My '85 MGM, "Maisa"

[sly]

Dat flex yo!

The 88 I used to have without a rear sway bar.

But that flex...

[Arquemann]

What an ordeal was to get the car on and off the trailer...
Rented a "large" tilt deck car trailer, the deck was about 10cm wider than from wheel to wheel on the MGM and just managed to close the rear gate with the bumper above the winch. Had to remove the wheel covers for clearance. Used a hole in the rear frame rails. Ends of the rear bumper got some small scuffs and and winch line dented the trunk pan a tiny bit. Tolerable results. Will pick a flat deck trailer next time.
Ride was fortunately uneventful, car stayed put and no popo. We were a bit overloaded with the Audi.

Will start disassembling the 302 next week.

[Arquemann]

What the heck is up with my exhaust manifold stud threads? The ones to the midpipe.

I'm 99% sure I have a 7/16-14 tap and die, but neither one fits on the studs or the nuts. TPI matches just fine.

Two of the nuts for the studs are pretty screwed so I was going to run a tap through them, but it just won't go in. Also the die does a dead stop on the stud after a couple turns.

[VicCrownVic]

When I replaced those studs, they were listed wrong everywhere for '91. I ended up looking up studs for a 1980 which turned out to be correct thread.
http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/forum/te...32#post1139032

edit: Reusing the old studs, should be 7/16"-14 like you thought.

edit2: Dorman 03135 should be the right replacement.

[Arquemann]

Drained the engine of oil and coolant, oil looked just black and normal, coolant was mostly green and some brown at the bottom, smelled awful and kinda burnt?
First casualty so far was the driver side block drain plug, which rounded spectacularly. The pass. side drain plug really wanted to round off too, but I managed to hammer it loose with some heat.

Exhaust manifolds are off, zero broken bolts. Some were alarmingly loose, other pretty tight. Also had gaskets, so according to the lincoln log thread VCV linked, means it's not factory. No leaks though.

Next I need to organise the water pump, timing cover and accessory bracket bolts to have any hope of putting that stuff back together correctly. Too bad they're all rusty and ugly

When I replaced those studs, they were listed wrong everywhere for '91. I ended up looking up studs for a 1980 which turned out to be correct thread.
http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/forum/te...32#post1139032
edit: Reusing the old studs, should be 7/16"-14 like you thought.
edit2: Dorman 03135 should be the right replacement.

I found a random 7/16-14 nut that threads onto the studs just fine. The studs are a bit rough, but probably reusable as is. Upon closer inspection I found that my die tries to cut the thread way deeper than what's on the stud, which seems hardened and the threads are super shallow. Still no idea why the tap won't thread into the nuts at all.

Is a 2-1/4" stud enough for the driver side w/ the exhaust valve? Maybe if the measurement is just for the long side of the stud and not overall length?

[VicCrownVic]

Is a 2-1/4" stud enough for the driver side w/ the exhaust valve? Maybe if the measurement is just for the long side of the stud and not overall length?

Forgot about the extra stuff there on the older models. Not sure what that setup looks like/if a longer stud is needed.

[Arquemann]

I've now torn down the 302 to a short block, still no signs of damage. A couple intake valves are very clean, others pretty carboned up. Pretty sure a bunch of them leak. A few cylinders have way more carbon than others. Tried to scrape nr.1 piston to see markings, which there are none.
Also looked up the casting numbers, block is a E5AE-C3B and heads are E5AE.

Crosshatching is well visible, although the cylinder walls are kinda shiny. Nr.7 has a couple teeny tiny vertical marks, seem only superficial. Barely any ring ridge.
Bunch of pics attached.

Here's the dealio: Who made the factory head gaskets? The ones I pulled off say Fel-Pro. That and the generously applied black goop on the head bolts makes me think I'm not the first one taking off the heads.

Flipping the engine over and diving to the bottom end after I figure out how to catch all the fluids that'll come pouring out.

[gadget73]

I don't remember if the old motors I've had apart had a Ford number on the gaskets or not, but definitely no FelPro branding. The bolts also usually have very little evidence of anything, just some stuff in the threads that looks like pipe thread sealer most of the time.


if the bores are not oversize, tapered, or out of round I'd probably say just run a hone through there for a quick de-glaze and call it good.


on the exhaust, you're sure its not M11 ? Nearly identical diameter, just different thread pitch. This is from the annoying era where everything screwed into the block is SAE and most everything else is metric.

[Arquemann]

My head gaskets look just like these Ford M-6051-C51 head gaskets, they have the tiny felpro logo in the corner too.
I took a look at a couple engine teardown vids of similar vintage small blocks and the head gaskets look the same there too.

[gadget73]

The ones I remember are just silver, no stripes.

[Arquemann]

I think I found the clickyclack...

Cyl. 1


Cyl. 8

The other ones are naturally inbetween.

I quickly popped off the main caps and the bottom halves are worn, but not alarmingly so.
Cam bearings look fine, but they seem to have burnt on oil on some parts.

Also found some pitting in about half of the lifters, which is probably a good sign to throw them in the bin.

[DerekTheGreat]

I'm betting someone did a quick "rebuild" of your engine some time ago. You know, just a quick hone, freshened cylinder heads & bearings....

[Arquemann]

I'm betting someone did a quick "rebuild" of your engine some time ago. You know, just a quick hone, freshened cylinder heads & bearings....

Sounds like what I'm about to do. I doubt there's been any engine work done ever before to this engine.

[87gtVIC]

The stock pistons on these have valve reliefs in them?

[Arquemann]

The stock pistons on these have valve reliefs in them?

Seems so, haven't looked closely, but the pistons have a Ford-ish numbers on the insides of the skirts.