My 71 Duster work in progress

Is there a reason you're not pulling the engine/trans as a unit? Manhandling it kind of sucks, but it's a lot easier to separate them on the ground.
 
The last (only) time I tried that it turned into a total cluster. I've got photos here of a 440/4spd combo hanging on the end of my cherry picker, with the tilter all the way in one direction and the picker all the way up. I like to never got that thing out. Working alone sucks. I didn't know I needed a helper to either lift the rear of it up or man the cherry picker.

Also too, $300 grille LOL that I don't want to remove or smash accidentally.

Seriously, other than figuring out how to support the back of the motor, it's not a big deal, it just takes longer. IMO the hardest part of dealing with a transmission is disconnecting all the crap connected to it and draining it without a lake of fluid on the floor. That has to happen either way.
 
On a 4-speed, I'd remove the transmission but not the bell. But yes, you need help to wrangle the far end of the tailshaft when taking the whole thing out as one.

I did install the 440 in my Charger with the trans already mounted, but I was 25 at the time. I don't remember how I did it, but I was just telling someone the other day that I couldn't get the mount brackets to fit down onto the K-member. The trans was mounted, but the engine wouldn't comply. I literally jumped up and down on the intake while bracing myself with the trusses. It would not comply. I was working in my parents' garage and ran out of time. Dad did not barter--when he gave you a deadline for it to be out, it was an order. We pushed it out and flat-towed it out to a friend's garage about 10 miles distant. When we got there, the engine had fallen into place. :unsure: 😐
 
Everything is disconnected now including the converter. Still need to raise the rear end up, drop the driveshaft, then the transmission.
 
... and now the transmission has just 3 bolts holding it in. Would've taken it all the way out but had to go in the house so I called it a night.

The rear x-member is out and a few pieces of 3/4 pine between the pan and center link are holding the the engine up just fine. Just be sure to stick the boards so they're cross-grain to the center link or they'll just split.

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I'm hoping I can get the exhaust out without cutting it apart before it goes back in. Once the engine bay is empty I will need to pick the car up with the picker to roll the trans out the front.
 
I went out, finished unbolting the trans, drained the oil, removed the lower pulley, put the front end back on the ground, and managed to hurt my back. Not hurt like Doc's back, more like a knot in the muscles right under my right rib cage. It's one of those pains that make me kind of squirmy, because it's hard to sit still since there's no comfortable place. Calling Dr. Motrin ....

My nephew is supposed to be in the neighborhood today so I'm going to try and pull him over here so we can take the hood off. I might be able to lift the engine out with it on, but it's going to need to come off before I'm done anyway.

FWIW I had never heard of pulling an engine with the hood on before I saw it mentioned on FABO.
 
b-body-bob said:
FWIW I had never heard of pulling an engine with the hood on before I saw it mentioned on FABO.
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First I've heard of it as well. It seems like it would be more work than just removing four bolts and getting it out of the way. Lots of inch the hoist away from the car, lift a bit, inch, lift a bit, repeat ad nauseum. The hood comes off in what, a minute or two?
 
Dr.Jass said:
First I've heard of it as well. It seems like it would be more work than just removing four bolts and getting it out of the way. Lots of inch the hoist away from the car, lift a bit, inch, lift a bit, repeat ad nauseum. The hood comes off in what, a minute or two?
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Yeah that's the same way I feel. I first thought, well if it won't come out I can stop and take the hood off then, but that seems like a dumb way to go. The next thing you know I've dropped the hood into the windshield or banged the engine into the rad support. Or even worse, into Gina's grille.

I see people marking them before taking them off too, but I've never had problems getting it on and aligned as quickly without a mark as I could with an inaccurate one. With four bolts all you've got is the front-back adjustment anyway. You can't really install it cock-eyed. Also, I'm liable to be sanding/cleaning/painting things before reinstalling so the marks wouldn't last anyway.
 
There's usually minor metal damage where the captive washers rubbed against the hood during original installation by the loving craftsmen that precisely hand-built these durable chariots designed to last forever.

Whoa... forgot there's no sarcasm button.
 
