friend did his out the front, big PIA.

Let your guy know that there is no question about it, out the passenger side is THE WAY per everyone that has ever done it. I’d bet a Ford manual on the subject says the same thing.

[impigfarmer]

Thanks for your comments guys. I wll definately pass them along to him.

[Tom Snyder]

Oh, don’t forget that you have to use the van oil pan & oil pickup tube to match it.
But I wonder about this.

impigfarmer, on 22 September 2011 - 12:04 PM, said:

... swap out my 302 with a noisy rear main bearing ...

Do you mean it’s knocking? Is this a stick or an auto trans?

[impigfarmer]

Tom Snyder, on 24 September 2011 - 03:14 AM, said:

Oh, don’t forget that you have to use the van oil pan & oil pickup tube to match it.
But I wonder about this.

impigfarmer, on 22 September 2011 - 12:04 PM, said:

... swap out my 302 with a noisy rear main bearing ...

Do you mean it’s knocking? Is this a stick or an auto trans?

Yes , it was knocking very loudly as the RPM's would go up. Less as long as you were excellerating or decelerating. I found a Chilton's manual for my van and it said to take the engine out the side door as was suggested by the earlier post.
Mine is the original 3 speed standard on the coloum.

[Tom Snyder]

Stick shift is good!
Something else I forgot to mention besides the oil pan & pickup is that you will need a flywheel with the correct balance for the newer engine.
These balance weights go for both stick flywheels & auto trans flywheels/flex plates.
See this:
http://econolines.ip...indpost&p=21275

Also, if your new engine has the engine oil dipstick coming out of the the right front, passenger side, of the timing chain cover I would keep it there & plug off the one in the van pan. Without looking I think that is where the dipstick comes out of my 1969 passenger car 351W in my old van. I’ll try to remember to look at that later today & let you know if I remember correctly.
It is much more convenient & easier to use than the long original van dipstick. My vans don’t have any power steering or air conditioning so I don’t know if those would cause an interference problem with that dipstick location.

[Xplorer man]

impigfarmer, on 27 September 2011 - 01:16 PM, said:

Yes , it was knocking very loudly as the RPM's would go up. Less as long as you were excellerating or decelerating. I found a Chilton's manual for my van and it said to take the engine out the side door as was suggested by the earlier post.
Mine is the original 3 speed standard on the coloum.

I was able to clear the passenger seat pedestal by getting the engine lift boom as close to the engine as possible. Less swinging when the chain is short too. Later...

[impigfarmer]

Tom Snyder, on 27 September 2011 - 02:12 PM, said:

Stick shift is good!
Something else I forgot to mention besides the oil pan & pickup is that you will need a flywheel with the correct balance for the newer engine.
These balance weights go for both stick flywheels & auto trans flywheels/flex plates.
See this:
http://econolines.ip...indpost&p=21275

Also, if your new engine has the engine oil dipstick coming out of the the right front, passenger side, of the timing chain cover I would keep it there & plug off the one in the van pan. Without looking I think that is where the dipstick comes out of my 1969 passenger car 351W in my old van. I’ll try to remember to look at that later today & let you know if I remember correctly.
It is much more convenient & easier to use than the long original van dipstick. My vans don’t have any power steering or air conditioning so I don’t know if those would cause an interference problem with that dipstick location.

Old engine is out with no problem and he already has a line on the Flywheel. Just going to make sure my clutch lines up with it OK. My old oil pan and pick up tube are planned to use on the new engine. The dip stick ( long one out the front) comes in on the inside of the pan and would less trouble than to try and adapt the new one.
So far so good..

[Tom Snyder]

Questions for future reference for others:
1: I assume the engine came out the side like it shouild?
2: Was the seat base removed?
3: Were the bolts on the base a pain?
4: Where does the dipstick come out of the ‘93 engine, left side of the pan?

It was too dark by the time I got home & the chance to look at my front mounted ‘69 351W dipstick, was gonna post a pic for ya. I didn’t have to adapt anything.

[impigfarmer]

Tom: Answers to your questions.
1) Yes it came out the side and the 93 engine will be going back in the same way.
2) The seat base ( Pedestal) was removed with the seat still attached to it.
3) The bolts were no problem because I had removed and replaced them previously. ( But the first time I removed the original bolts they were a pain)
4) The dipstick on the 93' engine I bought ( which I believe came out of a truck) came out the drivers side of the pan or the opposite side of the van pan.

[Kuga]

Tom Snyder, on 28 September 2011 - 01:15 PM, said:

Questions for future reference for others:
1: I assume the engine came out the side like it shouild?
2: Was the seat base removed?
3: Were the bolts on the base a pain?
4: Where does the dipstick come out of the ‘93 engine, left side of the pan?

It was too dark by the time I got home & the chance to look at my front mounted ‘69 351W dipstick, was gonna post a pic for ya. I didn’t have to adapt anything.

Coming in a little late on this one but here is a seat base removal tip:
I hung a short plumb bob from the base to the tork head so I could locate where to drill./
Then I drilled a 1" hole with a hole saw right above the bolt. This allowed me to get a 15" extension & a long breaker bar on the adapter/torx..And once I got them turning, removal was easy with the IR 1/2 air wrench..Hope that this helps others that are going thru this..KUGA

[Tom Snyder]

Kuga, on 08 October 2011 - 05:28 PM, said:

...drilled a 1" hole...extension... breaker bar..

I don’t recall any problem getting leverage to loosen those torx head bolts. Part of the problem was the torx bits breaking because the bolts were so tight & the torx size so small. Maybe some rust too.

Kuga, the posts I have seen from you seem to have good & helpful info. That's good!
But your reply above was lost in the quote, looks like I posted all that. Apparently you posted right into my quote, above the point where you should have.
I saw something of the like in your posts over here too.
http://econolines.ip...indpost&p=40074
Very confusing.
Please take a look at what I just posted here, you might like it.
http://econolines.ip...t=0