Mustang Motor II



11/7/06
Mustang Motor II

Mustang intake

Once I pried off the intake manifold of my 289 V-8, my suspicions were confirmed on how worn out this engine really was. Everything was covered with a layer of burnt oil and sludge.
mustang pistons

With the heads off, I immediately noticed something strange. Both #2 and #6 cylinders had different pistons than the other 6 pistons. I would assume all the pistons would match, so someone probably replaced these two pistons in the past.
mustang motor

I continued the second day by pulling the oil pan and timing chain, but I hit a small problem with the hydraulic lifters. They normally should slide out of the their bores, but I believe a layer of varnish collected on their ends is not allowing them to come out. I’m pretty sure I can get the cam out by turning the engine upside down, and letting all the lifters hang loosely to allow the cam to pass, but the cam seems to be stuck as well. My friend Rick advised to soak everything in Marvel Mystery Oil for a couple days to see if it dissolves some of the varnish. Any other tricks guys? E-mail them to me.

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