Category Archives: Classic Car Restoration

73 Mustang 351 Cleveland Tear Down – The Pistons

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Moving right along with #ProjectSportsRoof.  I’m pulling the piston in this posting.

A couple of things to note.  I record these days before I actually get to post them (in case you can’t tell) and many times the entire days work is broken up into multiple posts.  So you might hear similar comments in new posts, that I’ve already corrected in the previous one.  For example, it might seem I’m obsession over the oil situation, “There’s lot of oil….blah…blah…blah.” Of course that’s true at that point and time, but as the Cleveland came a part – it’s clear that great lubrication wasn’t always the case, barring foreign matter getting in the engine – given damage seen thus far it would have been a pile of sand dumped in the block.

There’s also the fact that there are indications that the engine might have been apart previously (not just the heads).  Maybe a ring job.  I just can’t tell for sure.  What I can tell is that at least the piston rods are original Ford equipment if not original to this engine, as they have the Ford Oval and are coded D0AEA – D0 = 1970.  It’s not a stretch that think that Ford used piston rods from 1970 in a 1972 engine.  Take a look and see what you think:

 

pistonMark-5

BS9 Markings on piston rod.

pistonMark-2

D0AEA markings on the piston rod. D0 = 1970

pistonMark-3

“F” is one of the markings along with an “S” in a shield.

pistonMark-4

Marking “1”

Now I pulled out the right side first (pistons 5-8) as it as the side I happened to have the engine turned over on.   Take a look:

 

 

Although the all of the bearings will be replaced, I do note the ones that aren’t too bad.  This is for documentation and any possible troubleshooting later on.  Here is the removal of the pistons 1-4:


 

So now the pistons are out and we can get a good look at the crank and get pull the cam.

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

projectsportsroof

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The 351 Cleveland is out of #ProjectSportsRoof. Yeah…I know!! It seemed like to took … Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof. I’m getting ready to pull the 351C …
1973 Mustang – Project SportsRoof – Compression, Rods and Heads

Thanks for check in on #ProjectSportsRoof. If you remember a of couple months back, shortly after bringing the ’73 Mustang home, I conducted a compression test on all the cylinders.  The 351C was running rough (to put it mildly) and smoked like a pile of tires on fire (only the smoke …
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The 351 Cleveland is out of #ProjectSportsRoof. Yeah…I know!! It seemed like to took … Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof. I’m getting ready to pull the 351C …

73 Mustang 351 Cleveland Tear Down Video 7 – Mains and Pistons Part 2

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Welcome back.  This post will show you the removal main bearings for the crank for 351 Cleveland.

You’ll notice that I’ve added some captions correcting some of my theories like there’s seems to be plenty of oil getting around the bearing and the crank.  Of course because it’s happening now, or was happening just before removing the engine that doesn’t mean it’s ‘always’ had oil flowing properly.  Take a good look at the bearing when I remove them and see what you think.

 


I’m going to guess that prior to having the heads being done, based I what I see on the mains, there was some oil issue, rather major oil issues. You recall the valve issue on the #2 cylinder?

Oh!!!!

Oh!!!!

In the next two posts I’ll be removing and taking a look at the pistons and then we’ll inspect the crank, so keep an eye out for those.

Thanks for reading and remember drop me a note.

Tim

HoodPrimer-14

351C Removal and tear down – YouTube

Jul 19, 2016 … Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof. This the beginning of rebuild of the 351 Cleveland for the 73 Mustang.

73 Mustang 351 Cleveland Rebuild – Removal 4 – YouTube

Aug 1, 2016 … I’m So close to getting #ProjectSportsRoof engine pulled and starting the tear down.

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The 351 Cleveland is out of #ProjectSportsRoof. Yeah…I know!! It seemed like to took forever!!! Seems longer since I have driven it in months. Now if you missed …

73 Mustang 351 Cleveland Tear Down Video 6 – Mains and Pistons Part 1

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We are getting to the good stuff.  We’ll be looking at the bearings, piston, crank and cam in the next few posts.  I’ll be able to determine what was causing the knocking in the bottom end  and  if the 351 Cleveland in #ProjectSportsRoof is going to make it.

