engine removal from 68 gto
 

Guys going to pull and replace the motor in my GTO this weekend. I would like any tips you have on pulling it out. I thought I would rent an engine hoist and go from there. What are the best lift points? I was thinking from the intake but is it strong enough? Would you suggest pulling the transmission with it? It has a 400 turbo transmission , If any one has a step by step that would be great. Did a search but did not see anything. I am sure I could just start disconnecting everything but would like to do it the right way.. Any help or pointer would be great/

ive never pulled one out of a gto but I have been a mechanic for the last 10 years. Now I cant give you specifics but ill give you a rough idea. First the trans question. On most cars if you don't need to pull it its easier not to. It may be different on something that old but id be willing to bet your looking at taking out the trans cross member and at least pulling the radiator if not taking off part of the front clip too. I always start by removing the hood. most of the time It has to come off anyways and even if it doesn't it gives you a lot more lite for working on the motor. next thing is disconnect the neg side of the battery. Your going to have a whole host of wires, clips, vacuum lines and connectors. If you haven't done a lot of motor work grab some masking tape and label them as you take them off as to where the go and what they went to. If you have to draw a diagram of where the vacuum lines went to if there is more then one going to the same thing such as the carb. Take your time and make good notes because it sucks trying to remember where that last vacuum line went lol. The other things can be done in what ever order you think is going to be best. You will need to disconnect the exhaust pipes from the exhaust manifolds. Be careful on this part because the studs tend to break off. If they feel like there not wanting to come free apply some heat(aka torch). This should get them off easier. You also have the a/c set up (If you had that option) you can either drain the Freon and disconnect the lines and remove the compressor completely or just unbolt the compressor from the motor and set it out of the way if you have the room. The power steering pump will also have to either be removed from the car or like the compressor unbolted and la out of the way if you have the room. You will have the upper and lower radiator hoses that will need to be disconnected. You will also have 2 heater core hoses that will need to be disconnected. You will have a fuel line that will need to be disconnected at the mechanical pump. You will have to unbolt the transmission from the motor. Since it is an automatic you will need to unbolt the torque converter from the flex plate as well. Though you do not have to unbolt the starter since it is bolted to the block and will come out with the motor I would recommend it to make it easier and give you more room when removing the motor. Now you may have to remove some of the brackets/pulleys from the front of the motor as well for clearance when pulling the motor as well as the radiator. Last thing to do is unbolt the two motor mounts on each side of the frame. hook up the motor and take you time lifting just to make sure you didn't miss anything. Now as far as where to hook on to the motor. I know they make a plate that you bolt to the intake where the carb goes. That would be the best way to do it. If you cant get a hold of the plate then you should be able to bolt the chain to the heads, on the front on one side and on the back on the other. It will hold up to pulling the motor but you will probabaly have to pull the carb for clearance of the chain. That should give you a good idea of what your looking at. Im sure I missed a few things other will chime in on.

Well , thats close but first off you need to remove the hood. Take out the raditor. Take the carb off. Disconnect all the hoses & drain all the coolant. The wires are next remove the battery cables from the engine & lay them off to the side. Label them if you need. Remove all the wiring also label as needed. just lay them off to the side of the engine bay they are long enough to do that. The wiring will be able to be laid back up against the firewall. to keep it out of the way.Remove the engine mounts bolts & the exhaust pipes from the manifolds, you can at this point just let them hang down on the ground. You can pull the engine with the trans on it to make it easier when you also put it back in. If not now is the time to get under the car & take the trans cover off & remove the converter bolt so the trans will come loose when you remove the bolts from the bell housingWhen you remove the wiring it will make it easier to remove the starter at that time because you don't need any extra items hanging on the engine when your pulling it up out of the engine bay. If you don't have the plate that bolts where the carb was the best place to put a chain on your engine is on the intake bolts 1 in the front & 1 in the back of the intake that way you can move the hook at the end of your engine hoist forward or back which ever way it needs to go to pull the engine up straight. You need an engine hoist tall enough to get the engine up & over the nose of the car , then you just sit it on the ground or bolt it to an engine stand. Once out clean everything up real good before it goes back in. Once it out to make a plan to put it back in as you can look at it a little clearer when it's out & you can then make a plan to put it back in CLEAN.

