My El Camino Engine swap

[RANDY P]

400 is the weird one that has external balancing. You can tell once since it has random holes in the center.

rjp

[GH85Carrera]

I had fun in the garage tonight cleaning parts. Gee whiz that is fun.

With luck I will have all the parts cleaned up tomorrow. Then I will start on the engine compartment redoing some of the old wiring and more cleanup.

Then the reassembly starts.

[johnsjmc]

You usually find the large diameter balancers on the "4 bolt" truck and high performance blocks. They are interchangeable with the smaller dia ones and will both work if the timing marks clear. You need to remove and clean the sheetmetal pan from the bottom of the intake manifold (a chisel under the rivets will pop them out) There will be lots of sludge that needs to be removed .

[GH85Carrera]

One of the other "while I am in there" upgrades I discovered is the replacement for the steering shaft. GM designed the stock shaft with a rag joint. I replaced it once several years ago. Now someone discovered a shaft from some Jeep is a direct bolt on replacement and it has little universal joints on each end so it has much better steering. They are available in junk yards, excuse me salvage yards for 15 bucks. A buddy of mine is a regular at the yards and he picked me up one. I will pay him a 100% profit for the effort getting me one. Now I get to clean one more part and paint it to make it pretty, and replace it now while nothing is in the way.

[johnsjmc]

Your existing shaft has a "collapse feature" behind the rag joint and ahead of the firewall. If your replacement Jeep shaft doesn,t collapse like an antenna then you are compromising crash safety.

[GH85Carrera]

All of the shaft is question in in front of the firewall. Other than the rag joint itself. As I recall the current shaft is a solid piece of steel. I will double check that I prepare the swap. I am under the impression the only difference in the two shafts is the type of joints on each end.

[johnsjmc]

[/QUOTE]
You can see the section here.
If your shaft is the same as this one then the telescopic section is under the plastic shaft cover.Leave the rag joint and for a Big improvement in road feel change the steering box to a mid/late 80's Z28 box . It should be a direct interchange and it has something like a 12:1 ratio .Gives you better feel and quicker steering.Also used in the S10 extreme. The used box at a wreckers should be less than $100

[Laneco]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

One of the other "while I am in there" upgrades I discovered is the replacement for the steering shaft. GM designed the stock shaft with a rag joint. I replaced it once several years ago. Now someone discovered a shaft from some Jeep is a direct bolt on replacement and it has little universal joints on each end so it has much better steering. They are available in junk yards, excuse me salvage yards for 15 bucks. A buddy of mine is a regular at the yards and he picked me up one. I will pay him a 100% profit for the effort getting me one. Now I get to clean one more part and paint it to make it pretty, and replace it now while nothing is in the way.

The jeep section is a cheap AND good swap. I've got on for this car sitting on a shelf. On the "to do" list. Set me back $10.

angela

[Laneco]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

One of the other "while I am in there" upgrades I discovered is the replacement for the steering shaft. GM designed the stock shaft with a rag joint. I replaced it once several years ago. Now someone discovered a shaft from some Jeep is a direct bolt on replacement and it has little universal joints on each end so it has much better steering. They are available in junk yards, excuse me salvage yards for 15 bucks. A buddy of mine is a regular at the yards and he picked me up one. I will pay him a 100% profit for the effort getting me one. Now I get to clean one more part and paint it to make it pretty, and replace it now while nothing is in the way.

The jeep section is a cheap AND good swap. I've got on for this car sitting on a shelf. On the "to do" list. Set me back $10.

John, do you know if the SS Monte Carlo with the suspension package had that 12:1 box? If it is slower, maybe I'll hold off on putting that jeep section in until I pick up the improved box...

angela

[johnsjmc]

I,m not sure about the Monte .Probably has it if it has factory F41 I found the box on an S10 with the fat orange factory shocks and thick front sway bar. My son and I used all the newer parts in an S10 Blazer he had and discovered the faster steering box was a part of the package. It gives about 2 1/4 turns lock to lock but I don't remember exactly how much quicker than original but clearly faster than what was stock in the Blazer

[GH85Carrera]

The Jeep steering shaft does indeed have a telescoping safety shaft. I will install it tomorrow. I spent this afternoon painting brackets and more cleaning.



I discovered the original engine mounts have orange paint spots on them and the front cross-member has a spray of green. All of that was under the grease and oil. I wonder why the factory sprayed a blob of orange on the mounts and green on the frame?

