Learning how to swap a motor

This past week I got a chance to learn something new. I learned how to do a motor swap. I have a fair amount of automotive experience, but I have never actually swapped out a whole motor. A friend of mine has a trusty old Dodge Ram that he affectionately calls Ol' Blue. Well, he loaned Blue out to a friend that didn't add any oil, and ultimately it ended up breaking a piston and throwing a rod through the side of the motor. It was pretty nasty looking, but I am glad he was safe when it happened.

It is a pretty sweet swap we are doing. It is actually a slant 6 motor that came out of a 1970's model car, and it is getting put in a 1980's model truck. Most of the things were an easy switch. It is just a matter of a bolt here, or a clamp there. He ran into several issues though included the oil pan was the wrong shape, and the fuel filter wasn't the right type to match what the truck needed. He did tell me later that he spent more than an hour trying to get the alternator put in before he realized that the bolt was the wrong bolt! Little things like that have made this a bit of a pain.

I want to share some pictures with you all today of the experience. We had to reset the chains and lift the motor way into the air. We had to use a strap to lift up the transmission so it wouldn't hit the front of the truck. Once we got it to clear the front it was a matter of lowering it into place. Sure that sounds easy, but we also had to slide the transmission into place at the same time. So I had to get under the truck and slide the drive shaft. No worries though, I had George to help me out.

I hope you enjoyed a few pictures of this little adventure.

Be well
~The Yeti

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