Unconventional Engine/Trans pull

Topic: Unconventional Engine/Trans pull (Read 4495 times) previous topic - next topic

Unconventional Engine/Trans pull

March 11, 2013, 02:02:31 PM

Has anybody here ever pulled engine/trans together from a fox car? I'm going to be needing to pull this one off in a couple of weeks, and I was considering dropping the powertrain with the K-Member and the crossmember from the bottom as a quick means of affecting a transplant.
There's a number of things I know that will have to disconnected, but i can't be that different from dropping out of a Taurus.
Brake lines - disconnect/remove depending on routing
steering shaft
lower fuel lines
cat-back exhaust
column shift linkage
trans cooler from the radiator (leave on k-member and trans)
front springs
struts disconnect from knuckles
wiring from the shakers (and whatever few connect independently)
hoses
A/C lines at compressor

I figure I can keep the headers and the h-pipe attached to the engine and crossmember. Has anybody done it this way or similar?

Unconventional Engine/Trans pull

Reply #1 – March 11, 2013, 04:53:15 PM

i pulled mine out the front of the car but we took the front bumper and everything off to do it

Unconventional Engine/Trans pull

Reply #2 – March 11, 2013, 05:15:31 PM

That's too much work. Pull engine and trans together. No sense in taking the k member and control arms unless you plan on replacing all that stuff anyway.

As for the front bumper...what a waste of time....the radiator support is still there, I have no idea what the hell you'd gain by removing the bumper?

It may even help to jack up the rear and block it up about 4-6 inches, but make sure it's solid, because the car will move a little. I've always pulled my engines and trans out together, both AOD and with the T5. Much easier that way. Just remember to drain the fluid out of the trans first, regardless of auto or manual, or as soon as you pull the driveshaft, there will be a big ole mess. A 1 gallon pan will hold it all.

Putting it back in is about the same. Pretty easy. Once the engine/trans is roughly in place, put a small jack under the tailhousing, and lower the engine onto the mounts. Then jack up the tail, put the crossmember in, lower the trans onto the trans mount. Bolt it all down. Piece of cake...why make the job longer by removing irrelevant pieces? edest thing I ever heard of...

Unconventional Engine/Trans pull

Reply #3 – March 11, 2013, 06:08:58 PM

Every time I have pulled or put both in or out I have done it together. Left bumper on the car and everything. Removed radiator and hood. I does make a difference how long your cherry picker is tho.

Unconventional Engine/Trans pull

Reply #4 – March 11, 2013, 06:10:29 PM

Most simple is to have a lift and drop K member motor and trans all at once.

Unconventional Engine/Trans pull

Reply #5 – March 11, 2013, 06:13:06 PM

Ive always dropped the exhaust (h-pipe) and left the headers bolted to the car too.

Unconventional Engine/Trans pull

Reply #6 – March 11, 2013, 08:33:28 PM

I remove the upper intake, headers, accessories, all the bigger stuff stays on. If you've got to take it off, as if you're rebuilding the engine or such, it's a lot easier to take those off on the stand with an air ratchet than in the car.
I don't know about you guys, but bending over a car for 2 hours taking off a bunch of stuff that isn't in the way in the first place makes my back hurt bad enough that I want to abuse percocet again.

Do it quick, do it dirty...there's time to play piddily winks with it later when it's out.

Unconventional Engine/Trans pull

Reply #7 – March 11, 2013, 11:33:40 PM

That's what I was thinking, drop it out and treat it like a module. The K-member isn't swapping over, but I've got a powertrain table and a hoist, AND a 2-ton power chain-fall. I'd drop the powerteam and front suspension on the table, roll over to the 2-ton power chain fall, and lift it off the table leaving the K in place, then roll back to the donor and reinstall the complete K, reattach the steering, springs, and struts and roll her out, then drive in the recipient, repeat, except I'd pull the powerteam from the recipient K and replace it with the transplant, reinstall. I think I could complete the powertrain swap in a day. On the second day, swap the rear, the cat-back, and the shaft as well as the fuel pump. Phase 1 complete. As for fluid from the tailshaft seal, that's not a problem. We have a complete set of plugs for that.

Unconventional Engine/Trans pull

Reply #8 – March 12, 2013, 12:35:49 AM

Seems like a lot of extraneous work to me, but you're the one with the automotive certs...not me.

