Weird questions...

[Mercury Mike]

I was reading my Mustang's book, and it says that when assembling a 170, to make sure that you use sealant on the headgasket. What's the best sealant? When bolting on the head, should I use any sealant in any of the bolts? I will put antiseize on the exhaust for sure.

I have a 200 that's already built, and only has about 5000 miles on it. It's ready to go. I can easily, very easily, reseal it and drop it into my ranchero. However, it ran like crap while it was in the car. 3/6 of the plugs were fouled to hell, and the pistons are all full of carbon. It's headgasket was leaking before I pulled it. My grandpa swore that he put a bolt through the #1 cylinder, but there was no hole there. The cylinder is a bit out of round. The piston is polished on the back, and carboned up on the front, right above the top ring. If I hone it and re-ring it, do you think it'd be okay? The cam has almost no wear on it, all the bearings look great, except for the #1 main bearing, which has a bit of an odd wear pattern. I will get pictures for you guys tomorrow. Just a bit of background on the engine.

Questions for the 200:

Hone and re-ring, re-bearing the main. Don't particularly wanna pull the crank. Would it be fine?

The threads for the balancer bolt are stripped. Somebody (not gonna say who) hit the balancer puller with a 1/2" impact gun, and beat the hell out of the threads. Can I chase those threads? Will that be okay on that part of the engine?

There was no oil-slinger. Isn't there supposed to be one behind the balancer on the 200?

Are the threads on 170 head bolts the same as for a 200?

What's the best way to clean carbon off the top of pistons?

Does anyone in SoCal have a hydraulic rocker set for a 200 that they're not currently using? =D I don't want to use my adjustable set. I will if I have to though.

Are 170 and 200 harmonic balancers the same?

What's the best way to break in a new head? I will be using a rebuilt head on an already broken in block.

Other than distributor, will everything from a '63 170 bolt onto a '65 170 block? Oil pump and all?



Also, if an engine has oil in it, and you pull the flywheel bolts out, oil is supposed to come out of those holes, right? If it's not, then that would be bad, 'cause that happened on dissassembly of the 200.

Thanks for any info guys.

 

[wallaka]

Hmm. I can answer a few:

Not sure. You would have to be careful while honing not to hit the crank.

It should be OK to tap the threads out. Just don't over torque the bolt.

Yes, there is supposed to be an oil slinger.

The head bolts should be the same.

Don't know.

I don't think there's a specific "break in" procedure for the head. The rings are the only part that need a bed-in period. Just take it easy for the first thousand miles or so.

The 63 and 65 blocks should be exactly the same except for the distributor.

I didn't have oil come out when I pulled the flexplate from my engine. They should be blind holes if I'm not mistaken.

 

[addo]

OEM head gasket sealant was something like Permatex applied into the pressed grooves of the steel gasket. You might get away with liberal doses of VHT copper spray. Any modern gasket would just go on dry unless there were good reasons for doing otherwise. Letting it sit between torque stages is most important.

I use grease on the head bolt threads. You could try on the ones exposed to water, blue Hylomar or Permatex (again!) but all blind holes just moly grease or engine oil after chasing and blowing clean with solvent, then air. Don't forget lube under the bolt heads. 170 and 200 head bolts are the same length.

Suggest you put put cam lube on the valve stem tips and mating parts of the pushrods/rockers when firing up a new combination of parts.

Crank to flywheel bolts are also sealed with guess what?

 

[Mercury Mike]

Will do. Thanks Addo. Another question, when pulling the engine and trans combo, do I have to lift the car, or will I be able to persuade the combo out of there with an equalizer? I only have 2 jack stands. I can't set the parking break or anything. The bellhousing bolts are just too big of a pain in the ass to get out without removing them together, and I want to clean up the transmission and paint it anyways.

