I little bit of background:

Blah, blah, blah...bought an '01 DII earlier this year, sold it at a huge loss to a friend, bought a '95 DI because it's manual.

The engine that is in the '95 is toast. The PO overheated it;
the #8 piston melted a little bit, and transferred aluminum to the cylinder wall.
I removed the oil pan, and removed the #8 and later the #6 piston
(since it was showing signs of heat damage) and used a razor
to scrape the aluminum from the #8 cylinder wall.

I was going to try and salvage this engine by honing out
the cylinder and replacing the piston, but my better judgement,
a friend here and a good friend in the UK said the liner had probably slipped.
The friend I sold my DII to brought up the point that I could sell the crank
and even the block and make some money back on the new engine.

This thing is torn all the way down to the short block. My friend told me to
keep the water pump, the distributor, the front engine cover, the camshaft and the lifters.

What I am trying to figure out is this: How many bolts are holding this
block to the bell housing? And how do I get at them?

Here is a picture of the melted piston for reference about how hot this thing got:

 

I would sell (or keep) the cylinder heads also if they are still good. Drop a diesel in that bad boy.

 

Trust me, that idea has made it's way around my skull a few times...And the heads were gone when I bought the truck; they were toast anyway from what I was told.

 

If a liner has dropped the block isn't good for much more than a boat anchor without a lot of expensive. I have heard the liners can be replaced for about $800 per cylinder. Unless someone has an overwhelming desire to rebuild an engine for more than the vehicle is worth I doubt you'll be able to sell the block. Check the journals on the crank for wear and scoring also.

There are 8 or 10 bolts holding the bell housing to the engine (can't remember exactly). The 2 at the top are easiest to get at from the top of the engine once the coil packs are out of the way. The rest of the bolts I removed from underneath the vehicle. A couple long extensions and a swivel or 2 will come in really handy. An extra set of hands holding the socket on the bolts from the top of the engine while someone turns from underneath helps also.

 

How much is an aluminum block worth in scrap value?

 

About $100 bucks...

 

This is good advice.

Just got done with this job today on a V8 automatic '95. There are 8 bolts holding the bell housing to the engine, plus you have to undo the plate at the front bottom of the transmission and undo 4 bolts through holes in the big whaddyamcallit plate thing with the big gear on it.

At one point, I had a socket, with about 6 extensions, a ratchet and wrench on the ratchet handle to give more leverage.

Follow the manual. If you lift up on the engine, take out the rubber engine mounts, then lower it down onto the metal mounts, then you'll get a better angle on the top bolts on the bell housing.

Cheers,
Roger

 

The truck I was working on the one of the bolt holding the inspection cover to the transmission was stripped so we just broke the cover off. When we put it back on you couldn't even tell it was broken unless you looked really close.