Misc. engine questions

[Broncobill78]

Does anyone know if it was Factory practice to prime the blocks ? with my flywheel & splash-guard removed I can see that the rear of my engine is a primer brown. I don't recall seeing this on other factory blocks and I'm wondering if it maybe indicates that there's a rebuilt long or short block in the truck. The Xfer case has been replaced & maybe the tranny as well so a block wouldn't surprise me. I'm also wondering if about that silly exhaust cross-over in the rear of the block. Mine isn't connected to anything an has a couple of melted connectors attached to it. I'm wondering if I shouldn't just remove it & plug the holes whiile I have such good access to it but I hate to remove such old fittings without knowing for sure how to plug the holes, it's not like I have the engine on stand & can braze them. any advise from someone with experience would be appreciated. Seeing just how many of my wires & connectors are melted, disconnected or just plain hanging is a bit scarey, I'm starting to think I'll be making a call to the guys at Ron Francis Wireworks sometime in the future. I just found a vendor for fenderwell exit headers so I'll probably be doing that mod sometime this spring/summer and I'm starting to give serious consideration to pulling the engine to do it so I can clean up/rewire the engine compartment. Also, has anyone dealt with what appears to be a slow leak in a freeze plug ? I'm not sure that's what I have but it *looks* like a very small dribble of corrosion from the plug but I'm not sure if the factory plugs are steel or brass and knowing which would maybe help in figuring out what I'm looking at.

I wanted a project truck & now I GOT one /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

 

[bidibronco]

If you're talking about the thing that goes from one head to the other head (the crossover thing in the back of the block) I believe that has something to do with emissions. The engine I pulled from a 93 F350 had that on the heads along with all the other emission things where my engine in my bronco (91 police interceptor) doesn't. I'm assuming you'll be eliminating the emissions (given your state will allow you too) so if you want to pull it out I believe you can tap the holes (they may be tapped allready but I can't remember) and just put in some ***** in type plugs. I'm almost posotive that's what's on my heads in my Bronco. Also, assuming the machine shop put "oem" style freeze plugs in my engine they're brass, or so they look. I'm not sure if steel plugs would be brass in color but this is a "new" world of all kinds of weird and neet stuff. And about the primer, non of the engines I have had and pulled had primer. No primer (much easier) however, my budies 78 dodge 360 with the original motor (so we were told) did have a shit ton of primer on the entire block under the paint. Hope I helped you out BroncoBill, you've sure helped me out a bunch!

 

[Justshootme84]

I don't recall ever seeing brown primer on a factory block, so you prolly have a replacement. S for the freeze plugs, if one is "seeping', I would replace it now. New ones will likely be steel, and the ones I bought for my 460 were, too. Drill a small hole inthe plug, cathc any coolant that leaks out, then insert an Allen wrench or angled rod into the hole and pull the plug out. JSM84

 

[madmax]

I'd be worried about the drillings in there (probably just paranoid), you can gentley drive a small regular head ***** driver into it and pry it out, seemed to work nice on a 400m hanging from a chain, a slide hammer would work REALLY well, Ive also seen a trick with an eye bolt and a ratchet strap.

 

[Justshootme84]

Yeah, just paranoid. The pressure of the coolant usually forces out any metal filings from the drill bit. But a nail or ice pic will work, too, anything to poke a hole in the old plug to be able to grab it and pull it out.

 

[Broncobill78]

Well lets keep in mind the fact that while I *have* pulled out HALF of the drivetrain, the engine is still in the truck so using a slide-hammer will be a bit difficult <grin> I think JSM is probably right in that this will be the time to replace it since I have pretty good access to the freeze plug right now (it's the one closest to the firewall on the passenger side) with the tranny being out. Have I mentioned how much I'm *loving* this access panel Ford so thoughtfully included right on top of the tranny tunnel ? I know for sure that none of the 78/79's had this and I don't recall any of my 80's trucks having one either but when I spotted this thing I was just tickled pink since it made pulling the tranny Sooooo much easier. It's almost like <gasp> some *engineer* thought about the guy who might have to remove or replace major componants 20yrs after the truck was built and included it just for guys like us. If I could track him down tonight I'd send him a 12-pack.

