Hello,
Its Lazarus. My latest part of the engine rebuild on the '49 216 has begun. The engine was pulled ( see How to pull an engine ). Today I began dismantling. One of the earlier readers warned that the engine as it comes out of the truck is VERY heavy and will flip over on its back like a rhino flopping in a puddle. It happens very quickly. So watch out how and where you are if you attempt it without removing the head first (like I did). Fortunately, the engine stand held up and stayed on its wheels. I had to use the cherry picker (known here after as the crane) to get is top side again. One note- if you haven't drained the oil pan and blown out the water jacket first watch your feet. Your gunna get wet.

I told you I hadn't done this in a long time.
So next I took off the side panel to the push rods. A-okay. All pushers straight and true. I removed the water pump and fan along with the thermostat housing. The head bolt were next. There are two lengths of bolts. You'll not have to worry about where they go because it will become obvious when they go back it. They are all 3/4 " and will need a breaker bar and a 4" extension to remove the ones in the middle. Pull them out and put them in the valve cover along with the 4 bolts for the cover for safe keeping. I used a stap around the rocker shaft to lift the head. I used the crane and lifted the head up far enough 6" or so to remove the pushrods from the block.

I lowered the head and turned it over to inspect the valve heads. None were burnt and there was minimal carbon present. The cylinder tops had a small ridge that flaked off easily. I set the head aside and inspected the head gasket for any signs of leaks or blow by. I found none. I carefully removed the gasket and used a razor blade to remove any of the gasket remnants.

The water jackets looked good. Not rusty like I had anticipated. There was coolant still it the block before I dumped it on the floor. Rrrr! A small amount of surface rust was present which will have to be addressed.

I rolled it over again to remover the oil pan. Although most of the oil was on the floor already there was still a good inch of gelatinous goo in the bottom of the pan, along with a couple of acorns. I told you critters had made a house in the engine. The rest of the under side was fairly clean. I removed the rod cap on the fist cylinder and found the bearings and crank to be nearly flawless. No visible wear. After removing all the Pistons and examining the surfaces and rings I found only one broken ring. I think it broke when I took the Pistons out. So, I'll need a set of rings.

I removed the oil mp cover and ran the pump with a screw driver up the distributor housing and it spun with very little resistance and pumped oil up and out. I'll just need to replace the gasket from my overhaul kit when the time comes.

Rais'em from the dead.