Hokies lost, but the engine is out

Well the Hokies suffered a big loss to Stanford tonight, but at least I got the engine out while listening to the game. Pretty straight forward actually, took ~ 5 hours start to finish. I used a sissor lift cart so I could lower the engine with the car up in the air for easier access to stuff. Now the fun begins...
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It's intact for now, had to go fix a drain at some rental property so I didn't get a chance to get into it tonight, maybe tomorrow or Thursday I'll get back on it. Ordered a degree wheel today from Amazon and will order the 30K kit plus plugs tomorrow from Ricambi. No big hurry here to get it back in as the weather cold and it is supposed to snow again tomorrow night... I'm ready to move somewhere closer to the equator!

 

I have to admit I wasn't planning on removing the front plate as Ferarri of Atlanta advised that my engine by VIN was past the reqirement for the bearing upgrade. I am planning on using a degree wheel and dial indicator to double check the timing - in fact I have been toying with retarding the intake to the no-cat level since I am running w/o cats. I already orderd parts from Ricambi today, but I may go ahead and remove the front cover and get a gasket for it.

 

Finally got a chance to do a little work on the engine, however, I forgot that my large socket set is at my farm shop so I didn't get the main pulley off yet. The belt looks like it would last forever (no cracks or signs of distress at all) and the tensioners appear fine too. The last engine out was done in 01 at 15K miles, it now has just over 30K on it. I think every 10 years for the belt would be fine as long as the car is driven on a consistant basis. I did check the valve clearances, only 2 valves fall a shade below the tolerance, I'll change the shims on those when I get the thing apart. Parts should be here soon along with the oil drill jig from Ricambi. Taking the valve covers with me to work tomorrow. Will either re-paint them with red high temp paint or power coat them if we have the right color as they look a little faded.

 

I'll take some high res close ups when I get them off. I think the key to keeping the belts and tensioners in good shape is regular driving. I was going to work on it tomorrow, however get this - there are 2 Dave Monks on Ricambi's computer system!!! Their computers were down when I ordered the parts, so when they came back up Daniel figures someone typed in Dave Monk and away the parts went to Fairfield CT!! They are going to try and get me the parts tomorrow, but I need the drill jig that is in the box in CT. No big hurry to get it back together other than getting our garage parking scheme back in order and trying to remember where everything goes before my memory escapes me.