I would say this Duster's been painted so many times that doesn't apply, but the one part of it that hasn't been painted is the bottom of the hood. It's still B5 blue. They did ugly it up when they cut a hole for the scoop though.

At one point the car was orange, which I bet was pretty sweet looking, but then I grew up around an orange Nova SS that I really liked so that's just natural.

:D
 
We took the hood off my friend's '63 Polara that his grandparents bought new. It was 100% original in 1985 when he got it. Never mind the paint damage; the hinge metal had witness marks where the captive washers had dug into it while the boys at Lynch Road tightened away. We didn't need the scribed marks a'tall... just realigned the washers to the witness marks and tightened. Such marks have been my go-to since, unless I'm putting a new hood on the car. Even then, they're an excellent starting point.

Unless someone works to remove or conceal them, you could paint those hinges 20 times and the witness marks would still be evident. Blurred, but evident.
 
Engine is on the floor now.
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For my next trick I'll pull a rabbit out of my hat - I mean, I'll clear a space to store it for now and get the 360 up in front of the car.

I'm going to try to get more of that black rubbed off but the paint under it is kind of beat in places from years of engine swaps. There's no way I'll make it look better by spraying some random blue that won't match no matter what the cap color leads me to believe so I'm unsure what comes after the cleaning.
 
Wal-Mart's Super Tech carb cleaner used to be a pretty effective paint remover. Used sparingly, you might be able to get some of the Camaro out of the engine bay. Work expediently, though--I let the stuff soak a bit and it took all the OE paint and primer off my LeBaron's entire engine bay, right down to bare metal. That stuff and a putty knife were all I used.
 
I'll look into that. Really don't want to go to Walmart though.

I had good luck with Goo Gone before. The inner fenders used to be all black but a lot of it came right off.

I moved the car around yesterday to get the motor into a far corner. It's pretty darned light now.

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I plan to hoist the front end tonight so I can roll the trans out on the jack. It's peeking out right under the rocker panel.
 
I bought a set of Holley cast aluminum covers today so I will have a set of Moroso valve covers for sale, or they will go back on the wall. I think I can get a decent $$ out of them - need to research.
 
b-body-bob said:
Mine are gold. An overpriced example VINTAGE MOROSO GOLD VALVE COVERS MOPAR 273 318 340 360 DODGE PLYMOUTH NOS BUT .. | eBay
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I get the whole "racing/lightweight" thing, but that seems exorbitant considering the finish issues. On the flip side, finding a set without hammered flanges is tricky due to their fragility.
While I have no problem using Moroso parts when needed, their undying need to splash their name all over every single item they sell is off-putting to me. Just because I want your parts doesn't mean I feel a need to clutter my engine bay with advertising.

b-body-bob said:
Also figured out why the engine tended to overheat while I was putting the parts away
The one on the left is from the Duster the other one came on the road runner. Both two groove.
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Maybe yes, maybe no. It's definitely an underdrive compared to the other. But it was enough to cool something or they wouldn't have made it (although it may have been paired with a smaller pump pulley as well). Also, fleet/cop cars used different water pumps with less vanes which move coolant less quickly, along with 5-blade fans as opposed to 7-blade (a situation one also finds on trucks). If I had to guess, the small pulley is from a manual-steering application, possibly an LA or even Slant. A lot of pulleys interchange based solely on offset, which of course doesn't mean they're the right diameter.
Of course, I've written an entire thread about how parts-store thermostats don't flow enough coolant for the cooling system to work properly. That's my go-to if an engine runs warmer than expected, and the whole thing arose out of a situation with Kev's car running warmer than he'd like. It won't run right at stat temp now, but he lives in Atlanta so it's not surprising it sees low/mid-190s in the summer with a 180° stat.
The best bet is to get a set of pulleys off the same engine if possible. I've grabbed sets out of boneyards over the years and either zip-tied them together, or at least used the tiny colored zip ties to color-code them. The pulleys on the Valiant both had yellow zip ties, so I knew they were a "matched" pair, in this case from a manual-steering small block.
 
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