77 LTD II

[rusty ol ranger]

I found a (hopefully) suitable heart transplant...

Yes its oily. Lol. But the exhaust is clean, it has good compression and i didnt hear anything bad when i spun it over.

Got it for 450bucks. Im going to clean it up, regasket it, drop in a new oil pump, timing set, etc. Plop it in and see what happens.

The junkyard i got it from seemed pretty legit...i had a good gut feeling. Supposdly motor has 85,000 miles on it from a conversion van that rottted out.

Its a 85 2bbl...loaded with 80's emission hang-ons. But from what i read power output is the same as my 77 motor.

They do test them....they run them till they are warm and make sure the oil pressure stays up, it doesnt knock, etc. It was pulled sitting on a shelf, holes covered.

I have a good gut feeling about it. But time will tell.

Ill end up rebuilding my current 77 engine. I do wanna do some "build" on it, but im also super anxious/excited to drive this thing again. But this way i can atleast move the car eaiser and see what else its gonna need...and hell if this motor works out ill run it. But as of now its kind of a "stop gap" lol.

More to follow.

 

[Blmpkn]

At least put a cam in it, sissy

 

[rusty ol ranger]

At least put a cam in it, sissy

Its a possibility lol.

My inability to make up my mind brought me here anyways. Now i can have the car running and build a motor for it

 

[19Walt93]

Replace the rear main seal and freeze plugs before you install it, they're cheap and easy to do when it's out.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Replace the rear main seal and freeze plugs before you install it, they're cheap and easy to do when it's out.

Yep thats on the list.

85 is 1 piece rear main correct?

 

[19Walt93]

Yep thats on the list.

85 is 1 piece rear main correct?

I beleive so, the 302 got a one piece seal in 82 and I think 351's did too.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

I went and got the "new" engine off the trailer yesterday....

First thing i did was rip off all the cut wires and vacuum hoses that made up the wonderful emissions system...

Then i decided to pop off a valve cover and see if the PO kept up on oil changes...

Less gunk then my original engine. Pleasant surprise.

Heres where i got concerned....when i pulled the dipstick at the yard it showed nothing. Guy said sometimes they drain them, sometimes not. I popped out the drain plug cause i was gonna run my finger around and see what i came out with.

To my surprise it wasnt drained. So hopefuljy it wasnt run to long low on oil.

I did put some in a clean jug bottom i cut...

Black as asphalt but no shiny stuff. No coolant in it. So im assuming its healthy on the bottom side.

Pulled a few plugs also. Forgot to take pics but they were black too.

 

[Blmpkn]

I went and got the "new" engine off the trailer yesterday....

First thing i did was rip off all the cut wires and vacuum hoses that made up the wonderful emissions system...

View attachment 100247

Then i decided to pop off a valve cover and see if the PO kept up on oil changes...

View attachment 100248

Less gunk then my original engine. Pleasant surprise.

Heres where i got concerned....when i pulled the dipstick at the yard it showed nothing. Guy said sometimes they drain them, sometimes not. I popped out the drain plug cause i was gonna run my finger around and see what i came out with.

To my surprise it wasnt drained. So hopefuljy it wasnt run to long low on oil.

I did put some in a clean jug bottom i cut...

View attachment 100249

Black as asphalt but no shiny stuff. No coolant in it. So im assuming its healthy on the bottom side.

Pulled a few plugs also. Forgot to take pics but they were black too.

Send a sample to Blackstone and see what they think about it. Costs 35$ iirc

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Send a sample to Blackstone and see what they think about it. Costs 35$ iirc

Meh.

No fear.

 

[RobbieD]

Black as asphalt but no shiny stuff. No coolant in it.

The oil doesn't look THAT bad. As long as it doesn't taste stale, just dump it back in and reuse it.

Seriously, that motor looks pretty good. I hope that runs as good as it looks, and that it works well for you.

Good luck!

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Went out yesterday and cleaned up the "new" 351...

Cant tell much difference in the picture...but its definatly cleaner. 2 cans of engine spray and a powerwash later (yes i plugged everything and was careful) you can see the block again lol.

Hardest part was dragging my cherry picker out to the driveway....the old yazoo and a strap made that a bit eaiser.

The manifold (intake) looks to be painted blue like maybe its an older manifold...cant see why someone would paint it for van useage. I also found a bunch of blue RTV smeared around the outside of the rear main...someones futile attempt to stop a leak?

Anyways...

Couple of questions though...

I bought some plugs to plug off the thermactor holes in the head but they wont go in. They are the right size (5/8) and act like they wanna go in...but wont...wont even start? Any ideas?

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Are the holes threaded? Rust and corrosion buildup? Do you have a tap and die set? Use the sets' pitch gauge to see if the threads match.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Are the holes threaded? Rust and corrosion buildup? Do you have a tap and die set? Use the sets' pitch gauge to see if the threads match.

Yes they are threaded and there in the back of the head. They do have some carbon buildup ill clean out before i try again. But it didnt look bad enough to prevent any screwage.

Didnt think about trying a tap to check. Good call.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Some pipe thread is tapered, others not...

 

[Blmpkn]

Could they be inverted flare fittings?