What is the bast way to go about removing the crankshaft, the pistons and the rods? Should I take the rod ends off and take the crank off, and then take the pistons out the bottom? That's what seems most reasonable.

 

The pistons won't come out the bottom. If you want to remove them, the heads will need to come off first.

------------------
"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports

 

They're off, so i just push them out the top, right?

 

Pretty much, yeah. Don't push on the rod bolts though, push on the rods themselves, with a piece of wood or something like that, that won't damage the bearing bore of the rods. Make sure they don't hit the cylinder walls on their way out.

------------------
"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports

 

How long have the pistons been in the engine? You may need to take care of some ridges on the top of the cylinders if you dont want to damage the rings. You could put a piece of rubber hose over the rod bolts so you cant really damage the crank as well, and use a hammer handle or something similar to push the piston out the top.