Oh Lordy, I now own a Fordy (a Lincoln actually)..

[njsteve]

I only broke two bolts during the entire process: one was a tiny 1/4" mounting bolt for the choke tube assembly to the intake and the other was the top water pump to timing cover 3/8" bolt. Everything else came out easy which is pretty darn amazing for a car that spent it's life in New Yawk.

Here's all the parts. I wasn't able to mount the engine to a stand today as I did not have the 5 inch by 7/16"-14 bolts that the 460 uses - much larger than the 3/8" bolts that usually go with GM engines. I had one old GM motor mount bolt that was perfect but without the other three, I was dead in the water. Going to the local Fastenal store tomorrow to get the right grade 8 bolts for the stand.

Time for cleaning that enormous engine bay. I'll be borrowing my friend's pressure washer his week to get all the old grease and gunk off the engine bay and the front suspension.

One thing I did find was missing: the water pump backing plate. My Dad brought the car to the local Lincoln Mercury Dealer to have the water pump replaced back in 1998 - they also did the timing chain at the same time since they broke a bunch of water pump-to-block bolts and had to pull the timing cover off anyway to drill out the broken bolts. (and set the timing to 5 degrees AFTER TDC when they were finished!!!). Looks like the dealer never bothered to reinstall the backing plate that gets sandwiched between two gaskets behind the water pump and directs the flow into the engine. Luckily the car never overheated since it was never driven around much after that repair job twenty years ago. I guess that also explains why the fan belts were wearing a bit weird due to being cocked from the 1/16" misalignment from lacking the water pump plate.