Engine Replacement - 2000 Rexhall with 6.8 V10

To make the prelude story short, after our last trip, we took our 2000 Rexhall with the 6.8 V10 engine for oil change/lube to a local shop and drove it home with a spun bearing. Funny how things like this happen. And to add salt to the wound, the shop tells you to consider yourself lucky it happen there instead of out on the road. ENOUGH ABOUT THAT SUBJECT.

This left us in a peculiar situation. The coach is worth around $25k before the failure, the cost of a shop with experience in motorhomes would cost around $14k to swap the engine, but yet the coach with a bad engine is worthless to our needs and maybe worth $5k (?) salvage. We could not justify investing the money for a professional to replace the engine, then I made a critical mistake and said to the DW, Toni “We should replace the engine ourselves.” I swear, I said it tongue in cheek, yet fishing to see her reaction. Much to my surprise/excitement/dreed she didn’t hesitate responding with the reply of “Why not, we can do it.” You see, I’m in my early 50’s, she’s in her mid-40’s so we are capable, yet I stopped working on cars many years ago with few exceptions. I’ve never dealt with a fuel injection system and just the size of this project makes it very daunting.

First glance, the doghouse opening was too small to bring the V10 through, the front of the motorhome has a 6” of fiberglass body between the “hood” and grille so the engine won’t fit through the front, but the underside had clearance to bring the engine forward and drop the engine between the frame. We investigated cutting the fiberglass between the fenders, combining the hood opening with the grille opening, and was warned by a trusted body shop that the stress from the connecting fenders would either pull away or push inward making the repair difficult.

We spent the next week investigating the internet. Stories from RLS7201 (Richard) and Geocritter (Steve) of pulling and replacing their engines, was helpful and inspiring. The replies from the forum was also great with good advice and encouragement. We also learned how the lower section of the doghouse could be removed and since we have a driver’s side door, the engine could be removed from the top side making this endeavor not so daunting.

We started the project on Thanksgiving Day and have dedicated 4 days as of last Saturday morning. This last weekend, a little over a week later we pulled the engine on work day 5 and 6. We pulled the engine through the top side and out the driver’s door. As time allows, we plan on posting our progress (past and future) including pictures for future reference of others and the valuable input all on this forum may have.

Speaking of valuable input, any suggestions along the lines of what parts to replace would be most helpful. Of course, we are planning to replace hoses, water pump, oil cooler but how about fuel injectors, coils, and motor mounts??? The radiator will be headed to the shop even though we have not had any issues with cooling. Almost forgot, we intend to replace the engine with a re-manufactured engine from Ford.

Thanks in advance and stay tuned for more to come.

James and Toni