I got the head off of that knocker today. I can't believe it though... no ridge on the cylinders, everything seems to move real nice... the oil pan is dented, and they say that's when the knock started. Could it be something other than the rod knocking? I will tear into the bottom end and take some pictures... but the engine was newly rebuilt just about before this happened. Only 5-10k on the motor. I would like to fix the problem and button it back up, hopefully. That would be best case scenario. I didn't do a compression test, but after I find out the problem, I will get it all together on the stand, chain it down, and get some compression numbers for you guys. All in all, it seems as though I may be able to fix it, button it up, and put some miles on it. =D I got started on the body work today after I got tired of tearing into the engine, and right before it got dark so I wouldn't have time to get to pulling it. I started to jack out the rear quarter. I may be able to repair it, without cutting and swapping panels. =D Everything seems to be moving forward accordingly. =) I'm very, very pleased.

 

[addo]

You ought to come close for pulling the motor on jackstands. Disconnect/remove the centre link and take out the radiator, then water pump. That'll give you the best chance.

Also you can set the rear wheels inside old rims to raise the back by 4" or so in conjunction with the front stands. Remember the tranny oil will go everywhere.

Sometimes just a dented oil pan will cause a knocking sound. You might be really lucky.

 

[Mercury Mike]

Awesome. Very awesome. I already drained the tranny fluid. I will put a plug in the tailshaft. No tranny fluid allowed on the floor. That's a great idea, the rims. I will do that. Sounds like everything will work out, hopefully. I will pull the motor and the pan. If it was the pan knocking, how will I know? Will the pan be scored or something? Addo, you made my night, just because there might be that possibility that my motor is in good ass shape. =DDDD

 

[JackFish]

I got a huge dent in my oil pan. Fell off a jack. I just towed it to the machine shop. They hammered it out, painted it, looks like new. Busted the oil pump too.

 

[Bort62]

I was able to put in my 200 + T5 without doing anything to the car. just angled it down in.

 

[Mercury Mike]

I have plenty of oilpans. =D

 

[jamyers]

Questions for the 200:

The threads for the balancer bolt are stripped.

What's the best way to clean carbon off the top of pistons?

Are 170 and 200 harmonic balancers the same?

Also, if an engine has oil in it, and you pull the flywheel bolts out, oil is supposed to come out of those holes, right?

I'll take a stab at the above...

If the balancer are stripped, I'd take a look at drilling/tapping for the next size up. Last thing in the world you want is for the balancer/pulley to walk off while you're doing 70mph.

Scraper and wirebrush-on-a-drill. Bring each piston up to tdc, stuff oily rags into the other cylinder holes, and put some axle grease around the edge of the piston - then go to town. When you're all done, hand spin the crank around a few times, wiping the bores clean. Wouldn't hurt to use compressed air to make sure there's no trash between the pistons and bores.

170 and 200 balancers are same/same, except that some have one belt groove and others have two grooves (extra for a/c or power steering). Except for however many belts you need, they're interchangeable.

My 170 and 200 both leaked engine oil through the empty flywheel bolt holes, so I'm pretty sure they go all the way through into the crankcase.

Hope all this helps!

 

[Mercury Mike]

Thanks James. I am looking for that air cleaner base. I have one from a '70 maverick for sure, that will fit right over your carb, I think. =D I may have a '65 from an 1100 as well.

 

[jamyers]

You're welcome, glad to be able to help. And thanks for looking for the a/c base, whatever you've got that will fit the 1100 neck will be great.

Hey, you got any pics of your Ranchero? Don't see many of them around, you know. Pics of mine are here at photobucket, along with a mess of other misc pics.
http://s23.photobucket.com/albums/b391/jamyers/

 

[Mercury Mike]

I do have pics, but they're on a camera. I have 2 pictures, showing the damage that's on it. But I'll get them and send them around. Tomorrow I will be going up to my grandpa's where the car is and finish taking the motor out, and show you all some pictures. Speaking of which... I gotta talk to Anthony about picking up a head gasket from him.

 

[Mercury Mike]

Also, why would a starter engage for half a second, barely turn the motor over, then pull back towards the housing, and continue to spin? IE having to tap the key multiple times to get the engine to turn over. I got a new starter and it fixed the problem, but why would it do it?

The motor will be coming out tomorrow, no questions. I also want to get the fuel gauge to work. What will I have to do to pull the sending unit from the tank? Can I operate it from outside of the tank at all?