Building and Installing the Engine (and Transmission)

I'm only able to get so far on the engine installation as I'm wating for the push rods and valve covers I ordered two days ago.  I'd hoped to use my stock valve covers for now to save money but they don't clear the rockers due to the baffles and I don't want to cut them out. 

I started off the morning installing the heads.  I used some Fel Pro 9333 PT-1 gaskets, stock bolts, and Trick Flow bolt bushings.  I put a little moly lube around the head of each bolt and some LockTite to seal the bolt threads.  I torqued the bolts in stages (30, 50, and 70).  I then finally tightened the top bolts (inside the valve cover) to 80 ft/lbs. 

I temporarily installed the intake (without a gasket) and torqued it down next.  The intake is needed in order to attach the lift plate to the carb flange.  Once the intake was installed, I put on the lift plate, and started assembling the engine lift I rented from RedTail rentals earlier this morning.

Once I had the engine attached to the lift, a friend (Kyle) came by to help guide it into place.  While working to install the engine, I had two neighbors stop by to say hi (classic cars and engines have that effect).  As a result, I was distracted and did not take pictures of the engine on the lift. 

The engine installation went perfectly.  I slowly lowered the motor and it lined up perfectly with the mounts in the Mustang.  There was no paint scratched or other problems which was great. The remaining task for the day was to reinstall the transmission.

I worked slowly but methodically installing the block plate, flywheel, clutch plate, pressure plate, and finally the bellhousing.  I installed the flywheel using ARP bolts (#100-2801) which were torqued to 62 ft/lbs per ARPs instructions. The pressure plate was also installed with ARP bolts (#250-2201) and they were torqued down to 20 ft/lbs per ARPs instructions.  There was not much of an indication of what should be used on the threads of the bolts so I used the High Strength Thread Locker.

It was then time for the transmission.  The transmission fought me each time I would get close to getting it into the proper alignment.  The transmission installation took much, much longer than installing the engine.  The transmission is just bulky, heavy, and must be installed perfectly to align up to the back of the engine.  After about an hour of a half filled with cussing, I managed to get the transmission in place.

After the transmission was installed, I installed the transmission crossmember, shifter, driveshaft, filled the transmission with new gear oil (drained it and cleaned it up some while it was out), reconnected the parking brake lines, and then decided to call it a day.

I'm glad with the progress I've made over the past couple of days.  The engine looks incredible in the engine compartment.  I still find it hard to believe it is all back in the car.