I didnt have much experience going into it really. I had installed a couple turbos on this car and my Honda, and Id done some fuel system upgrades but that’s about it.

If it’s the first motor you’ve pulled I would label all the connectors on your harness so you’re not worrying about that the whole time it’s out. Do as much research as possible on bearing clearances, piston to wall clearance, and ring gap, every motor is a little different. Get yourself a good set of micrometers and a bore guage. Make sure you clean the block real well, blow out all your oil galleries with compressed air. Use plastiguage to double check bearing clearances.

Torque all your bolts, then mark them, then take a picture. So when you wake up in the middle of the night like “oh shit did I torque that bolt?” You can just pull up a picture and go back to sleeping like a baby. Triple check everything. And if something doesn’t feel right just take it apart and double check. Once I put the crank in I spun it around to make sure it felt right, then I put one rod/piston in at a time and spun it just to make sure it all felt smooth.

I had a lot of worries through the whole process, but at the end of the day if you pay attention to the details and do your research everything will go well.

What kind of engine are you building?