4.3L Engine Installed In A 1989 Chevy S-10 - Heart Transplant Part 2

1. ATK ships the engine with a box of gaskets, which includes the intake manifold set. I laid down a large bead of Permatex Ultra Black Hi-Temp RTV silicone on the front and rear edge of the block instead of using the rubber gasket. I have done this on every intake I've installed with great results. I have had one of the rubber gaskets slip out before and start seeping oil so I never used them again. I also put a very thin bead of RTV around the water ports on the head just to be safe.

2. I used two of the throttle body bolts as handles to drop the freshly blasted manifold straight down into position. When using RTV as a gasket, you don't want to slide the manifold back and forth if at all possible, so having something to hold really helps.

3. Using ATK's instructions as a guide, I torque the manifold bolts to 35 lb-ft. That slab of thin cardboard sitting behind the engine is the instruction sheet that ATK prints and also uses to seal the valley during shipping. It saved me from thumbing through my repair manual to find the torque specs and sequence.

4. I picked up a new thermostat from my local NAPA parts guru, Ivan, and installed it with the ATK gasket. I used a little RTV to ensure a good seal.

5. I recently replaced all the sensors, so I just swapped them into my new engine. The ATK engine came with an Allen-headed plug, which had to come out first

6a. To install the new balancer I got while I was at NAPA, I constructed this makeshift tool out of a long bolt, two nuts, the balancer washer, and a large bearing. This will allow me to install the balancer without damaging the crank or bearings by beating it on it with a hammer, which is a big no-no.

7. A bunch of stuff happened at the back of the engine. The throttle brackets and lift points got cleaned and painted. A new oil pressure sender, knock sensor, and EGR valve all got installed along with the distributor. Before dropping the distributor in the hole, I rotated the engine so that the number one piston was at TDC on the compression stroke. I also used a long flat-tip screwdriver to align the oil pump drive so the distributor dropped all the way down into the block.

8. When I pulled my old motor I found that my motor mount on the driver side was busted in two pieces and that the passenger side looked horrible, so I picked up a new set from LMC.

9. I reused my old dipstick but found it a little difficult to get it all the way down into the pan. An open-end wrench and a hammer helped persuade it the rest of the way down.

10. I inspected the teeth on my original flywheel. Luckily they were in good shape so I swapped it over. I use an impact gun to quickly run the bolts in before setting them at 75 lb-ft.