e3photo

http://www.pcarworkshop.com/index.ph...out_the_series



Emerald

Mike J

See my rebuilt articles on http://www.pcarworkshop.com - I never remove the bumpers, it's not required. Before I had my lift, I would just lift the tail of the car high enough to pull the engine out. I had two methods, one is a massive truck jack, and the other was to use a chain block off the large I-beams in my shop, and using a 4x4 across the frame, lift the tail of the car in the air.

The clearance between the bumper and cat is quite tight, so you may need to wiggle the car around a bit get the engine in and out, but its doable. All my drops are now on the hoist, but same principles go.

I have even dropped engine with the entire exhaust systems in place - just disconnect and go.

I would leave the heat exchangers on the engine regardless, it leaves a nice level spot for the engine to rest on.

Cheers,

Mike

Mike J

ahhh, me? (typo - is supposed to be Mike J.)

I did a long series on my rebuild (which went all the way to polishing the crank) back 5 years ago, and I put it on my website (http://www.pcarworkshop.com).

If you have questions, please feel free to shoot away, i will try to help out.

Cheers,

Mike

Mike J

The half-shafts are tight on that side but you can drop it without removing the starter and bumper (in fact, you can drop the engine with everything on it, including the mufflers and tips!). You may need to roll the engine back and forth to "hook" the shaft around the starter - there is virtually no clearance, so it will take some wiggling for sure.

Sorry about the fuel line - but you likely noticed that its easy to get caught on something, and when lowering the engine, it can drag pretty hard.

Like you, I do all my work almost always myself, which means single handily dropping and installing engines. The only spot I found so far that its very hard to do yourself is buttoning up the split case - there is not much time to get all the through bolts in, O rings, and the right torque sequence while the sealer is drying.

Another very good spot is the engine rebuilding forum on Pelican Parts - lots of good advice and knowledge in that group.

Cheers,

Mike

dgmattingley

Hey Mike J, very glad you've chimed in. How did I possibly call you Mike L when I've been reading your engine DIY daily for the past month?

I'll have some more posts with pics soon, but for now a question: how did you remove the crank pulley nut? I ask because mine seems to be on there impossibly tight. I used a 1/2" socket wrench with a 2 ft pipe extension and all I managed to do was bend a case stud (and damage the threads in the case in the process). In the end I gave up and removed the AC mount by pulling the engine carrier studs.

Cheers,
Don

dgmattingley

Hi,
I only took off the bumper because I needed the clearance with my jack stands. And while I was there is was just easier for me to go ahead and take off the entire exhaust and heat system and have it out of the way when doing the drop. Good luck, and watch that passenger side half shaft.

cheers,
Don

Van1

I used bungee cords to compress and position the half shafts out of the way. I did not have any problems clearing them while lowering the engine straight down or reinstalling it. I did have spotters when lowering the engine just in case but was able to reinstall all on my own.

Van1

Leaving the heat exchangers on does make for a stable platform. I made a wood cleat/pallet for the engine to sit on and put that on top of an ATV jack. There is no need to support the transmission with a jack using this system. It will catilever just fine. I was able to move the entire engine and transmission assembly around the garage and driveway with no problem.

Van1

This isn't the cleat I made but is one that my friend made that I used as an example to build mine. Used about a 2 foot piece of 2x4 and chiseled out the shape of the bottom of the case. When the correct amount of material is chiseled out, the heat exchangers should rest on a piece of plywood so that the weight of everything is distributed between the case and heat exchangers.

My friend learned this technique from working in a Porsche shop. Apparently all of the techs had these sitting next to their tool boxes.

Mike J

That one can be tough - some people use an impact gun to undo it, but I do not like do to that given all the shock you are transmitting into the crankshaft, thus through the intermediate shaft, thus into the oil pump, cam chains... you get the drift.

Not sure what you mean by "case stud"? How did you brake the crank? I usually do it with either the engine in the car or on the stand. In the car, I put the car in gear and have someone stand on the brakes to hold the engine still. On the engine stand, I leave the flywheel on, and use a few pressure plate bolts screwed into the flywheel, and then use my "mandriver" (a 3' long screwdriver) across the arms of the stand locked against the bolts screwed into the flywheel to prevent the crankshaft from moving. I then use a good socket and an breaker bar to undo the nut for the pulley. Its on at 150 fl-lbs or so, so its tight but should not be totally impossible to take off.

The trick is to make sure the engine is solidly supported, and the crank does not move or have any way to give. Then all the power goes into undoing the pulley nut. If you are moving the engine or crank, your power is not going into the pulley nut.

You can try heat, but there is a lot of thermal mass there, so not sure if it will make much of a difference. Worse comes to works, brace the crankshaft so it cannot move (again, pinning the flywheel), and use an impact gun carefully. Make sure you use good quality sockets.

Cheers,

Mike

Mike J

Yeah, this works well, I do something similar but I built up two pads, one for each heat exchanger, instead of routing out a center rib. Either way, the fundamental idea is the same, support the engine on its heat exchangers on some sort of rolling base, where an ATV stand works perfectly. I like the Craftsman one above, its nice and light.

Cheers,

Mike

dgmattingley

By case studs I mean the studs coming out of the case that mate with the tranny. To lock the flywheel/brake the crank I first tried hooking a box end wrench between one of the case studs and one of the hex screws that connect to the flywheel, and a very large breaker bar on the nut - the same breaker bar I used to remove a wheel hub nut when replacing a cv joint. The engine was on the floor shimmed with wood and was immobile. The stud and the screw both bent, in the process damaging the threads in the case.

Then I put the engine on the stand and ordered a little hard rubber flywheel lock from Automotion that connects via a bolt through its center to the same case threads as the tranny studs (I took out the bent stud) and meshes with the gears on the flywheel. That works fine to keep the flywheel stationary, but still no dice with the breaker bar despite a lot of pressure. I'm also skeptical that heat is going to be of much use and think my only choice at this point is an impact wrench.

dgmattingley

This looks fantastic, I'm definitely going to copy this setup for the re-install. The padding under the heat exchangers is a nice touch. Thanks for posting.

Ed Hughes

Good luck, I see this in my future...

earossi

Who is "Steve"? Name and contact information, please.