Keith Browning Posted March 8, 2018 Share Posted March 8, 2018 Can you sneak the right cylinder head off a 6.8L out of an Econoline? Maybe remove the left engine mount for room? Anyone done it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonybullitt Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 Yeah, I am sure I have before. I just had Rh head off a 12 e350 5.4 in chassis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Browning Posted March 9, 2018 Author Share Posted March 9, 2018 So why the hell does Ford tell ya to pull the engine? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forddieseldoctor Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 Cause it’s a wiggle fest to get the head in and out of there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmorris Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 Most likely it's accessibility for cleaning the deck surface. The F150 was the same way. Remove the engine to pull the heads because you couldn't properly clean the block with it in chassis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Browning Posted March 9, 2018 Author Share Posted March 9, 2018 Well you don't have to sneak it out. I removed the left engine mount and jacked up the right. Plenty of room to work with. I removed the head with a hoist... had to leave one head bolt in on the bottom, third one back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mchan68 Posted March 10, 2018 Share Posted March 10, 2018 I was going to chime in earlier on this, and the photos you posted answered one of my questions, namely if this happens to be a cutaway application with a body upfitted with the obvious answer being yes. MANY years ago, when trucks equipped with the 5.4L engines were coming in leaking oil from the high pressure oil feed to the passenger side cylinder heads at the rear from between the head and block, I happened to be the lucky recipient of an E-Series cube van requiring this repair. I remembered very well that the passenger side cylinder head was removed with the exhaust manifold bolted up to it, also with eight out of the ten cylinder head bolts secured with elastic bands (due to doghouse opening clearance issues). Needless to say, removal/installation required a couple of assistants, but the point being it IS possible. Now, a 6.8L V10 is only quite literally a 5.4L V8 with two extra cylinders sharing an extra crankpin, along with a counter-rotating balance shaft added to the driver side cylinder head as we all know. What I don't know personally, is if the extra two cylinders (and consequently the added length of the cylinder head ) makes it impossible to remove in-vehicle with the body bolted to the frame. It is also noteworthy to mention the above mentioned repair also occurred at around the time just before most of the Ford dealership techs committed Mass Exodus against FoMoCo for the crappy labour times being paid for many engine repairs on Ford trucks, and..... cab/body removal was introduced by many techs fed up with the SLTS cuts even though the workshop manual never instructed to do so. As a result, Ford revised the workshop manual procedures on pretty much all the trucks to instruct you to R & R the engine if cylinder head removal was necessary, along with the revised SLTS op codes to claim if this were a warranty repair. Little consolation this was, when by the time this update took place, most of the trucks needing this repair were already done long ago and the well out of warranty. Keith, I thought you even had a couple of articles with pictures of E-Series body removals if I recall correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Browning Posted March 10, 2018 Author Share Posted March 10, 2018 Yes Mike I had something up on body removal which included Super Duty, Excursions and Econoline pictures. I don't think it really matters if it's a van or a cutaway because you don't spend much time in the cab to be honest and as I mentioned I used our small engine crane to lift the head out which will allow me to also install the new cylinder head carefully. I don't think this application lends itself to doing this by hand even with help. I don't know how much difference messing with the engine mounts made but I am thinking to myself why I even asked if this was possible. My only concern is torquing the head bolts. If you have one of thos fancy new Snap-On torque angle torque wrenches it's probably a snap... but I do not own one myself. Even more so why Ford does not have an in vehicle procedure. It is if no consequence - it's a customer pay job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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