When replacing an engine, I prefer to remove the engine/tranny assembly together. A bit awkward to get the tranny over the front of the car, you have to tilt the whole assembly.

But its a lot easier to match the new engine to the transmission when its off the car. Re-aligning the engine with the tranny and bolting it together is a pain.. especially if using jackstands only. Did it once, never again. The 2 top 'bellhousing' bolts are very hard to reach with a socket wrench.

When its off, you have some room to work. Wiggling a motor hanging from a hoist trying to mate it to the tranny is not something you want keep doing all day long.

Unbolt the tranny from the crossmember, remove the driveshaft and you're good.

This is a simple process, really, of unhook connections (regardless of type), remove parts in the way (radiator, hood), attach lifting device, remove.

If you are unsure of connections, mark them with tape so you'll understand. People mess up starter and coil connections all the time. Also, make sure you get ziplock style baggies and a sharpie style marker. When you remove a bolt, put it in bag and label the bag. I like to include # of bolts removed on bag just to ensure nothing is lost when it is time to reinstall. It's called preparation and it will save you HOURS.

Here are the quick steps, as fast as I could type, from memory. They need not be followed in exact order, just my list as I thought of them, in rough order

1. Open hood, remove - 4 9/16 bolts to hinge - 2 per side (reattach bolts to hood as not to lose them
2. Disconnect Battery/Remove battery
3. Remove starter
4. Loosen alternator to allow belt to be removed. Leave alternator attached if you like
5. Remove fan/shroud
6. Drain radiator/remove
7. Drain coolant from block (remove square headed drain plugs)
8. Drain oil from pan, leave filter on
9. Remove Carb linkage/carb
10. Disconnect coil
11. Unhook fuel pump from frame feed line
12. Remove Power Steering pump from engine mount, if present, can be set in battery tray location. do not remove lines from steering gear, just remove pump attachment to engine - leaving closed system
13. Unhook transmission linkage
14. Remove trans mount bolts to crossmember (xmember need not be removed, but can provide additional clearance if needed by removing)
15. Disconnect speedometer cable from transmission
16. disconnect exhaust (factory manifolds - remove down pipes only, leave attached to engine; headers, disconnect completely prior to removing engine)
17. Remove grounding strap to firewall at back of passenger side cylinder head (leave attached to firewall, remove at head - bolt)
18. Unplug oil sending unit wire (near filter)
19. Attach hoist (chain) to lifting hook receiver (by water pump on pass side)
20. Attach other side of hoist (chain) to back of driver's cylinder head boss or rear intake bolt on head - make sure to have good washers to keep bolt from slipping through chain).
21. Remove slack from chain but don't lift engine yet
22. Remove engine mount bolts at frame mount (single long bolt each side)
23. Remove driveshaft from differential clips
24. Remove driveshaft from transmission (make sure to get a transmission cap/plug to replace driveshaft input yoke or all fluid will drain out. If you don't have one, you can either drain trans - messy or wrap in plastic (duct tape) to keep spill from getting all over.
25. Lift engine, pull forward, tilt, repeat, remove

Good luck

Careful when lifting if you do engine/trans together. Many lifts will struggle with a Pontiac engine and trans together in both reach length and weight capability. Last thing you want to happen is the whole thing crashes into the cars front sheet metal. I needed to add both reach (extension in the boom) and a couple of bags of concrete as a counter balance on my hoist.

Take it from a rank amateur, it's not that difficult.

