2.8 Rebuild

[kimcrwbr1]

The best way I have found to burp the cooling system is to put a flushing tee in the heater hose that goes to the intake manifold outlet. Hold the fitting a little higher than the radiator and add coolant until it starts to run out the radiator and quickly put the cap on the fitting. That primes the bypass hose as well.

 

[Starlord]

So now that its warmed up this project is moving along nicely. I'm up to the exhaust. I tried finding headers to no avail, so if anyone reading this has a set for a 2.8 I'm interested. But since I'll likely end up using the stock manifolds I'm wondering if there is a gasket that goes between the manifolds and the y-pipe? There wasn't one when I took them apart, but my old man insists that there has to be, and that it disintegrated over time. So the question is, should there be a gasket there, and what is the part number?

Thanks

 

[AndyB.]

No gasket.

 

[Starlord]

Thanks

 

[Mike Tonon]

Very cool! Not a commonly rebuilt engine, post some pics of it.

 

[Starlord]

Thanks Mike, I'll snap some this weekend, I didn't get anything done this last one. I had to find somebody to weld on Cast. There were two holes in my exhaust manifolds from the air pump. She looks pretty slick in there, I'm anxious to get it fired up.

 

[Starlord]

Finally got everything in and buttoned up. She runs like a champ. 100% de-smoged and de-computerized. Followed the duraspark instructions from this site and had zero issues. Didn't get to drive it since when I stepped on the brake to put it in gear a brake line burst. Have a few pictures of before and after it went in. And yes I did build this engine in my basement over the winter. All in all not too hard or expensive project and got a nice vehicle back on the road.

 

[rangerin]

Man, I sure wished my 2.8 looked that spiffy!

Question, have you ever had trouble with a small miss at idle? I can't shake the one my 2.8 has for nothin'

 

[Starlord]

I would think it would have to be ignition related, if it was fuel the whole thing would run crappy not just miss. Are you running the stock Ignition system? If you are I wouldn't be much help, there's a lot of sensors that just don't last, and I'm not even sure how that whole system works, Carbs and computers should have never been used together. I would recommend the duraspark conversion rather than trying to track it down. There's a good instruction page on here. I got all my parts for it off of rockauto.com rather than try and find a scrapyard with an intact ignition system from the 70s, the parts really weren't that expensive new and then when you're troubleshooting you don't have to worry about whether the parts you used are actually working. Anyway, if you're already durasparked there's not much to go wrong, spark plugs and wires would be a cheap easy start, along with checking the timing

 

[Mike Tonon]

Is blue and black the stock colors of that engine?

 

[Starlord]

No, the valve covers and oil pan were light gray, not sure what the block was, I think gray as well but there wasn't much of a color besides gunk when I pulled it.