Removing the engine with transmission.

Started the morning gathering the last of the items needed for the removal. Went to the local auto parts and picked up the engine leveler and had to purchase extra chain since the ones that came with it would not reach from side to side. I guess they think you are going to have the intake manifold off before hand.

I removed the valve covers and attached the leveler to the block via the head bolts. I jacked up the truck to be able to get under it. Chocked the wheels and determined that the emergency brake was mounted to the same bracket that the shifter was connected to so I had to remove that. I then removed the cross member that the trans was connected to and pulled the drive shaft off of the trans.

Over all the engine came out pretty easy. A section of exhaust held things up a bit, but after remembering the truck was still jacked up, we let that down and it came right out. I did manage to crack the distributor cap trying to drop the trans end down enough to free the drive shaft. that should not be a problem to replace and it probably needed a new one any way.

The engine is now hanging from the lift soaking in degreaser for the clean up. I ordered a engine gasket kit while I was in the auto parts store so I can replace most of them while I have it out. Maybe this will eliminate most of the oil leaks!

I noticed the oil pan looks as if it were "chopped" at some point as it has a weld all the way around it. I guess the original sat too low to the road. There are a few dings in it as well. I am hoping none of my leaks are from a puncture! Once I finish the engine I will address the transmission as it appears to be leaking as well.

My replacement exhaust manifold should arrive in about 2 weeks so I will have time to do this in the mean time. Thanks to Rodger in Colorado for that!! He also tells me it will be coming with new studs! Great guy!

Speaking of studs there appears to be one missing or broken form the passenger side manifold as well .... I am hoping it is just missing! I will know once I take the time to clean up the hole.

Here are some pictures of today's escapades:

Hooked up and ready to go!

Going,

Going .....

Gone!

Looks pretty solid under there.

Driver's side

Passenger's side

Note in the last few pictures the X frame has been cut ... however it was braced and although not pretty it is functional and I see no ill effects of how it was done. Front has a metal plate welded on top of the two legs and the rear has individual braces going fom the end of each leg angled back  ^   to the frame.

I will be working tomorrow, so I will not have much time to devote to the truck. I will try to clean on the engine tonight and tomorrow. I will also need to pick up the gasket set from the parts store sometime after tomorrow. They had to order it from one of their stores in Tennessee. I'm crossing my fingers that they really have it and that I ordered the right thing!

The engine number is P27-I894II ... one source on the web shows this as a 1955 Plymouth engine. Other sources show a Dodge 270 so I went with the Dodge. I looked up the gasket set for the Plymouth and the engine just did not seem to match up in size. We will see .... once I open the box ... no return :O(

Transmission & Drive Shaft

Disconnected the drive shaft, clutch linkage and transmission mounts. I will have to go get a length of chain to connect to the engine, take the two motor mount nuts the rest of the way off and lift!

Lift

Borrowed a lift today to remove the engine and transmission all at once..

Engine Lift

Pics of engine removal preperation

Here are some pics of what was done this morning.

Grill and radiator (note: radiator is for a flat head V8

Driver's side view with manifold removed

Front view with radiator and grill removed

Passenger side view with radiator still in.

Gas peddle and shifter removed

Preparing for the engine removal.

Removed the grill, radiator, gas linkage, shifter and disconnected all wires hoses etc this AM. I ran into a slight problem with the drivers fender. It had been tack welded to the grill shell at some point. I hit it with a cutting wheel on a power saw and solved that real quick. I will have to determine what needs to be done to use a bolt there when I put it back on. All of the nuts and bolts came off with ease. Nothing busted or broke. "knock on wood".

Next I will have to jack the truck up and see what needs to be disconnected to free up the transmission from the cross member and disconnect the drive shaft.That will clear the way to lift the engine right out.

I'm still working out the details on the manifold, but I think it will be a workable deal.

The big day

The truck is a 1935 Ford that was supposedly drag raced in the 50's. It was purchased from a man that wanted to go to Hawaii before passing to Sid's Hot Rods in Washington State. I assume the person I purchased it from bought it from them. I bought it from the owner of Centre Hall Harley Davidson in Pennsylvania.

The truck has a 1955 P-27 Plymouth Polysphere Engine with 4 Barrel carb, 3 speed manual tranny with floor shifter, Dana rear end, 40 Ford front end with juice brakes. It also has a shortened bed and old school traction bars. The running boards and rear fenders appear to be from a 50's Chevy truck, but I have not confirmed that. The plan is to replace those with the correct boards and fenders.

Thursday August 26th .... Drove up from Atlanta to Amissville Virginia on Wednesday and left from there Thursday morning and headed up to Centre Hall Pennsylvania to pick up the truck. After briefly looking the truck over and filling out some paperwork we loaded it onto the trailer. Not thinking about the low stance of the truck, I managed to rip the exhaust off of the truck on the trailer! Not a big deal since I was going to replace it anyway. The bad news was it also busted the driver's side exhaust manifold.

The trip back to Virginia was uneventful and the unload went much better than the load.

Saturday August 28th ... Inspected the damage to the manifold. At some point it had been welded before so it was in need of a new one any way. The bad part is that two studs were sheared off as well. I removed the remaining manifold. The studs came right out, if not then the nut came right off leaving the stud. This is good news, hopefully removing the sheared studs will be much easier than expected. Two studs, when removed, allowed coolant out of the engine. Maybe someone had to drill out those studs in the past and went in too far. I am not going to worry about that now. With the studs in place no coolant leaks out.

I have decided to delay taking it home to Georgia until I can fix the exhaust. I will go ahead and pull the engine to make things easier and allow me to clean it up and see what else needs to be done to it. I have noticed an oil leak that will need to be addressed as well.

I spent the rest of the day calling around trying to locate the manifold. No luck yet but may have found one in Colorado. I'm in the process of determining if it is the right one. In the mean time my father has a guy in his area that may have one. If these do not pan out I have a few salvage yards in the area I can check.

Besides the manifold hunt, I removed the driver's door panel and fixed the inside door latch. The bolt connecting it to the main release had came off and luckily was lodged between the door and the panel. Put it back in and now the lever works fine. I also inspected the window unit and determined it is all there other than the part that slides onto the bottom of the glass. The truck had 2 of them in the bed when i got it but they appear to be different and in poor condition. I will order these online. The glass for both doors came with the truck and are in good shape and can be reused. I also adjusted the door catch to take out a slight rattle. I put the door panel back on but have not put the screws back in yet. I will call it a day and finish that up tomorrow (Sunday)