So I’m starting with removing the mains.  Now I started early to avoid the heat here in Southern AZ.  Doing so I had to also be a bit considerate of my neighbors. So the garage door is closed as the compressor is loud – and there’s just no good way to loosen the mains while on a stand without an impact wrench or air ratchet.  So I loosened up all the bolts on the mains and fatefully the first set of bolt on piston rod (just to see if I needed the impact wrench).

 

There’s a few of things to keep in mind with contradict a few of my comments during the next few videos. First it seems that the bottom end of the Cleveland has never been apart. The piston rods are original Ford part with the Ford logo and Ford date code (in this case the rod are all “D0” indicated 1970 – which is not a stretch to find them in a 1972 engine) and I’m assuming the piston themselves are as well.  Second is the fact that I haven’t torn an engine apart since in over 35 years so I’m not an expert.  Third, I mention that there appears to have been ample oil flow at the time of tear down, but that might not have always been the case (like when the valve was not operating) – you’ll see the relevance of that qualification coming up.

Coming up in the next post is a good look at the main bearings.

Thanks for reading and drop me your comments and thoughts.  Love to hear from you.

Tim

20160722_165829

Mains and Crank

1973 Mustang 351 Cleveland Tear Down Part 1

Aug 13, 2016 … Welcome back to the 1973 Mustang project dubbed: #ProjectSportsRoof. We have the 351 Cleveland out and now I’m going to begin …

73 Mustang 351 Cleveland Tear Down Video 5 – Oil Pan and Crank First Look

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Thanks checking back in with the 1973 Mustang (#ProjectSportsRoof).

I’m moving right along with getting the progress on the 351C tear down posted up.  In this post I’ve pulled the oil pan and we can take a quick look at the crank and mains.

You have to love Ford engineers. Each main is numbered with an arrow…come on…that’s cool!


I was hoping that there would be something obviously out of whack at this point, but everything looked O.K. from what I could see.

Coming up next I’ll unbolt the mains and we’ll look at the bearing, piston and crank.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

HoodPrimer-14

73 Mustang 351 Cleveland Rebuild – Removal Part 3

Jul 31, 2016 … We are moving right along on #ProjectSportsRoof,with the 351 Cleveland rebuilt. Still getting it ready to be pulled from the engine bay In this …

Average Guy’s Car Restorations, Mods, and Racing

Source: average-guys-car-restoration-mods-racing.com projectsportsroof … for the 73 Mustang, #ProjectSportsRoof, I’m about to remove the intake manifold.

1973 Mustang 351 Cleveland Tear Down Part 1

Aug 13, 2016 … Welcome back to the 1973 Mustang project dubbed: #ProjectSportsRoof. We have the 351 Cleveland out and now I’m going to begin …

1973 Mustang 351 Cleveland Tear Down Part 3

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Thanks for checking back in on the progress on the 1973 Mustang SportsRoof’s 351C tear down.

In the last post I still needed to remove the lifters and the right side head.  To remove the remain head, you have to remove the rockers to get a socket on them.

Also took the time to recheck the push rods, with all the noise coming from the bottom end of the block, you can’t be too careful.

I’ll apologize now for a couple of things.  First the fan noise.  It’s pretty hot here this time of year in southern Arizona and that fan makes it bearable, barley.  But even worse is the compressor noise, so don’t crank up the volume too much.  And finally, if you notice, the captions are a bit higher on the video.  I’m trying to hide the brand name of my BVDs.  Last time readers got a glimpse of the brand, they started sending me their brands to wear on the next video.

 


 As you could see at the end of the video, the cylinder aren’t horrible but not great.  But we’ll look at them a bit closer coming up.

Thanks for checking on #ProjectSportsRoof.

Tim

1973 Mustang 351 Cleveland Tear Down Part 1

6 days ago … Welcome back to the 1973 Mustang project dubbed: #ProjectSportsRoof. We have the 351 Cleveland out and now I’m going to begin …

1973 Mustang 351 Cleveland Tear Down Part 2

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Moving along with 351 Cleveland rebuild for the 73 Mustang, #ProjectSportsRoof, I’m about to remove the intake manifold.

You’ve seen this 351C with its breathing apparatus removed. That was back when it bent a rod and the valve burnt.

Rods

Bent Rod.

Oh!!!!

Oh!!!!

That was why I had the heads rebuild.  As a refresher, this tear down is a result of discovering the a bottom end knock after the heads were replaced.

So here is the video for the intake manifold removal.

 


 Thanks for reading.

