piston ring swap with engine in car

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withku

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2010 with fried rings on cyl5(front bank). Was planning on an engine swap, but decided on ring replacement. Was told it’s doable with engine in the car, and i’d like to try. So I’ve got to remove intake manifold, valve covers, timing cover, oil pan, and the RH head. Along with crank pulley and oil seal. Will ball hone the cylinder, ring swap, and put it back together. Anyone done this yet? Biggest project I’ve done was a turbo swap, so this could be interesting. Any tips/advice appreciated.
 

yaycandy

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Oh its do able, you probably dont wanna do it. Take heads off. Pull oil pan, un bolt rods from crank and hope theres room. If you gotta take the crank out then the t ranny will have to come out or pushed over a lot at least. Id say its easier to just pull engine and do it on a stand. Need to hone cylinder or new rings wont seat correctly. Ball hone is for removing surface rust, stone hone is for re crosshatching, which will probably need done
 

withku

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Oh its do able, you probably dont wanna do it. Take heads off. Pull oil pan, un bolt rods from crank and hope theres room. If you gotta take the crank out then the t ranny will have to come out or pushed over a lot at least. Id say its easier to just pull engine and do it on a stand. Need to hone cylinder or new rings wont seat correctly. Ball hone is for removing surface rust, stone hone is for re crosshatching, which will probably need done
Pulling the engine requires a lift which I don’t have access to unfortunately. Don’t have a scope either so i’ll check the cyl walls when I can. Honestly didn’t know there was different types of hones, I’ll have to look into that.

Thanks for the help dude!
 

withku

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Oh its do able, you probably dont wanna do it. Take heads off. Pull oil pan, un bolt rods from crank and hope theres room. If you gotta take the crank out then the t ranny will have to come out or pushed over a lot at least. Id say its easier to just pull engine and do it on a stand. Need to hone cylinder or new rings wont seat correctly. Ball hone is for removing surface rust, stone hone is for re crosshatching, which will probably need done

Just pulled my timing cover off, and my chain was loose. I believe a chunk of a guide fell into my pan as well. Bad tensioner/stretched chain?
 

luigisho

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agree with above re: damaged piston. I would hold off on purchasing replacement parts (chain & tensioner) until you have visual confirmation of actual damage in the cylinder. Also how much if any metal particulates might have circulated in the oil.
 

luigisho

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Did you have to remove camshafts before head bolts?
AS I said I don't have this engined SHO. However, I watched a failed coyote teardown on the youtube yesterday. This one required cams out to remove the head vs earlier Mustang v8 which did not. So really the answer without looking at it is if you can access them all, without cams in the way, that should answer your question if someone who's done it doesn't chime in before you dig in. Really curious what you find. I would be interesed in what the wear areas look like (cam caps, cylinder wall, etc.) and the oil that sourrounds them. This gets more complicated every step so far.
 

351Blueblood

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Yes I removed cams. I also pulled all valves to super clean ports and valves. I ball honed it in car. Went 11.9 couple days ago.
 

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withku

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agree with above re: damaged piston. I would hold off on purchasing replacement parts (chain & tensioner) until you have visual confirmation of actual damage in the cylinder. Also how much if any metal particulates might have circulated in the oil.

i’m a little stuck right now, needs to be tdc to do heads but can’t turn the crank with crosthreaded threads. may need to helicoil, the tap won’t go in straight. or buy a bigger bolt and drill a new size
 

351Blueblood

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Does not have to be TDC to pull head. You need to pull cams to get to head bolts so all valves will be shut after pulling cams. I do like to roll over engine to where all colored timing chain links are where they should be thou.
 

withku

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Does not have to be TDC to pull head. You need to pull cams to get to head bolts so all valves will be shut after pulling cams. I do like to roll over engine to where all colored timing chain links are where they should be thou.

my cam lock tools won’t go on if it’s not tdc but i guess it doesn’t matter if head is coming off anyway
 

luigisho

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Does not have to be TDC to pull head. You need to pull cams to get to head bolts so all valves will be shut after pulling cams. I do like to roll over engine to where all colored timing chain links are where they should be thou.
That answers whether teh cams have to be removed to get at the head bolts. Glad you are here to share experience. The compression numbers you posted in the other thread are hopeful for this issue.
 

RoketRdr

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so i’m a bit confused, what would i need the locks for if i’m removing head anyway? timing will have to be redone regardless correct?

You only need the cam locks for retiming after you put the engine back together. No need for them on disassembly.
 

351Blueblood

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I have more then one MKS and did work on both. That's why I made cam lock tools. Plus I used it on the back head that I didn't remove so nothing move.
 

withku

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so i got my head off today, hopefully piston will come out tmrw. i do have a bit of an issue, piston 5 ( being removed) is at tdc. it should be bottom dead for removal. i can’t turn my crank bc my timing chain is off. not sure if i’ll be able to reach my rod bolts. looking at my piston head though it seems fine. no different from the others. can’t see cylinder walls but pictures below. timing chain was very loose but didn’t seem to be off.
 

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