I have a ton of work left to do. My goal for tomorrow is to finish the cleanup and start installing parts.

Getting the engine mounts swapped looks like a challenge. How in the world do I get a wrench on the bolts on the inside of the frame ? The old mounts are indeed broken so they have to go.

All I have left to do is put the engine back in and attach these parts.

[johnsjmc]

Paint dabs are used by quality control people to see at a glance if a part has been installed and tightened . My brother-in-law was in quality control for awhile in a nearby Ford plant during the 70's He has a story about a Maverick getting all the way to the end of the line covered with all the required quality control labels .It wouldn,t start and they soon discovered it had no engine. He also laughs about building a 3 door car there too.It had a 4 door side and a two door side. It was way ahead of it,s time. It got half way down the line before someone noticed.
The bolts are installed from inside the frame and are sometimes tack welded so they don,t turn. If you need to replace the bolts I have tack welded mig wire to the center of a bolt to allow me to fish it in to the frame.

[GH85Carrera]

What a pain in the butt method to mount an engine. I finally got the drivers side off now on the the passenger side. It has the fuel line running through the hole in the frame for the wrench to fit into.

Do the bolts have to go back in the same direction? Getting the bolt inside the frame the mount in place and the nut back on looks impossible to do with the suspension in place.

[johnsjmc]

The bolts can go in any way you can get them in. As I said if you have a mig welder you can tag a piece of mig wire to the bolt center and fish it in with the wire, just don,t foul the threads. Then drop the nut and a lockwasher on and tighten while pulling up on the wire tail. Then snap off the wire. Sounds stupid but works quite well.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by johnsjmc

Paint dabs are used by quality control people to see at a glance if a part has been installed and tightened . My brother-in-law was in quality control for awhile in a nearby Ford plant during the 70's He has a story about a Maverick getting all the way to the end of the line covered with all the required quality control labels .It wouldn,t start and they soon discovered it had no engine. He also laughs about building a 3 door car there too.It had a 4 door side and a two door side. It was way ahead of it,s time. It got half way down the line before someone noticed.
The bolts are installed from inside the frame and are sometimes tack welded so they don,t turn. If you need to replace the bolts I have tack welded mig wire to the center of a bolt to allow me to fish it in to the frame.

Not only that but you see restorations with the correct marks placed on the chassis and even some times the correct amount of overspray on a particular part or area.

I think we've all seen this in the BJ auctions with that underside camera as the car rolls on the block.

[GH85Carrera]

Wow, I finally got the (insert long string of profanity here) mounts off. I had to cut a small notch in the frame to get a wrench in there. What a pain. Now I need to get the new ones mounted. More profanity will be used.

[sammyg2]

Ya know, iffn the front suspension bushings are wore out now would prolly be the easiest time to replace them (ducking for cover).

And so, the slope gets slipperier.

[RANDY P]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

Ya know, iffn the front suspension bushings are wore out now would prolly be the easiest time to replace them (ducking for cover).

And so, the slope gets slipperier.

Without the exhaust system in the way it's a lot easier to change them. Try taking everything apart with engine in is a PITA- BTDT (on my Pontiac even)


Oh, check for cracks around the A Arm Ball joint while you're at it- they are failing routinely these days. I know someone who HAD a nice 1969 Elky until his broke loose.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

Ya know, iffn the front suspension bushings are wore out now would prolly be the easiest time to replace them (ducking for cover).

And so, the slope gets slipperier.

I rebuilt the front suspension several years ago. It is 100% fine.

[GH85Carrera]

OK guys, I made some progress today. Two steps foreword, one step back.

I have a new flex plate mounted, the new harmonic balancer is mounted, the engine is at TDC on cylinder number one. I had fun (read major pain it the fanny) getting the part for the oil filter to screw into. It was still on the old engine which is sitting on a wood crate and the oil filter area is blocked by a slab of wood. It has now been transfered to the new engine.

One question I have for the brain trust:

The new crate engine comes from the factory with an option for mounting a dip stick on either side. The driver's side had a little paper plug in the hole. The hole for the driver's side is right under the area of the exhaust manifold. It will not work with my exhaust setup. I transfered the dip stick from the old engine to the new engine on the passenger side. Hopefully a o-ring and some silicone will keep it from leaking.

My real question is how do I plug the other side? There is no threads for a bolt. It is a smooth bore. Is there such a thing as a oil dipstick plug?

Any ideas will be appreciated.