I'm rebuilding. These things are not that hard if you can remember where things go. Take a bunch of pictures. Dang! all those ground wires #@%&. Don't start pulling a motor with an approaching storm. The smoking meat goes well with turning wrenches. It all takes time. If you look at the cooker it says IDEAL. I keep the temperature on those letters and the meat up high. Don't rush... The same goes with turning wrenches. Walk away from those things that just get you hot. I had a hard time just getting the oil pan off. It helps to remove all the bolts and nuts. I missed the two behind the flywheel for over an hour. I didn't force things and I eventually found the two nuts. Once I get all the parts off the block it's going to get hot tanked. I'm taking the heads to get checked out tomorrow. I'll keep posting pics to the link.

 

Yeah i agree about the remembering. I use blue painters tape and number all the wires and hoses with a notepad as a re-assembly guide. My walk away point was the flex-plate to torque converter bolts. I popped of the small cover on the bottom of the bellhousing and thought W.T.F? I was already somewhat frustrated with the exhaust so the obvious answer of going through the starter hole eluded me for about an hour. And just like a trivia question, as soon as you stop thinking about it the answer pops into your head.

 

Well I finally got some time this weekend to get back to work and everything was going great down to the last bit when I tried to put air filter box and the tube up to the throttle body. It would not fit in front of the oil fill or behind the oil fill that's when I realized I put the valve covers on backwards. How stupid was that, I labeled every wire, hose, tube, clip and forgot a L and R on the valve covers not to mention the dozens of oil changes when I put oil in, should have known what side it went on. What a dummy. On the bright side I still have the STS-V that my wife is borrowing from her dad. With that in the stable the blazer might never get done.

 

Oh man, that sucks. Get down to the last little bit and have to backtrack. Shouldn't be too difficult/long to fix that though. Looking good so far!

 

Finally got the wagon all back together and running still need to fine tune the timing. need a better comp. to set the cam retard to zero but we put about 200 miles on and shes running smooth so far. I have one piece left over a weatherstrip about 12-18 inches long almost straight that I think came off when we took off the hood but haven't remembered where it goes yet. Time to send the STS-V back to my father in law maybe just a few doughnuts first.

 

Well here she is back on the road with 500 miles on the new engine. Got a chance to give her a bath today. Now I'm getting ideas from all of you on what to do next.

 

Has anyone tried lifting the body off the frame then changing the motor?

 

I guess not. How about removing the front clip (bumper, grill, both fenders and inner wheelwells). It just seems there is an easier way to swap a motor than all that reaching and bolting!

 

Lifting the body off is more work than doing the motor, there's no reason to do that at all.

Removing the front clip is very common as it gives you much better access to everything.

However, that question is better put in it's own thread, not in the middle of someone elses.

 

I didn't think of that when I was tearing it down.
I've heard dropping the tranny tail makes it easier, but I didn't go that route either.
I was a hard head and did it with multiple box wrenches, sockets, swivels, extensions and a dremel tool.
I used the dremel on the heat shield that gets in the way of the driver-side bellhousing bolt 2nd from the top, and to make a few custom tools out of old wrenches.
The dremel also comes in handy for cleaning off old gaskets especially the oil pan.