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182K views 574 replies 47 participants last post by  greencadillacmatt 
#1 ·
It's finally happening. I started my engine swap today. My Olds 350 is just about done, so I figured it was about time I got cracking on the car itself.

I think I am going to pull the trans along with the engine, as I have heard it is much easier than trying to hook everything up in the car.

I have everything disconnected from the engine except for the mounts and exhaust. And I climbed under the car and found that there is just one electrical connector to the trans, and one crossmember bolt. Well, that and the shift linkage. Should be easy.

I started with draining and pulling the radiator. The shroud and brackets came out super easy.

The electrical connectors and and wires are all unplugged/off, and the vacuum lines are off.

And my little brother and I took the hood off, just because it is so much nicer to NOT have it eating my head. ;)

Without any further ado, the pictures of the progress of a total engine-swapping newb.


One of the last pictures of the Horror-Time 4100 hooked up...


Where'd the hood go?


Oh, there it is :)


The MASSIVE hole where the radiator and fan shroud was.


My AC might have been slightly improperly vented. :shhh: ;)


And last but not least for tonight, it seems as though my car has decided to do wheelies. :lildevil:

I'll post more tomorrow. Thanks guys!
 
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#31 ·
I once helped a friend pull the engine and trans on a '75 Electra. The driveshaft didn't want to budge there, either. Finally took a rubber mallet to it. A few light taps and it disengaged nicely from the trans and rear dif. Don't know if it's on point, but that's my engine-pulling experience right there.
 
#34 ·
So, I have some updates. :)

We started the day off by taking out the driveshaft. The introduction of a pry bar to the situation worked perfectly. Thanks for the tip!


Then we undid the trans mount (2 bolts) and the engine mounts. Instead of unbolting the six engine mount bolts, we just took out the 2 through bolts. This worked just as good. Weirdly, all the bolts came out like they had been coated with anti-seize. They came out so easy! (Sorry the pic is kind of blurry, it's the trans mount under the car.)


I do have one important thing to say. If you are planning on removing one of these HTs and are going to replace it with something else, chances are you aren't going to re-use the exhaust. My advice is to cut out the crossover pipe. It hits on the frame crossmember otherwise, and makes it a pain to get the engine out. We ended up sawzalling mine.


Up comes the engine and trans...


Hmm. Seems as though something is missing.


The massive hole where the engine used to reside. I'm going to powerwash this out on Monday or Tuesday. Might even fog it down with some fresh black paint. :)


Ahh. After a few hours work the engine and car side by side. Front end sits a little higher now. :D


Great. Now I have to clean all this mess up. Who wants to help? :)


The new engine and cleaned trans might be scheduled to drop in next weekend. I'll post more as I swap the accessories to my new engine. Thanks for all the help and encouragement guys! :highfive:
 
#37 ·
You could have just left the compressor hooked up and moved it to the side so you didn't have to let the freon out...
I'm going to try and frankenstein the HUGE A6 AC compressor into the system. (that compressor is from the '76 Cutlass the engine came from) My auto instructor has access to R12 at the college, and he is teaching an AC class this summer. Soooo I'm going to have a SUPER-COOLING AC system this summer if I can work all the bugs out of it. So, if I post pics of snow in my car, you'll know what happened. :)
 
#41 · (Edited)
Well, I'll help clean the mess up if it's still there next time I visit Michigan...Never been there, but it has snow and trees, so it must be alright.

That is a field I am VERY experienced in actually. A Coworker asked about my car's name and how I knew to give her a Girl's name. I told him I knew She was a Lady, because about once every month she starts acting all bitchy at me and leaks out quantum amounts of fluids. If I had all the money I've invested into fixing her up, I'd be posting photos of my engine swap too.

One day...one day...
 
#50 ·
Man this swap is looking freaking sweet!!! Never seen a clear distributor cap either, pretty neat.




GM used that same rinky dink 7.5" rear end in the 4th gen fbody. LS1 V8 cars make 300rwhp stock, and you know most guys who have these aren't anywhere near stock. The rear ends in the fbody's tend to hold up better in automatic cars, with some guys running 400+rwhp on the stock rears. What tends to destroy them are high rpm clutch dumps and sticky drag slicks. They just can't take that real sudden shock.
 
#46 ·
Houston, We Have Ignition (Components)






I also put my DipStick back in today. I'd like to know how much oil is in there. :)
Where it goes into the block:


I had to work it around the exhaust.


I also test-fit the air cleaner assembly. It's from my '83 307 parts engine. (It needs re-painted and cleaned up, I know.)


This is the lid that I'm using. I have an artist friend who is going to re-letter it from FUEL INJECTION to FUEL INDUCTION. It came from my Brougham. :cloud9:


The end of my little test-fit. Dual Oldsmobiles, back to back! :D
 
#48 ·
I think the dipstick goes in the little gap between the exhaust manifold and the block but I think the way you have it may be better, I put mine in the gap and it has started to rust from the heat. Just make sure you can pull it out and put it in with relative ease. Really diggin the clear dizzy cap, gotta get me one.
 
#49 ·
^I tried putting the dipstick in the little exhaust gap, but it wouldn't fit. Strange, because I think that's where it was from the factory. The dipstick slides in and out nicely. And I LOVE my clear distributor cap. It looks sooooo much better than the red one the distributor came with. I got it for Christmas. :D
 
#52 ·
Is there not a better passenger side manifold to use than that one with the crazy crossover?

Nice idea with the air cleaner. I want to letter mine up in the same style with the 6.0, and "Cadillac V8-6-4" at the bottom. How about HP rating instead of fuel induction? They used to do that back in the day. It would look factory...
 
#56 ·
Aron - That makes me feel a LOT better about the rear in my car. I'm not going to worry about it for now unless I put a manual in there. ;)

Sting - I don't have proper headers on there because I couldn't find ones that would definitely fit. I didn't want to order some and then have them not fit when trying to put the engine in.

Jay - I actually have the crossover part of that manifold plugged off. My friend's dad made me a block-off plate for it. It almost looks factory. :) I did some research (with the help of csbuckn) and it looks like all Olds 350 exhaust manifolds have the crossover. They plugged it from the factory if you ordered duals.

deville33 - I LOVE my four-point engine stand. It's an AC DELCO stand rated at 1000 lbs. I scored it on craigslist for like $40. My three-point stand for my parts engine is very wobbly in comparison. It's scary to move that thing.

GeneLaw1 - The engine itself was another craigslist find. I found it near Flint, MI. I think it was a town called Milan. I got it for less than $100, and it only had 54,000 miles on it. This is what it looked like before I got my hands on it:


Dullahan - Thanks for the kind words!
 
#57 ·
I set my valve lash to 25 ft-lbs that my manual called for. Then I put the valve covers on. Since my lifters aren't pumped up, will it make a difference in the torque on the valves once the lifters are pumped up when I go to fire it? Or is it good as it sits? Anybody that has built an engine please reply!!! :hmm:
 
#60 ·
I set my valve lash to 25 ft-lbs that my manual called for. Then I put the valve covers on. Since my lifters aren't pumped up, will it make a difference in the torque on the valves once the lifters are pumped up when I go to fire it? Or is it good as it sits? Anybody that has built an engine please reply!!! :hmm:

It is a common practice to allow your lifters to set in a container of engine oil for a couple hours, moving the container every now and then to allow the air escape and the oil fill the lifter. You can stand the lifter upright and push the plunger down to evacuate the air.
If it is a new cam and lifter set, the Manufacturer usually sends literature on the proper proceedures, lubricants and break-in products to use for the lifters and cam to wear in properly.
 
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