Welp, scratch one motor for me!

[vonirkinshtine]

I was trying to drive from Charlotte to Raleigh for a business conference. For the past couple of months I've been living with, and monitoring a nice tick in the bottom of my motor. Well about 50mi into my trip today, the motor took a turn for the worse. It sounded like someone held a microphone to the tick and amplified it. On top of that it was ticking throughout the entire RPM range. I immediately stopped, let the motor cool and checked my oil...full (actually, a bit above full). So I turned around and limped back to Charlotte.

Boy am I glad I got that Grand Marquis parts car! Tomorrow I will be performing an emergency engine transplant.

The good news about all this is tomorrow my engine will be PI!

Wish me luck! I will post my progress tonight and tomorrow.

Oh, and if anyone around the Charlotte area is bored tomorrow/monday, feel free to stop by! Just shoot me a PM and I'll give you my number. :beer:

[CBT]

Bummer man. You going to tear it down and see what the issue is, or just throw in the other engine?

[justbob]

Don't flame me for saying this but once my friends wife had a nasty tick from the bottom end of her V6 80's cutlass. Long story short they had no money or another car for the familly so i did what i could to help them out of a bind. I droped the oil pan from under the car and found half the rod bearings in decent enough shape one starting to loosen and two wobbling all over. I took those two off and inpected them for sizing and sure enough .30's. so i went and picked up .40's, through them in and buttoned it all up added oil and told him not to watch because this may not go well.
Would you believe she drove that car for over two years without any noise and even sold it for more than she paid! Keep in mind this was a beater but it was there only car and it was not worth a new engine, so the gamble was justified.

[vonirkinshtine]

yeah, once I get the sick motor out, I'll inspect it to see what actually failed. As long as the block is still good I plan on using it as the platform for a performace motor build that will come later.

[vonirkinshtine]

So...me and my roomate started tearing into the engine bay on the CV. Alot of trial and error! It took us 30min to figure out how to take the friggin radiator out! Everything is pretty much detatched and labeled. I still have a couple of vac lines to take off, the heater core hoses, and whatever is underneath the engine.
http://inlinethumb04.webshots.com/17603/2508594910079783134S500x500Q85 .jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2508594910079783134MYjKpf)
The merc, on the other hand, all we got done is intake is off, eletrical connections are 90% off, and coolent is drained. I am slightly concerned because the merc very much looks like a northern car. There's alot of rust in alot of places. Provided we get the motor out without breaking anything, there's alot of accessories I'm going to have to take off the CV motor and swap them over.
http://inlinethumb60.webshots.com/42619/2079522130079783134S500x500Q85 .jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2079522130079783134ebRFHr)
Another thing that I noticed is the belt routing on the GMQ is different from the CV. I didn't expect that. ALSO THE INTAKE HAS THE PLASTIC CROSSOVER????? This bothers the hell out of me! Why would a 2001, PI motor still have the plastic crossover!? Now, will my 99NPI intake with the aluminum crossover work? Or will I need to keep the plastic crossover for now? Can I get Ford to replace that still?
http://inlinethumb28.webshots.com/30619/2728846460079783134S500x500Q85 .jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2728846460079783134xoBIwc)
Welp, it's dark, and really friggin cold. My help will be at my place tomorrow around 8am (I think it'll be about 27deg F around that time). I sure hope that we make good headway tomorrow. I don't have alot of vacation left and I really don't want to be out too much because it's a short week anyways.

[Zack]

In a parking lot?

C'mon! work like a gentleman........INDOORS!

[vonirkinshtine]

I DON'T HAVE DOORS TO WORK IN! Trust me, I'd rather have a nice heated and well lit shop space right now, BUT I DON'T! *sigh* and since it's winter time I don't have alot of daylight to work with either.

I wish I could still be working right now. I have alot to do!

[sd8683]

Zack your new sig is a riot, but my blackberry HATES it!

[Blk Mamba]

Rent a salamander.

[vonirkinshtine]

a what?????

[Blk Mamba]

a what?????

Kerosene fired portable heater, do not use in a closed space.

[vonirkinshtine]

Ah, gotcha. Well, I couldn't get it done for a number of reasons, so I had to tow the suckers off site to a guy who could work on them.
http://inlinethumb59.webshots.com/42938/2992640660079783134S500x500Q85 .jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2992640660079783134AnScDW)

As of this second, he should have the bad motor out of the Vic, and should be getting the Merc unbolted so it can be pulled (if it's not pulled already).

[BlownMerc]

You do have to use the plastic PI intake, your aluminum crossover NPI intake will not work. The recall was only on CVPI, taxi and livery models intially, Mercurys (because of low volume failure rate) were not included until VERY late, and most are out of mileage. Either run with the plastic for now, or pony up for the aluminum version. The one from FRPP is ALOT cheaper than from the dealer, even at my cost, and I work here!

The belt routing changed with the new water pump. Make sure you keep the right water pump pulley with the right pump (short pump, long pump). The difference should also be with the timing cover, mounting points for the idlers and tensioner. Which ever cover you use, then go with that belt routing. Shouldn't be an issue with anything else that can't be dealt with simply.

[vonirkinshtine]

Thanks for the $0.02 B.M. I know as much that the NPI intake with not work on a PI motor. I'll just have to save up for a PI intake. Do you have a link to the intake you were talking about, "FRPP"?

Ok, so the water pump is why they changed the belt routing. Ok, that makes sence (I suppose). I will be taking the hi-output alternator off the vic at least. I've been amazed at how many little things changed between the NPI and the PI motors.

[offroadkarter]

Thanks for the $0.02 B.M. I know as much that the NPI intake with not work on a PI motor. I'll just have to save up for a PI intake. Do you have a link to the intake you were talking about, "FRPP"?

Ok, so the water pump is why they changed the belt routing. Ok, that makes sence (I suppose). I will be taking the hi-output alternator off the vic at least. I've been amazed at how many little things changed between the NPI and the PI motors.


http://www.fordracingparts.com/parts/part_details.asp?PartKeyField= 6125

[Blackmobile]

I DON'T HAVE DOORS TO WORK IN! Trust me, I'd rather have a nice heated and well lit shop space right now, BUT I DON'T! *sigh* and since it's winter time I don't have alot of daylight to work with either.

I wish I could still be working right now. I have alot to do!

I feel your pain, mine went in, in my parking lot. Hey, we do what we have to do.

[vonirkinshtine]

Ok, so...after a week of weather and physical delays. I HAVE MY CAR BACK! And no more knock! Let me go on reccord by saying...

A 2001 PI MOTOR WILL NOT SWAP DIRECTLY INTO A 1999 CHASSIS! There are slight differences in the wiring harness, the belt routing is different, the exhaust manifolds are [somehow] different, and the torque converters are different which causes the flywheel to be different.

As I get some more time over the holidays I plan on sitting down with my mechanic and detailing all the issues he had so I can put together a write-up of what happened and how we got around it.

[SILVERSURFER03]

:congrats: on a job well done glab to see your ridding again without much of a delay

[n00bkiller944]

Congrats! How many miles were on the old engine?

[vonirkinshtine]

160,000. The "new motor" has 100,000.

[SC Cheesehead]

160,000. The "new motor" has 100,000.

Well, that gives you at least 60,000 miles of trouble-free motoring on the replacement mill.

Carry on!:D

[Black_Noise]

a twin motor pull? in a parkin lot? in winter?

your nuts!!

[vonirkinshtine]

Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do! Anything to keep my baby up and running!