On cars like Taurus/Sables and the GM stuff (Impala/Malibu/Monte/etc) where it's a have-to, then yes...but to merely take an a whole front suspension apart to take the powertrain out, and then put said suspension back in to move the car out again is silly.
It's just as easy, if not easier to pull engine and trans, leave the suspension untouched, and also still be ahead, time wise. You still have to unfasten or disconnect everything that you would to remove the engine and trans, and nothing suspension-wise would be touched.
I'd bet this week's paycheck I could get mine out faster using my method than you could the way you described. I'm not at all trying to start a forum argument, but let's see...you have 4 large k member bolts. The strut bolts. The sway bar needs disconnected at either the frame or the control arms. The steering shaft will need to be undone. Tires removed. Brake calipers disconnected. That's another thing. Brakes will need bled if you plan on driving the car again later. It will need aligned. You'll probably need new balljoints, as getting old balljoints back together is a huge PITA.
And that's on top of the wiring, fuel connectors, and radiator hoses that will be necessary no matter how you do it.
There's no way in hell you'll come out ahead, time-wise or labor-wise.

Then you still have to unmount the engine. The trans will flopping around, even more so if you have a broken engine mount. (likely).

See my point? Just trying top save you hours of time and unneeded and unnecessary work.

But I would take your bumper off! :flip:

Edit:
Last time I took my engine/trans out, I had it on the ground in less than an hour. Of course, the night before, I had my hoist set up in front of the car, hood was off, fluids drained, and radiator and fan were out/off. I'll spot ya a half hour, and still beat your time. You can ask for advice, then throw it out and do it the hardest way. Your boss must have a big heart, or a big bank account...I couldn't afford to pay a wrench to do things the long way..lol

Oh yeah...that was without air tools...do it like that on those K member bolts.

Unconventional Engine/Trans pull

Reply #9 – March 12, 2013, 09:55:05 AM

I had the motor out of my car in 45 minutes, and the new one back in about half an hr simple and straight forward with longtubes and a py cherry picker. To each their own

Unconventional Engine/Trans pull

Reply #10 – March 12, 2013, 10:11:45 AM

Wow, dude. I didn't ask how to do it, I asked if anybody HAD done it that way. And my boss isn't paying me to do anything, it's MY car. He's being gracious enough to let me use the shop. The balljoints don't have to come apart, and nothing is going to be "flopping" anywhere when a powertrain table is involved. It's coming out the same way it went in at the factory. This morning I talked with one of our bodyshop guys about it, he says that's how he used to do it when he had to do structural work on Fox and SN-95 cars that required the engine to be out. I don't even have to pull the H-pipe, just uncouple it from the mid pipes. I don't have to pull my radiator, I don't have to pull any accessories, I just unhook and unbolt then drop the powertrain table. The only thing that has to be taken out first is the front springs, and I might have to half disassemble the shift linkage. It's 1 bolt to disconnect the steering shaft. Even if I do have to open the brake lines, I can set the brake flush machine up to bleed them for me while I'm doing other work.

Unconventional Engine/Trans pull

Reply #11 – March 12, 2013, 01:37:12 PM

We pull them together out the top after taking the hood off, shove a tail plug in and tape it then up and out. Comes out at a crazy steep angle.

Unconventional Engine/Trans pull

Reply #12 – March 12, 2013, 09:59:30 PM

If you are just swapping the engine and trans from one car to another wouldn't it be less work to just pull the engine and trans, leaving the K member alone?

Unconventional Engine/Trans pull

Reply #13 – March 12, 2013, 10:40:56 PM

It might, but I'm swapping the exhaust, the rear, the PCM, and the fuel pump as well. If I don't have to pull anything off the engine (including the headers and H-Pipe) I'll be that much further ahead. I've set the 29th as the start of the project. After that I'll start parting the car out, so if anybody has any parts requests, send me a PM and we can talk about what you need.

Unconventional Engine/Trans pull

Reply #14 – March 13, 2013, 08:09:16 AM

I have pulled the engine and tranny at the same time...you just check around to see what is attached to the car, un hook it, then take your motor mounts loose and your exauhst.. there is no need to pull the bumper.. my bumper is still attached...the bumper has nothing to do with getting the engine and tranny out...and pulling them together is much easier than pulling them seperate. It will take two people...one to hoist, and the other as a spotter...I found it useful to use a Jack, very carefully under the tranny as my husband was hoisting the engine out... Good Luck with your car :) It wont be too bad.