Just when I thought I'd be ready to fire the engine up for the first time I've got an oil leak. Not sure if it's the rear main of the oil pan. It is a 2 rms and I used a felpro one piece oil pan gasket. Either way I know I've got to pull the engine.
Have a few questions. Would I be able to leave the t5 in place including the torque arm?
Thinking it through in my head I know I'll have to remove the dizzy, carb and headers obviously as well as disconnect radiator hoses and a few smaller things. Am I missing anything else?

 

Yes. Leave the bell housing attached to the trans as well. Just be careful not to damage the clutch (diaphragm fingers especially) as you separate it.

Not necessarily. The headers can stay in the chassis, just unbolt them from the motor.

Keep in mind, you don't have to have the motor all the way "out"; just, far enough up, and separated enough from the trans and everything else, to have good cleeeeen access to the scene of the crime. But the difference between that and "out" isn't all that much anyway; and anything you can do to ensure a PERFECT outcome, that being the minimum standard from which improvement is automatically expected and in fact mandatory, will pay off in the overall quality of the job.

 

Remove the T5 before removing the engine.

 

While I have the engine out I want to make sure everything else is good to go so I won't have to do this again anytime soon. Are all throw it bearings the same for a 2 rms 350? With the blue fel pro 1 piece oil pan gasket should I try and reuse it or either get a new one or even a different gasket? Also to ensure my fix works this time-should I go as far to have the engine on a stand with for the night to test the seal before dropping it all back in? And can my timing chain cover remain in place?

 

Pull the engine, leave the trans in place.

Once you have the engine out, pop the BH off the trans, and swap out the throwout if it needs it.

No all are not the same; 2-pc isn't the deciding factor. What matters is, the clutch you have. The majority of "performance" clutches will take the "short" one. DO NOT get the "tall" one, that's for 6-cyl and other such weeeeeeeenie crap. Not many cars get the "medium" one.



Match up whatever you get to whatever you have.

 

appareciate the input. I was actually thinking of the pilot bearing though- is this the same for all 2 rms 350s? And am I able to leave the timing cover in place through out all of this?

 

While I don't doubt the engine can be removed while leaving the manual trans in place, I disagree with it being the easier way. As for an auto trans, even I would vote twice to leave the auto trans in the car for engine R&R.

With the trans (and bell housing) attached to the engine, you have to lift UP to get the motor mounts to clear, then pull forward several inches to disengage the T5 input shaft out of the clutch and TO bearing. And reverse; trying to line up the input shaft on the TO, clutch and pilot while putting the engine back in is too big a PITA for my preference. All while nothing is supporting the front of the trans, and floppy support at the back end.

It's NOT that difficult to remove a T5. It's half the weight of a T56! And whatever extra time and effort spent R&R the trans will make up for the extra time and cursing dealing with the trans while R&R'ing the engine.

That's my $.02, and is worth every cent you paid for it.

 

Hey man.. Before you yank the engine out, look and check real good for that oil leak. I would hate for you to pull the engine due to an oil filter seal or some little BS.

I say this cause I went through it when I built my new combo. Every thing was fine, thought I seen some smoke but couldn't see any leak.. Drove it down the road and lost oil pressure, smoke everywhere.

Looked like the rear main seal dumped 5 qt of oil out. After checking real good, I found the oil filter rubber ring broke and blew out.

Also look at the bottom, front pass side of block, right around the corner from fuel pump. You will see 2 bolt holes. Make sure the top hole has a bolt in it and is tight. That is an open hole to the fuel pump pushrod and will leak oil

So check oil filter, oil pressure sender ports next to filter, and behind intake. Intake china wall, oil pan drain plug, etc. before you go through the trouble of pulling the engine

 

Leave the trans and BH in the car. It's the eeeeeeezy way. Dodges the whole "clear the TOB" idea because all of that stays in the car.

The pilot bearing/bushing also doesn't depend on 2-pc; they're all the same.

Actually FINDING the oil leak, if you haven't already, is a very wise thing to do. Take the car to the quarter car wash, jack it up and lay underneath it with some engine degreaser and the wand and clean it up to where it's STERILE up under there, get back up under it and look closely after driving it a short while, and be sure of where the oil is coming from before doing a bunch of useless or misdirected work.

 

Yes , finding the oil leak before taking up the wrenches is the best course of action here . What I'm wanting to mention is that from the sentence I quoted , it sounds as though this new build hasn't even once been started ? If this is correct , and you haven't used one of those pre oiler devices , there is no way it could be the rear main seal at the crankshaft bearing cause there should still be nothing there but assembly lube . Yes , the pan gasket itself could be leaking , but if the engine hasn't even once yet run then you really can't say it's the rear main seal or anything else in the pressurized oil system ....

So , has this thing actually ran yet or not ?

 

No it's never been started. I'm having it towed to the auto center on post so I can get a better look. I did use a drill to prime the oil system awhile back though. I actually had the machine shop install the crank so now that I think of it they would have installed both sides of the rear main seal. Anyways I'm just waiting on the car to get here then I'll get to work.


Update: I ended up pulling the engine and tranny and I dropped the engine off at Laniers speed shop to have it broke in properly. He's somewhat of a local legend so Hopefully everything goes well.