My original plan in preparation for rebuilding the transmission was to remove the engine/transmission as a combined unit. After looking closer, I realized one of the frame crossbars prevented the transmission from moving forward. At this point, I could have left the engine in place and just removed the transmission, but I decided to go ahead with removing the engine also.

It’s certainly a good thing I did… The engine mounts were seriously in need of replacement. One of the previous owners had modified the front mount, and the rubber was partially separated from the steel on the 2 rear mounts.

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I had no intention of tearing the engine apart, as it had been recently rebuilt and runs like a champ. My only intention was to clean and paint it. I removed all the accessories, which you can see are few on these old engines. I replaced a few screws/bolts which didn’t match the others. And then I gave her a bath in oven cleaner, which is apparently very caustic and a great choice for this purpose. After a good cleaning, I painted it the OEM blue/gray color for 6 cylinder Chevy engines of this vintage (Chevy orange wasn’t used until V-8 engines arrived later.)

Here are a few pictures of the engine after completed, but before being reinstalled.

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And here’s what it looks like back in the truck. I was very pleased with the results 🙂