I always prefer to pull the engine without trans myself. It's really not that hard to get to the mating bolts when the trans is left in the car.
If you do separate them before pulling, remember that you will need to support the front end of the tranny the entire time the engine is out of the car. The trans isn't that heavy (compared to the engine). You can suspend it from the upper cowl with a couple of coat hangers, nylon cord or what have you.
As Kurt says, it's not that difficult. Take some time to visually inspect and study the engine compartment. Look for every single thing that's going to stay with the car when the engine is pulled....then make sure they are disconnected from the engine before pulling.
The only other thing is to make sure you are going to have clearance. That is, remove the hood, radiator, distributor....You know, the stuff that may get broken when that 700 pound engine starts swinging around.
As for lift points, the Pontiac engine has one 'lift ring' cast into the rear drivers side of the block. On the front passenger side, there is a bolt-on ring on the water pump.

I to like to remove the engine & trans a the same time. It makes it easier at least for me because you can put them back in as a unit , it only takes a little bit more work to put them in together. When you take them out together you can save yourself some time when it goes back in, as the whole thing will go in not harder then just the engine itself.

Good call Greg - I spaced that out. Located at rear of engine block, behind valley pan ridge, close to distributor. This is essentially a hole cast into the upper portion of the block through which to attach the "hook" or chain.

My son and I just pulled the 400 out of his 68 a few weeks ago.
I ain't pulled a engine myself in over 30 years, actually went rather well, except we went by the service manual instructions and it said to split apart at bell housing...4 speed.. for removal.
I knew as soon as we did it that way there was no way we where going to get it back together that way. :eek:
One thing we did was we disconnected the wiring harness at the cowl and left it on the engine . Kinda figured doing it that way would make it easier routing and attaching the harness to the new engine prior to install.

Thanks to all that sent replies. I will let you know how it goes. I think I will pull engine and transmission as one . The last one I pulled was a 390 ford from my 65 galaxie in 1973 and I pulled the transmission with that. I guess it been a few years. Thanks Doug

No 17 on '68gtoMN's list is one that has gotten me a few times. That ground strap will hold on to the engine very well when you are trying to pull it out.:D Double check everything as you slowly jack up the engine.:2cents:

I always separate the engine and trans. Less chance of damaging sheet metal, and easier to install and align by far. The upper bellhousing bolts are a cinch to get to using a long 3' extension and a wobble socket. I've done many, and it's much easier (for me) to separate the engine and trans for both removing and installing the engine.

Ah....I see you had already noted that on nos. 19 and 20. Well, good advice can't be repeated too many times, right? lol

If you are going to pull the engine and trans as a unit put a slip yoke in the back of the trans or you will have a big ass mess!!! Didn't read that in any of the posts? Maybe I missed it?

#24 on Kurt's list...lol
Actually, I think someone else mentioned it too.

Not sure if any one mentioned it in some of those long winded posts :D but a leveler is very nice to have. Even a cheap ole Harbor Freight will work, they have a chain on either end that you connect to opposite ends of the engine. I purchased a high quality one a few years ago that attaches to the carb bolt holes on the intake, it works awesome, so smooth.

x2 on the engine leveler. I have pulled a bunch of engines and that single device is a life saver especially when yanking the tranny as well.

A lot of good lists above but #1 is block wheels and #2 is disconnect/remove battery. Then proceed as normal.

Pics of my swap. Have you got grease up to your elbows yet?

I can get the engine out of my GT-37 in about 1 hour without pulling the trans. Unless you drain the trans when pulling it with the engine you will have a mess from fluid coming out of the tail shaft unless you plug it. :)

I had my motor out in early September. Pulled it to do the exhaust system/manifolds. Was lucky enough to get to use one of the bays in a friends shop for the job.
Anyway, I pulled the car in the bay when he opened in the morning and had the motor hanging in the air on a chain block before lunch.
Would have gone a lot faster with if the car didn't have AC.
Not too bad for a guy pushing 60 who doesn't do this work everyday, and hasn't pulled a motor in a number of years. Separated it from the transmission to pull it out.
That's where having the car on a lift really helped.
I really had no reason to pull the trans, and it was much easier to maneuver the motor around with it separated.
Anyway, pulling the motors on these cars is pretty straightforward.
The checklist posted above is an excellent reference if you've never done it before.
Just double check that you disconnected everything before you lift it, and then check again. If you encounter even the slightest resistance anywhere, stop and check everything again.