ENGINE REBUILD - Ford Landau: 351 Cleveland

Rebuilding an engine can often feel like a monumental task, but it’s a rewarding experience that ignites a passion for automotive engineering. Recently, The Rusty Wrench team embarked on an exciting journey with a Ford 351 Cleveland engine rebuild for one of our new clients at the Gold Coast Muscle Car Museum.

In this post, Part 1: Removing the Engine, I will share our personal experiences, insights, and specific details of the engine removal. to the re-engineering process. If you've ever felt the urge to tap into your inner mechanic, get ready to rev your engines!

ENGINE REBUILD - Ford Landau: 351 Cleveland

Part 1: Removing the Engine

Ford XB stripped & primed for paint.

The first step in any rebuild project is removing the engine from the vehicle. As the mechanics for the job on this classic car engine, we gathered all the necessary tools before starting. A reliable set of sockets, ratchets, spanners, chains and a sturdy engine crane are indispensable.

Normally I would recommend leaving the paint job until AFTER engine removal, rebuild and dummy fit. However, this Ford XB has already been stripped & primed and engine removal was required for engine bay sandblasting.

It's quite tricky removing/replacing an engine during or after painting because of the risk of damage to the new paintwork (which isn't usually cheap). In this case, the strip & prime done on the body has left the 351 full of bog-dust. Messy business, and not entirely great for the engine. The carby didn't have it's cover on and was full of bog-dust. It has to be sent away for proper cleaning.

I began by disconnecting the battery and draining fluids—this step is crucial! Next, I removed the tail shaft, transmission cross member and unbolted the engine mounts from chassis. Sounds simple enough?

Years of grime and a lot of bog-dust from the recent paint strip covered everything. Getting underneath the car was an adventure within itself. Any movement, breeze or vibration resulted in clouds of bog-dust raining down on us. The up side to the job is getting to see an engine’s long history when you start to pull things apart and prep for restoration adventures.

I took my time double checking all wiring and other components were disconnected and/or moved for clearance of engine removal, and to avoid damaging anything important.

Next it was time to prep the engine for removal from the engine bay. Finding a good anchor position for attaching the engine crane chains is crucial. Last thing we need is an engine dropping, so sturdy anchor points are a must. I used some pre-existing bolts and ensured that the chains weren't going to rub, scratch, or bend the rocker covers or anything else important.

With the engine crane assembled and the chains anchored to the engine I could now get the crane into a good position and attach the chains.

After the engine and engine crane was prepped and ready to go, I could then lift the engine and transmission up and out of the engine bay. Great care was taken to ensure that the engine crane was always in position, carefully balancing it as required.

When the engine finally cleared the bay, a surge of excitement filled me; it was as if I was releasing a lion from its cage. All the hours of hard, and dirty, prep work was finally done and it was time to release the beast.

Next we removed the exhaust system, power steering system, power steering box and prepped the engine bay for sandblasting.

After 5-6hrs of sweaty, grimy work, it was time to call it a day.

Stay tuned for our next blog post where we will take you on our next 351 adventure...

Ford Landau 351 Cleveland: Engine Rebuild.

Engine transport, cleaning, testing and stripping for inspection before being taken off to engineering for further testing and machining.