Basal Skull

Thinking of attempting an engine/tranny drop to do some maintenance and upgrades I really don't need this winter....
How much clearance do I need - I've read about 30" or 75 cm for the N/A engine (in addition to the height of the jack I need to lower the engine on)? Is this about right or do our cars need more?

roebedo

Basal,

Maybe this pic will give you an idea?

PS - Your post was at 9:11 PM... How cool is that!

Kevin

The method that is shown in the picture is what we call the VW method.. Stick a jack under the engine and let her drop.. The factory manuals have diagrams showing you how to make a jack plate and extension for the engine. I do it different. Most shops have lifts, and use a dolly or table that the engine and trans sit on. The body is then lifted vertical off the engine. I do like this approach when just using normal jacks with not lift. Basically one makes a dolly that will sit under the engine. You make it wide enough to span the heat exchangers and as low profile to the ground. Almost like a creeper. Then you use two floor jacks and lift the body off the engine and trans (one jack is on one side, and one on the other. The 993TT engine and trans weigh a ton. The weight is ackward.

Basal Skull

Thanx for the ideas guys, I think after reading your posts last night and sleeping on it, I've figured out what I'm going to do. Will post pictures once I work up the courage and actually do it.

Ryojo

roebedo

Kevin.. That’s funny, because that car was a 76 chassis and 89 engine... no AC or any extras, so it was similar to a VW engine drop. I wouldn’t attempt that method on a newer car, It was very unstable at the height the car had to reach to get the engine out, and your not kidding about how awkward the weight is. Any way.. we went through all that due to a busted clutch fork

The car was although extremely light... and very fast

Here's a pic of putting "the icing on the cake"..

Kevin

Back a few years (70's) when we didn't have a floor jack we would use the factory jack of terror and place beams or 4x12's under the transaxle and drop the bug engine on a used dismounted tire.. It actually worked well.. It took longer to get the car up in the air on blocks than it did to get the engine out on the ground..

Droops83

Having done my first 993tt engine drop a month or 2 back (with the luxury of a lift and a hydraulic engine lift/table) after many 356 and some old 911 drops, I would be leary of doing this without a lift. The floor jack/milk crates method we use for old 911s is not a good idea, as Kevin says, the 993tt engine/tranny assembly is truly a beast! The tranny itself being 6 spd/AWD is about 1 1/2 times as long and heavy as an old 901 or 915, and affects the balance greatly. I'd get a big flat dolly like Kevin suggested, and use a 4x4 block of wood under the tranny. Also removing the rear bumper cover helps a lot. Good luck!

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Chris Andropoulos
Schneider Autohaus
Santa Barbara, CA

Basal Skull

Well, what I was thinking of was to use a motorcycle lift or a pallet jack and rig it to hold the engine. Use some large 'bottle' type of hydraulic jack on the 4 jack points like jack stands (lift the car as usual with my floor jack) and use them as my 'lift'. I have to work out if I can get enough clearance by lifting using the jacks and lowering using the motorcycle lift/pallet jack would allow for adequate clearance - I suspect I'll have to put the bottle jacks on blocks.

What do you guys think, am I in over my head? what's the worst that can happen...?

Acropora

Don't mess with it. Your hands are precision instruments.

JasonAndreas

Absolutely NOT! Go down to Sears and pickup a hydraulic ATV jack for $60-90USD. The engine and transmission will balance perfectly on it and you can drag the whole contraption around the garage without any problems. It turns the one man DIY backyard engine removal into a non-event.

Red rooster

Jason,
Agreed,those ATV jacks are perfect for the job and the cost is great ! Your pictures tell the story.

All the best

Geoff

Kevin

Jason, where is the turbocharger??? (smile)

Basal Skull

Jason that's what I was thinking about. That looks like fun.

Brad, you're right of course, not only is my livelihood and my family dependent on my hands, so are the lives of many patients...I have a collegue who refuses even to change a light bulb on his own. It would be silly to risk it I guess when I can pay someone (who's probably better at it) to do it for me. I have senior collegues here that fuss about me driving my car/going to the track...

Ryojo

911/Q45

We had a doctor's day at Thunder Hill not too long ago. Bunch of nice cars and boy did they have fun. Not much surgery done in the Bay Area that day! We tried to trade them track time and instruction for boomeritis repair, but they weren't having any.

Basal Skull

Boomeritis.....Boomeromas are more what I treat and they're not something you'd want to have in the brain/skull base....I get paid the big bucks too, I'd probably be good/hold out for unlimited track time/instruction.