As far as removing the freeze plug, I'm not *too* worried about shavings. For one thing most would probably be washed out by the coolant outflow and any that did manage to get in would be pretty small. It's not like I'm dealing with oil passages, the water jackets are pretty large and I doubt even the water pump would have any problem with swarf this small. I think the idea of drilling a small hole is good & then I could probably just crank in a self-tapping ***** and pull it out with that. funny thing is I've never actually *removed* a freeze plug before. I've installed a couple dozen but every time I've assembled an engine I just dropped the bare block off at the shop with the freeze plugs installed and picked it up cleaned & machined without any plugs in it. Since it looks like the plug itself is rusting I'm guessing that it's probably steel. I can't remember if I've ever installed anything other than brass plugs when building an engine so I figure I'll go the same route this time as well. Does anyone know what the difference IS between brass & steel freeze plugs ? Is it a thermal expansion thing or a corrosion thing or just something else that's just completely off the wall ? Any info or usefull stories will be appreciated.

 

[Seabronc]

Looks like most of the questions were answered. That cross over is definitely a part of the Thermactor system. It is where the air is pumped in from the Air pump under certain vacuum conditions. It is pumped in there, the Cat, or not at all depending on the vacuum conditions and weather you are accelerating or decelerating. If you are not using the system, you could remove it and make up some plugs for the holes or plug the tube where the check valve is on top of the pipe.

A couple of pictures

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[bidibronco]

I just used a flat head and beat on one side of the freeze plug until it turned sideways and got it with a pair of pliars. Did that on all the plugs on the 360 we just did. Man, I hated that engine, the UTI grad guy was asking little ol' Bronco fella "me" how everything went. Told him to take pictures before he yanked the thing out. Oh well, I went and got his junkyard mobil going. Wasn't easy but a little elbow grease got it done. Anyways, back on track, I do like the idea of punching a hole in it and getting it with a slide hammer but that doesn't seem to fun with the engine still in the truck. Oh, with the tranny out, does the engine fall forward a little or do the mounts hold it fairly firm?

 

[Broncobill78]

SeaBronc, yup, thet's definately the crossover I'm looking at. Although mine isn't connected to anything, it's open at the top and I guess that would explain the puffs of oily smoke I'm getting from the rear of the engine every time I hit the throttle. I know for sure that the crossover is getting hot because I have a large wiring connector melted onto it. The more of the wiring I see on the thing the more & more it's starting to look like a basket case. I'm pretty sure there's a call to Ron Francis somewhere in my future. I do *have* a cat but like everything else there's nothing connected to it (the air injection pipe is cut & crimped off) and the pigtale from the O2 sensor terminates in a melted ball of plastic. Speaking of Cats, did anyone else see that article in USA Today yesterday about them being stolen for the prescious metals inside ? Freaking strange. Anyways, back to my mongrel. I suppose it would be easiest to just cap the crossover. I'd prefer to remove it completely but I think that would leave me with driving in some sort of plug into the gas inlet/outlet holes in the head because they aren't threaded and I'm sure not gonna try & cut threads into them while the engine is in, after as many heat cycles as the heads have seen they'll be almost a hard as cast iron.

Bidi, man you make me laugh <grin> why is it that I have NO problem visualizing you standing there with a hammer & large screwdriver wailing on a freezeplug /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" /> Not to digress TOO far but I did that once in High school. I was helping a friend install a set of door cutouts in a 68' Bronco and lacking a cold chisel OR an air hammer I figured that my trusty 5lb maul and huge Craftsman flathead would suffice. It took all of an afternoon & most of the evening to finish the job and with only 2 or 3 inches left to cut the blade on the Craftsman finally split. We finished the job with *another* screwdriver and in the morning brought the Craftsman back to Sears for a replacement. I told the guy it broke while I was trying to loosen a rusted ***** and the clerk looked at it for a couple of minutes no doubtedly noticing the split blade & the horrendously mushroomed handle but eventualy he just shrugged his shoulders & got me a replacement. To get back to your question, no the engine didn't shift at all when I removed the tranny (at least it better NOT have <grin>, but ni, it didn't) The engine is securely mounted with the motor mounts and doesn't rely on the tranny for either support or location. If you ever do this yourself & the engine *does* shift then you have a bad motor mount.