Rusty's not very quiet cuda progress

Run a piece of chain across 2 intake bolts. If they are at least 5/16ths to 3/8ths, it's good to lift. Just make sure that the chain is pressed tight to the heads. I've lifted 440's using 2 carb bolts, which are 5/16ths.
 
I'll give him the suggestion, what happens next is up to him, I wasn't around today, but he has it jacked up now, assume he started loosening stuff on the bottom?
 
Tools are building up, he misses his garage where everything was right there, working here has got to be frustrating for him, but heck at least I give him a place to do it!20260330_110416.jpg20260330_110628.jpgSo what would you rather work on this spaghetti 20260330_110709.jpg20260330_110736.jpgOr a proper engine bay! 20260330_111815.jpg
 
Holy crap, I get out there this afternoon & he's got 1/2 the truck apart to get to some of the stuff underneath.20260401_135333.jpgOnce loose we almost made it, but thr hoist got wedged on the last 2" of firewall20260401_140149.jpg20260401_143248.jpgDropped it & reset the chains, finally got it to clear20260401_143259.jpg
Almost there
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Every inch we go more wires have to come out, they routed the starter wires around & under the front of the engine!
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Then the starter had to come out too, there's a friggen clip in behind it!!!

Now we have to do another harness on top of transfer case20260401_162825.jpg
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My Lord it's out, all day to get here, now he will pull the transfer case & then the tranny so maybe we can move the junk around a little easier. 20260401_164614.jpgI'm haveing a hard time even thinking of how the hell he's gonna put it back in???????
9001 friggen wires routed all around this baby! 20260401_164623.jpg
 
All I can say is a FSM might help but probably not. The engineers turned that mess over to the tech writers and they noped right out of it; "Disassemble as needed. Reassembly is reverse of disassembly" 🤷‍♂️

But seriously, the FSM should have at least some details that might come in handy, but in today's world it's might only be given in training videos.

I kind of saw this coming on the CTD that I sold. Things were getting flaky and it couldn't be anything but a hassle to work on it.
 
OK, had to move just about everything out there to get the old motor & tranny on my truck, he pulled the coil packs off before it went off to the scrap yard.20260402_133116.jpgWhile he was gone I moved just about everything out there again, to try & set up for the install
20260402_144829.jpgHe's now fighting with 4 broken off bolts on the exhaust manifold! 20260402_144757.jpgNo game plan yet on how to deal with all those wiring harnesses!
 
Somehow he managed to get the exhaust manifolds on, Friday he Had another friend over who had a method of removing the broken bolts, hold a nut over the hole & weld it to what was left, used every nut he brought with (was like 10 of em) on the first one & had NO LUCK.
Moved to the other side with my left over hardware bag-O-nuts & bolts & with just 2 tries got one out, , second one was still sticking out about an inch, that came out with only I try, he went back to the first on & still no luck, then we managed to break another easy out in the back one, that was further down, so both on this side had easy outs broken in the remaining bolt.

I had a family thing yesterday, he somehow managed to weld a stud to what was left, if they hold his work around looks like it worked? 20260405_142144.jpg20260405_142203.jpgOn the good side he has one old bolt, that seems sketchy to me after what we just went through? 20260405_142222.jpg
 
What a friggen mess, we decided to put the transfer case on first, rather than fighting it from underneath. 20260411_141907.jpg
Bad idea, as we cleared each step putting the starter & that harness in20260411_145902.jpg20260411_152228.jpgWe dropped it in enough to start the tranny cables & harness & that's about where we got stuck we are about 2 inches more to clear the oil pan, but about 1/2" is allwe have at the firewall. 20260411_172343.jpg20260411_165605.jpg
We fought it for a couple of hours with no luck, clear one thing & it wedges against something else, soooooooooooo tomorrow AM he's crawling under to pull the transfer case off, geeze I hope that does it???????
Jack under tranny & stand under motor hopefully to stabilize when the hoist drains down overnight, think I'll leave town for a day or 2! 20260411_181715.jpg
I'm so glad I'm only a helper I could not deal with this mess, look at these friggen wires!!!!!!!!20260411_150521.jpg
 
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Don't have to leave town, but shit's getting weird , I had a dream last night that He got it in.
Just got a call from him, the motor is in, he reset the chains AGAIN & got just the right tilt to get it in, I'm happy for him, & me too.
I will agree with BBB's last post, I'm getting too old for this!
 
My buddy is a slob, I could never work like this, he left in a rush the other day & I haven't been back there, geeze he could of asked me to clean up a tad!20260417_124011.jpg20260417_124020.jpg20260417_124042.jpgcleaned up a little, still in shambles but if he can work like that more power to him, I can't stand stepping over & banging into 4 million things.
 
Finally got up the nerve to take the 'Cuda a little further out & hit the highway, first one was about 2 miles down the road, well traffic was thick & I think I may have made it to 40 once, another mile or 2 & I hit the other highway, started out slow & finally got up to 55, had one opportunity to give it a little gas for a lane change & she did kickdown for that!.
cruised well, brakes fell nice & smooth &it tracked pretty straight.
Really wanted to hit the parkway up by me it's usually light, but no easy pass & no change on me!
That's a place I may have a chance to go from a roll & finally find out how a full throttle shift into 3rd feels!

So I pulled a couple of plugs, first one had some black, but not too bad to my eye?
20260510_143150.jpg20260510_143220.jpgThen I pulled the one in the cylinder that had the lower compression, geeze it looks better to me!!!
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so I haven't seen any new marks on the floor from the rear seals on the motor & tranny, crawled under & I see there's a drip hanging from both, so I'm thinking they slowed down to a livable condition, well at least for me don't wanna do those jobs!
 
Still smells deadly, but after those I'm not gonna worry about running too rich anymore!

Now I gotta find a local car show, want to be in one before I croak!
 
Just spotted a sign for the local show, sat june 6th, better not rain me out this year!
maybe I'll stick a for sale sign in & see if I get any interest in it at all?
 
Trying to stay away from a long term commitment, might just convert the garage into a giant HO train layout, show some of Dad's collection before I croak. 002.jpg001.jpg
 

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