If you've never done it, tearing an engine apart is a lot of fun, and very educational. A couple hints. Buy a good engine stand, not the $50 ones. Have plenty of rags and pans for fluids. Even when you drain them, there is a ton left in the passages of the engine. I like to pop the front freeze plug on each side to drain the coolant from the engine. You'll be replacing them anyway, and they are much easier than the pipe plug to get out. Do this before anything else. Then, drain the oil. pull the heads, intake and any "top of the block" parts. Keep all the lifters and pushrods in sequence, keep rocker shaft assemblies and heads together. (You'll need some sprall room, I find an out-of-the-way spot on the garage floor or bench covered in cardboard a good spot) You want to keep it all in order for inspection. The machine shop will tell you if they can be mixed up or not. Dont forget the oil pump drive..it can be troublesome to get out if the bushing is worn too. Then, remove the oil pan. Do this without flipping the engine over. When the pan is removed, any leftover oil will be in the pan, not running bcak thru the block and dripping on the floor..lol. I also remove the oil pump that way, so oil can drain out down. Then flip it over, and continue taking it apart. Do not use a pipe in the ends of the rods to move them. Use a piece of wood, or plastic coated hammer handle, and put pressure on the piston's bottom near the pins. You can bend the large end of the rods if you hammer them the wrong way. Keep all rod bolts and nuts and caps on thier respective assemblies. Dont mix them up. That's VERY important. Next, unbolt the mains, and pull the caps. Then the crank comes out, and you're done. Dont toss any old bearing shells, and just thread the mian bolts back on by hand. The rest is up to the machine shop to clean and inspect, and tell you what needs to happen. Then you can wory about parts, kits, costs, and choices. You will need to know what sizes you need of everything, and the machine shop can help with that determination. A stock rebuild, using basic kit parts will be in the $3500 range if memory serves me right. A good performance rebuild will be more, and demands better (read as expensive) parts choices. Hope that helps..
I tore my first one apart (much to Dad's chagrine
) with the help of a Chilton's manual. I'd reccomend a factory service manual for your car.
