Day 11 & 12:
These two days (Friday and Saturday) run together. We got an early start on News Years Day after a calm New Years Eve. We finished up the upper end, worked the exhaust and the front of the engine. A few things stand out about these two days:
The engine oil dip stick. What a PITA. We (me not Toni, she reads the manual) had decided to put the dip stick in before the driver's side exhaust manifold so we didn't have to worry about getting it between the manifold and the engine block. The dipstick is bent in so many ways and is routed though the fire wall, along the valve covers, through the exhaust manifold and behind the oil cooler. So many twist and turns, we worked on this stupid dip stick for about an hour. We had to pull this end while pushing that end meanwhile using a foot to lift this end and an elbow to press on that end. HATED every minute of this chore, couldn't wait to move on to the dreaded exhaust system. But finally, it went in.
On to the exhaust manifold. We left the pipe from the exhaust manifold to the EGR valve on the manifold since there was no way this pipe was coming off. Removing the exhaust manifold from the old engine was like working a puzzle getting it between the frame and the misc engine parts, but there is a solution to the puzzle with the right angles it does come out. Putting it on was just as tricky but with a little patience it worked itself right into place... except the EGR valve pipe would not go back into place because it hit that evil dip stick! We tried so many different approaches to maneuvering the exhaust manifold/EGR pipe so that the manifold was on top of the dip stick and the EGR pipe was below the dip stick. The solution: Does Not Exist. We had no choice but to remove the dip stick and reinstall after the exhaust manifold is installed. Please refer to previous paragraph.
Connecting the exhaust pipes to the manifold wasn't fun, but it went smoothly. Our next complication was installing the radiator. We had removed the radiator and had it cleaned at the local shop. It's large and bulky. Toni took top side and I took the underside. She was able to guide it in place, but trying to put the metal mounting bracket under the radiator while holding it in place came with it's challenges. Before long, Toni was by my side lying on the floor struggling with this bracket. The biggest problem was getting the bracket above the transmission cooler lines and under the radiator while installing the 4 mounting bolts. Try as we may, we just couldn't get it. Here is where the pictures came in handy. After looking at the pictures, the transmission cooler lines are above the mounting bracket next to the radiator. Per Toni's suggestion, we loosely bolted the mounting bracket then slid the radiator over the mounting bracket into place. It's amazing how the little things can take up so much time.
As the sun was setting Saturday evening, two things stood between us and starting the engine: The transmission dipstick and filling the radiator with coolant. We (Toni, not me = we) decided it was time to put up and come back the next day so we would be fresh when starting the engine.
