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I bought this car last June. The guy I bought it from had a local shop replace a spring on one of the valves. As I was driving last year I felt that there was still some valve issues. Now there are some bigger ones. I was planning to pull the engine this spring to clean it out and freshen it up this spring anyway, so it's not that big of a deal. I was already planning to put in hardend seats and new guides and valves as necessary. I just wish I could drive it the next few weeks until I can get it in the shop to work on it.

Now for the questions. Any pointers for this job? I've changed quite a few engines in the past, but there is always something different about each one. The manual says to pull the automatic trans first. Can the engine be pulled with the trans in place? Should I pull both as a unit? Should I just remove the radiator support or the whole front clip?

Any help is appreciated. Thanks

I am a huge fan of pulling the whole front clip. It is fairly easy to do: undo the bolts at the top and bottom of the rear edges of the fenders, along the frame rails, and the two bolts at the feet of the radiator cradle. Two husky guys can lift it off. Recommend removing the rad first.

You can then snatch the whole engine and trans at one go.

Doing it this way makes it easy to attend to the whole engine compartment; change front brake tubing, paint stuff,, change suspension bushings, etc.

Strongly recommend resealing your Ultra while it is sitting on the floor; a very small investment for the benefit it brings.

You can also easily run your new engine and trans before it goes back in the car.

Probably lots of suggestions and ways to do it so will be interesting to see the answers.

When I did my 54 the engine and trans was done in one piece but you need some decent equipment. The weight is significant and center of gravity is far back. My cherry picker was barely able to do it without tipping. Think there was even some extra weight sitting on the pivot or jack end to keep it stable. Maybe an overhead hoist could do it better.

I used an adjustable lift device attached between the picker and engine that screws in and out to change the center of gravity. You need to be able to tip and guide the trans end into position and level it out then drop down. My front was totally apart which made things doable. If the front stays on, I don't think you will have the room for one piece -- both in length and height. There is also the chance of dropping or banging something into the fender or grill.

If you do remove the front you will be able to freshen up many other things which would be hard to get to otherwise.

I was thinking about popping open the Ultra, but it works well now so I wasn't sure if I should mess with it.

I have a engine tilting device that I built years ago, so pulling them as a unit should not be a problem.

After hours and hours and hours of going over BigKev's blog, I think pulling the whole thing as a unit is the way to go.

I'm about 30 pages into Cli55er's blog too. It's nice to see how these cars are put together and what they are finding as they go.

Re-read Ross' opinion and take advantage of his knowledge.
Always pay more attention to the most experienced hand.

When I pulled the 288 and 3 speed transmission from my car to overhaul the engine, I removed the hood (after marking the hood with white shoe polish so that it would line up again), the radiator and the horizontal radiator bracket. I just cut the L channel bracket with a hacksaw, and welded it up when the engine went back in. An engine with the ultramatic weighs about 1100 pounds, so make sure that the engine hoist has the capacity and extendable legs in front to keep it from tipping over. Also, the adjustable hoist sling is a must in my opinion. Harbor Freight has a decent one if you're not doing this for a living. Good luck on the install.

Finally worked on it today. Pulled the head and turned the engine over. The #7 piston does not move up and down. :(

I didn't get the a pan off yet. 5 hours getting it out was enough.

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I managed to pull that piston out. At least the top half. There are a couple of gouges in the bore. Just a quick look tells me that I will need to sleeve that one.

So far the rest of the bores look good. I might not have to get them bored over sized. And the valves and seats look like quick light grind will clean them up just fine.


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OUCH!

So experts, what is the usual cause of something like that and what's odds nothing else is damaged -- or to put it another way, assuming that is the only visible damage, would you be comfortable that no extra stress could be lurking with the remaining pistons and rods and they can safely be reused.