Evening everyone. Gearing up to pull my 350 & swap in a 455. Anybody have the best way to do it? Any tips? I'll be using a lift plate & an engine hoist(cherry picker). I don't want to pull the trans out so I'll just be disconnecting the trans from the motor. I have the radiator and grill out. Will take hood off to help with clearance. Will I need to take out trans bolts or can I just separate the motor & pull it out? I'm open to to any trips or tricks. Just want this to go easily & smooth. Thanks, Kyle
Use peice of cardboard with cutout to shield overspray and lightly paint hood attach bolts with contrasting color. Will make reinstall a breeze. Check tires. Double check all wires and ground straps removed. I use safety wire to tie back anything I can that might snag. Remove dipstick, they always reach out and grab something. And I'll pull plug wires, vacuum lines and such so less to look at. And go slow.
I really don't know about automatics, but I always pull the motor and trans together on my manual transmission.
An engine crane's primary purpose is to test the tensile strength of anything that is still left attached
I'd pull the front bumper unless you have a picker with long legs and a longer than normal arm Remove bellhousing bolts and torque converter bolts,..place floor jack with a 2x6 or something similar to distribute the weight lightly jack up. Make sure the picker will slide under the control arms b4 getting the trans supported by the jack. Have a pry bar handy separating the engine/trans can be troublesome sometimes Remove the starter!! Watch the AC box if equipped
Yes. But the tranny attached, makes for easier navigation and a lot easier to remove/attach a tranny not wrapped in a sheet metal tunnel and less than a foot of room underneath a car. But then again, being older, tends to make one whiny about such things....
Use a big crow bar to guide it out. Never put any part of your body between the engine and X. So have the crow bar ready. Make sure your cherry picker has enough hydronic engine oil. Sweep under your car before you start so your cherry picker dont catch on a rock. Have a plan when it comes out like puting it on topa tire sitting on top a pallet and a movers rack. Or on a engine stand. When puting an engine on a stand you want to work slow and carefully. Put the mounting plate on it then connect the stand while still up. Lower slow probably with someone but you can do it solo. Gide it down with the crow bar. Make sure all bolts your using are grade 8. Google how to tell a grade 8 bolt. Once I was too confident/ignorant and use a non grade bolt and it snapped and the engine fell. Any bolt will come out with heat and a nice slap on the head with a ball peen hammer. But first spray penetrating oil on all bolts now. Wait till your done to open your first beer.
Yep. Touch up after installation is easy peasy. Fighting to get that danged "barn door" to set back in place is a drag when you just wanna drive yer car after stuffing that baddass motor in there.
Yep push it all the way up and scotch it up with something it will raise another few in from the normal open position. You just gotta keep the picker pulled out as far as possible each time you raise the arm
Yes,its just a matter of lifting engine a little at a time and moving back a little at a time to clear the hood. Up a little, back a little, up a little back a little and so on until it is out, easy peasy, no hood removal necessary when you leave the trans in the car. Just need to put the hoist's hook on the end of the boom to the shortest setting and if you're using a carb pad lift plate hook directly to the plate if possible to keep the boom as close to the engine as possible for top clearance when raising up to stay away from the hood as much as possible when lifting up. Otherwise the boom will be into the hood before you clear the motor mounts. Make sure to have a jack under the trans like hugger wrote to support it while the engine is being lifted over the motor mounts so the 2 can be separated, the jack will need to be raised to support it as engine is raised. After the engine is out you can wire the trans up, I usually use a couple of the solid rubber bungee cords hooked through the bolt holes and to the fire wall to hold the trans up so the jack doesn't have to support it until an engine goes back in.
Heck, pulling and replacing a hood is the easy part. I prefer the room and the light. I don't bend or see like I used to, in the good ol' days.
Thanks for all of the tips guys. I've been doing car repair for a lot of years now however I've never pulled a engine. I did also remove & replace a whole rear end in this year as well for the first time! Kyle
Yeah, if you have a couple other guys to help you, if not its not as easy as it was when I was in my 20s. And with the hood still on it is the perfect place to hang the trouble light that lights up under the hood better than having the hood off.
Yes, good points. I have really bright lights in the garage and still need to lay a trouble light next to stuff I am trying to see. Seems when I hang a light, no matter where I put it, my big old head is in the way. (I sweat too much to wear a "head light"). And I always seem to bang my head on the hood, so for me, it's just my personal preference. The "paint" tip was only for those who ever need to remove a hood. Gets you real close on reinstallation. I pulled the hood off my '64 Skylark by myself, pulled the two front bolts, then held it with one hand and pulled the two rear (with cushions to catch the back as is slid to the cowl, then tilted it forward and grabbed on middle of each side and lifted up and walked backwards), but made me quickly realize, in my 60s, it was the last time I was ever going to pull a hood by myself.
I learned the engine could be pulled with the hood on waiting for my gearhead buddy. He was not available until the next day, so i figured I'd get to putzing around and be ready. One thing lead to another and I was able to pull it without any issue. With the lift plate on the carb pad it came out with no issue. I was happy not to screw with the hood and risk paint damage.
remove the hood and pull the engine + tranny at same time. much easier to reinstall both without having try & mate the tranny & motor separately. Been the done that 4 times.