More coming up on the 351 Cleveland tear down

Tim

#ProjectSportsRoof

 

1973 Mustang 351 Cleveland Tear Down Part 1

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Finally the fun part begins.  Well actually it’s all fun, just varying degrees of it.   Welcome back to the 1973 Mustang project dubbed:  #ProjectSportsRoof.   We have the 351 Cleveland out and now I’m going to begin disassembly and see if we can get to the bottom of the “bottom end noise” it developed.

Here’s the first video.  Don’t be distracted by the Corvette t-shirt from my corvette club, it’s ok to own both!!

 

Here’s a look at one of nuts from the torque stall converter:

They are pretty rounded.

They are pretty rounded.

As you can see I didn’t have you watch as I unbolted the fuel pump or the brackets, even though this is Average Guy’s Car Restoration which equates to average skill set, average tool hoard  and average (or below) budget, but I’m thinking you get the removal of a couple of bolts.  If things get tricky (for me) I’ll cover it.

Next up we get the intake manifold off and heads.

Thanks for check back.

Tim

 

351C finally on the stand!

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Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof. With the floor pans welding, sealing and coating finished the next step was to apply the heat and sound barrier. This is …
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Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof. I’m getting ready to pull the 351C from between the fenders of the 1973 Mustang SportsRoof for a complete rebuild.

73 Mustang 351 Cleveland Rebuild – Engine is Out!!!

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Time to celebrate!!!   The 351 Cleveland is out of #ProjectSportsRoof.

Yeah…I know!! It seemed like to took forever!!!  Seems longer since I haven’t driven it in months.

Now if you missed the last post and you are expecting to see a video of the engine coming out, that’s just not going to happen.  Here’s a recap of just why there’s no video.

I had made arrangements with my neighbor Dan (Dan did the welding on the floor panels for me) for a Friday he had off to pull the engine.  I was going to “work” from home that day and we’d carry out the task in the morning – it’s pretty hot here in Southern Arizona this time of year.  Well, I had an issue at work and I had to run in for what I hoped would be only a few minutes – it took until noon.

By then, it was over 100 degrees and when I pulled into my driveway Dan was outside working on one of his projects.  After apologizing  I changed in to some grubby clothes real quick and we got to work.  By then it was about 106 degrees out and of course we are doing this outside.  We should have been done by  time we actually started and Dan’s adorable twins we hoping to make it the pool before their Dad had to head off to work for the evening.

I mention this all because I’m setting up you for the disappointment, (there is nothing more exciting than getting the engine out – well maybe putting a new one in, it’s a milestone worth capturing on video).  Given the above circumstances, I felt it very unfair to ask Dan and the twins to hang out while I stopped to talk you all and then perform a task and then record.  So I have no shots or video of pulling the engine out.

351C finally on the stand!

351C finally on the stand!

It was an effort but here it is:

And there you have it.  #ProjectSportsRoof gave up its 351c power plant and boy does it need an overhaul!!

So keep checking back here (www.agcarrestoration.com) and watch it all unfold!

Thanks for read and drop me a note, love hearing back from readers.

Tim

1973 Mustang SportsRoof

1973 Mustang SportsRoof

projectsportsroof

Average Guy’s Car Restorations, Mods, and Racing

http://wp.me/p2YxYx-4V. Tagged: projectsportsroof … We are moving right along on #ProjectSportsRoof,with the 351 Cleveland rebuilt. Still getting it ready to be …

73 Mustang 351 Cleveland Rebuild – Removal Part 3

Jul 31, 2016 … We are moving right along on #ProjectSportsRoof,with the 351 Cleveland rebuilt. Still getting it ready to be pulled from the engine bay In this …

restorable classic cars | Tumblr

Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof. I’m getting ready to pull the 351C from between the fenders of the 1973 Mustang SportsRoof for a complete rebuild.

73 Mustang 351 Cleveland Rebuild – Removal Part 5

2 days ago … Tagged: projectsportsroof … We are moving right along on #ProjectSportsRoof, with the 351 Cleveland rebuilt. Still getting it ready to be …

 

73 Mustang 351 Cleveland Rebuild – Removal Part 5

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This is the last post related to prepping the 351 Cleveland in #ProjectSportRoof for removal.

