Since the Ranger frame and suspension is set up to accommodate rear sump engines, I would have to make some changes on the 289 in order to make it ready to go into the frame. Vintage Mustangs and other cars used front sump oil pans so I would have to swap that out. Of course it's not that simple as I also have to swap out the oil pump pickup. To fully secure the pickup, I would have to remove one of the main bearing cap bolts and reinstall it over the loop on the pickup tube to hold it in place. Of course this also meant torquing down the bolt once again. Normally the vehicle that would've used this setup would've had a main cap bolt that had a stud end to accommodate a nut to hold the pickup tube but we didn't have that luxury. At first, I pulled the oil pump, not knowing if I might have to replace this oil pump since this engine is a 65 year engine and the pickup tube is for a 90's range engine. Everything turned out to be compatible, so I made another gasket and put everything back on, adding the pickup tube. The next order of business was the oil pan gasket. Originally this engine would've used the typical four piece gasket set, but these are a pain and Ford started using one piece rubber gaskets in the 90's SBF engines. Apparently when I worked on this engine and this car many years ago, I actually added a one piece gasket so when I took everything apart, I was pleasantly surprised to find this one piece gasket still intact, allowing me to reuse it and save the new gasket I got specifically for this job. This gasket is easy to install, just needing four guide studs that screw in place at the four corners of the block and timing cover. The gasket slides over these studs, which are flared to hold the gasket in place to allow one to install the oil pan without having to keep four pieces of gaskets straight. With the oil pan slid over the studs, I placed bolts at various points around the pan to get the unit mounted up evenly. I was able to put a little more torque on these bolts with this gasket compared to the cork gasket pieces of the older style. The cork would pinch out with the slightest amount of extra torque. The one piece gasket took extra torque without distorting or pinching out. With the gasket in place the 289 is now ready to be relocated to the build site for transplant into the frame. Since the engine was already hooked up to the crane with the carb plate, all I had to do was relocate the crane to the garage door and stage the crane so I could back the S10 up to it and slide the powerplant inside. The crane came with the engine down to the build site, and just like other engine jobs, I had to jack the engine from the truck, then turn the engine around facing tail first to the vehicle, then turn the crane around facing the vehicle so I could lift the engine up for installation. With the engine down at the build site, the real fun will begin. Besides removing the old engine mounts from the Ranger frame, there's the matter of verifying the engine fitting on the mount brackets and then figuring out how to get all this garbage secured. I can already see this being a pain in the ass...
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