3FE/H55 into my 40 build thread

[Full_Throttle]

This has been a LONG time coming. After not touching my 40 for close to 2 years (SHAME on me) I am finally starting back at it.
I had purchased an H55F/split case from a fellow mudder, along with a complete 3FE/harness/ECU from a running FJ-62. The head was rebuild(so I was told) and the engine ran fine(again so I was told) and the P.O. was swapping in a diesel, so I bought the entire setup. I figured I would rebuild it, and if the head was ok, all the better.

So there they sat in my barn, mocking me.

No more I say!! It's time to begin.


I took the engine to a good friend (70+ year old w/50+ years of that as a mechanic) and we did a compression check. Well, as good a compression check that you can do on a motor that hasn't run in 2+ years. first, we put in fresh oil and spun the oil pump. Then we did a dry compression test. The front 4 cylinders were 100-105 , the rear 2 were 80ish. We added a bit of oil in each cylinder and they all jumped into the 125 range. He seemed to think that was great for a cold engine that hadn't been started in a few years.

I took the engine home thinking I would just drop it in and be done with it.

But the more I thought about it, the more I WANTED to tear it down and at least change the rings/bearings.

So began my teardown of my 1988 3FE.

What follows is a series of pictures I took while I took this engine down to the bare block.

this is a crappy cell phone picture of the engine on the stand, with all my "junk" in the background. On the floor you can see the 3spd/transfer case that came out of my 40.

A closer picture of the starting point of the 3FE. It is complete minus the alternator.

Here I have started taking off the intake.

I am not going to bore you with the complete disassembly but I really enjoyed doing this, as this is going to be my first ever complete engine teardown.

 

[Full_Throttle]

so it begins

So after spending all day removing misc. "stuff" from the 3FE, learning new things; like did you know these engines had an oil cooler? ; I was able to flip the engine over and remove the oil pan.

I was also able to get a good look at the head that was "rebuilt" 1000 miles ago......hmmm......

I would have thought this head would have looked ALOT cleaner with just 1K on a rebuild Maybe I'm wrong? Oh well.

Here is a shot of the timing gears. How the heck does this come apart? Good thing I have a FSM to refer to. I spent a good hour trying to find my gear puller.....couldn't find it.

After going to the local parts store, I hade one, but of course it doesn't have the correct length bolts...

No matter. I just welded a nut on a bolt and now I can thread another bolt onto it hey..it worked.

 

[mmw68]

I see the 3FE40's are taking over the world!

 

[Full_Throttle]

teardown continued....

here is a picture of one of the cylinders. A couple of them had a very bad "lip" at the top. Bad enough that this block will need a re-bore. Well, I knew it in my heart, and now I am VERY glad I went ahead with the teardown. Looks like I am getting a complete rebuild. WOOHOO (it's only money)

This isn't the bad one (not sure why I don't have a good picture of the real bad ring ledge)

You can see in this next picture how I marked the connecting rod/cap so that a) I know which direction the cap goes back onto the rod, and b) which rod belongs to which cylinder. This is a picture of the #5 rod

Next is a picture with all the pistons out...you can see some of the cylinder markings and ring ridge.

And here is the "other" side.

 

[Full_Throttle]

Mains

Finally, here are some picture of the crank, mains, ect. The rear main is the only one that looked odd to me. But then again, I really do not know what to look for. I will just post up these pics and if some of you see something I should be concerned with, please point it out.

rear crank. See the weird spot on this? It didn't rub off with a shop rag.

Here is the rear main cap. I wiped it clean of oil. Why is it discolored on the ends?

I don't know if this is normal wear or not.


Here is the rear main block. See the same weird spot that was on the crank?

The rest of the bearings/crank surface/rod bearings looked fine to me.

Here is the front main block

and the middle two main caps.( yes I marked them also.)

So, now that I have it torn down, everything marked so I can put it back, I will take these parts to the machine shop to become like new cruiser bling !! Stay tuned! Same bat time, same bat channel (in my best Adam West voice)

BTW...here is a pic of the H55/split case + "stuff"

 

[BamaBleach]

Sweet! Good to see another 3FE going into a 40. Man, I wish I had a H55 in mine!

Thanks for sharing the build with us!

 

[MAD40er]

Any updates?