Engine Disassembly

With the engine out, I took it apart so I can send it to the machine shop.  I'm going to have the machine shop bore out the cylinders to 4.155, the amount required by a stroker kit from Butler Performance.  That will take this 400 up to a 461.

So out came the rockers and then the heads.

I was surprised by the size of the valves.

After taking off the valley pan, I removed the push rods and lifters.

The timing gears and chain.  No wear on the teeth and the chain looked good.

After taking off the timing and the cam plate, I took out the cam.  It looked good, but it's getting replaced.

With the windage tray (a Pontiac pan to prevent oil foam at high rpm's) removed I had access to the dipstick tube, connecting rod caps and main caps.  Off they came.

After taking out the pistons, freeze plugs, oil galley plugs (including the hidden one), the crank shaft and crank bearings, it's ready to go to the machine shop.

Out comes the motor

After spending a couple of weeks disassembling, bagging and cataloging all the engine components...

Out popped the engine.  Lots of room.  No problems.  The only tricky part is the way the headers have to come off as the engine comes out.  It will be even more tricky getting them on as it goes back in and lines up with the tranny at the same time.  (Can't wait.)

 

 Big open hole.

 

 Now comes the clean up.  I'm going to; degrease and repaint everything, replace all the brake, transmission, coolant, fuel, and vacuum lines.  First order of business is to degrease and tear down the engine.  Once I get the heads off, I can see what kind of shape the cylinders are in and measure them to see if there has been a previous rebuild.  If it looks good, I'll only replace the gaskets and seals.  If not, I'll have to do a rebuild.  I don't want to take a chance with a catastrophic failure.  These 400's are too hard to come by.