Originally, I had planned to lift the engine out with the carb still attached.  However, after the first test fit to see how the Duralast leveler  (I’ve never used one before – last engine I pulled out we used straps on the 318) would be attached, it was clear that the carb had to come off.  I thought I’d just be able to attach the Duralast the front part of the engine but unless I added more chain it just wasn’t going to bolt up.

Moving the leveler back a bit to the center if the engine, allowed it to be pull it out with just enough clearance, keeping mind the space limitations between the car bumper and the concrete rise at the garage entrance.

Here’s where you might be a bit disappointed.

I had made arrangements with my neighbor Dan (Dan did the welding on the floor panels for me) for a Friday he had off to pull the engine.  I was going to “work” from home that day and we’d carry out the task in the morning – it’s pretty hot here in Southern Arizona this time of year.  Well, I had an issue at work and I had to run in for what I hoped would be only a few minutes – it took until noon.

By then, it was over 100 degrees and when I pulled into my driveway Dan was outside working on one of his projects.  After apologizing  I changed in to some grubby clothes real quick and we got to work.  By then it was about 106 degrees out and of course we are doing this outside.  We should have been done by  time we actually started and Dan’s adorable twins we hoping to make it the pool before their Dad had to head off to work for the evening.

I mention this all because I’m setting up you for the disappointment, (there is nothing more exciting than getting the engine out – well maybe putting a new one in, it’s a milestone worth capturing on video).  Given the above circumstances, I felt it very unfair to ask Dan and the twins to hang out while I stopped to talk you all and then perform a task and then record.  So I have no shots or video of pulling the engine out.

I can tell you that the torque converter gave us a bit of a problem and here’s one of the reason:

IMG_20160710_193507185

The nuts holding the torque convert on were pretty well-rounded. They been off before.

As soon we had the engine out and got the hoist over the concrete rise between the drive way and the garage floor, I thanked Dan and the twins (they were standing in the garage in full swimming attire – flippers include) for waiting for me.   Again a huge thanks to Dan the Neighbor!!!!  And yes the twins go to the pool!!!

Now I’ll start the tear down and see what’s going on with the 351C.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

projectsportsroof

Average Guy’s Car Restorations, Mods, and Racing

http://wp.me/p2YxYx-4V. Tagged: projectsportsroof … We are moving right along on #ProjectSportsRoof,with the 351 Cleveland rebuilt. Still getting it ready to be …
73 Mustang 351 Cleveland Rebuild – Removal Part 3

6 days ago … We are moving right along on #ProjectSportsRoof,with the 351 Cleveland rebuilt. Still getting it ready to be pulled from the engine bay In this …
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Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof. I’m getting ready to pull the 351C from between the fenders of the 1973 Mustang SportsRoof for a complete rebuild.

73 Mustang 351 Cleveland Rebuild – Removal Part 4

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We are so close to pulling out this ’72 351 Cleveland out of #ProjectSportsRoof.

In this post I continue to prep for the removal and I needed to do a trial run  fitting the engine load balancing/leveling unit and if I had a enough room to maneuver.

Here’s why:

  1.  First there’s a lip I have to take into consideration.

    There is a 2" lip between the garage and the driveway/car.

    There is a 2″ lip between the garage and the driveway/car.

  2.   The distance between the 2″ lip and the car bumper is a concern.

Not much room

Not much room

Just about 45"

Just about 45″

It’s a tight squeeze.

This is the foot of the hoist.

This is the foot of the hoist.

It's 48" long.

It’s 48″ long.

So I have to fit all of this under the Mustang – BTW there’s jack stands hold up the car and the transmission.  When you lower the arm to reach out over the bumper (damn those safety bumpers) the hoist is pressing on the bumper.

Keep in mind that just past the front tires the drive slopes.  I had visions of the getting the engine out and having to roll the hoist out past the car and swing it around to lower it on to the engine stand and it getting it away and rolling done the driveway and dumping its self in to the street…I actually had a nightmare about it.

So a dry run was necessary just so I could sleep.

Here’s the video:

I’m going to finish up the prep in the next post.

Thanks reading.  We love comments!!! Drop us a note!!!

Tim

1973 Mustang SportsRoof

1973 Mustang SportsRoof

projectsportsroof

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We are moving right along on #ProjectSportsRoof,with the 351 Cleveland rebuilt. Still getting it ready to be pulled from the engine bay In this posting I’m still …
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Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof. With the floor pans welding, sealing and coating finished the next step was to apply the heat and sound barrier. This is …