Engine removal questions
 

I’m getting ready to pull the engine out of my 67 GTO I have a good 2 Ton cherry picker and the Mac tools tilter. I plan on pulling the motor and 4 speed Muncie together as a unit. Will I need to remove the starter? Should I take out the radiator? Can I leave the shifter on the transmission and just remove the stick? Any other tips besides plugging the tail of the trans. It’s been many years since I’ve pulled a motor and remember using a cheap come along. Now that I have better equipment I hope to pull the motor as complete as possible. This will likely be a one man Job as well

The starter has to come off. You really should pull the trans first as it will make engine extraction much easier but if you don't, yes the shifter should be removed.

Yes, pull the starter and the radiator to be safe. When you hook up to the engine, grab it close to the intake so you won't have to lift it as high to clear the core support area. It's much easier to assemble the transmission to engine out of the car and reinstall than trying to line the engine up with a manual trans still in the car.

You will have to remove radiator. If doing this solo you might have to put temp weights on cherry picker, old heads work well. Make sure floor is level so doesn't tip sideways. Be carefull, go slow. Good luck.

1. scotch block car to keep it from rolling
2. make sure ALL wires are disconnected
3. disconnect speedo cable and back-up switch wire from tranny
4. grease up the threadbar on the tilter
5. remove distributor cap
6. buy a bag of kitty litter (you WILL need it)

And remove the regulator from the firewall, no sense having the heavy engine bump into it during removal

I haven’t seen it mentioned & I suppose it depends on a lot of things but I remove the hood.

Murf

If you don't have a spare driveshaft yoke to keep trans fluid from making a big mess, might want to drain the it and wrap the end.

If you have headers or long branch exhaust manifolds, unbolt them first - stock manifolds should clear. I don't recall having to remove the starter when pulling an engine, but it won't hurt to do so just in case.

FWIW- I'll never do this again w/o removing the front clip first. On the surface it seems like overkill, but the engine with the tranny attached will swing right out - no sweat. Really not too many bolts attaching the sheet metal to the body/frame. Hell, the hood and radiator w/the core are already out of the way. Whatever road you take, good luck

If you insist on removing the trans with the engine, you will have to tilt the livin' pizz out of the engine/trans to get it to clear.

When the engine comes "up", the trans tilts "down".

You will need a heap of clearance under the back of the transmission. THAT means the whole vehicle has to be raised higher than you expect.






"I" would not pull the trans with the engine. But that's me.

I always unbolt the tranny (400 turbo) starter, headers, carb, but NEVER pull the radiator !
Lift the motor straight up.

Your shifter will have to come off. And I would borrow an xtra pair of hands. Hand her a pair of gloves.

I've done it a couple of times with the engine and (auto) transmission together. I had to lift the holy heck out of it but it did go. The leveler is your friend. And at least one other guy that knows what he's doing. Of course, these weren't concours cars. You could pull the core support along with the rad for a much easier go, not neccessarily pulling the whole front clip.

Yep! I always pull trans separately myself.

I would personally pull trans first only 4 bolts but if you don’t I would remove shifter or it’s going to ride floor all the way out. Without the trans you don't need the tilt just a motor plate and it will come out very easy.

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Anyone that works on cars frequently, or as their profession usually leaves the transmission in the car when doing engine service that requires pulling the engine.

When I was just breaking into car repairs in my mid teens I used to pull both out together, later on I started pulling just the engine, and have not pulled both together for decades.

If I was pulling an engine, and transmission before sending a car to the scrapyard I could possibly pull both as a unit, but if it was in a car that I was going to return to service, the units would be separated. Lots less mess to clean up by leaving the transmission in the chassis, and lots less labor leaving the driveshaft and shift mechanism, cooling lines etc. intact.

As far as putting a manual transmission together with the engine in the car, it's not that difficult to do in chassis, done it many times, and you don't have to remove the shifter, and then reinstall it, so it save time, and effort. Working on cars for your living you find the most efficient methods of removing and installing engines, and transmissions, separating them in car is much more efficient, I've found, by trying it both ways, especially when it affects your paycheck. If you'd hang around a dealership very long you'd see that most people that make their living wrenching, leave the transmission in the chassis when pulling the engine for service. The exception would be if you pull the subframe, or cab on certain trucks out from the bottom on a chassis that can't be removed from the top, they both come out together.

Originally the factory installed the 2 units together, but the body hadn't been installed on the chassis yet either. The lift points that Pontiac engineers designed into the engine (RF tab on the timing cover, and hole on the left side of the block near the transmission mount surface) are designed to lift the engine only, that's how they engineered it from the factory, FWIW.

As a side note, I've seen a bet made that the guys in the GM dealership bet that you couldn't pull an engine, and re install it leaving the hood on, and the radiator in, yes it can be done................;)

:2cents:

i always do them togeather as I don't have a lift and stabbing a trans or installing the clutch is easier done outside of the car. I left the shift linkage on, but you might need to prop the front tires on blocks as you need to tilt a good amount to get it to clear the tunnel.

Anyone ever try to pull/stab engine with trans using a cherry picker type hoist while car is on a 4 post lift or quick jack? Thinking that setup could give needed ground clearance (maybe an additional 6-10”?) for the extreme tilt needed with trans attached. Then lift can be brought back down. The lift height of the engine hoist arm would be in question though.

Thanks for mentioning that.

MOST "engine hoists" sold in the last twenty years are pure trash. There were plenty of crappy ones forty years ago. Plenty of folks I talk to about engine hoists have never seen a properly-engineered engine hoist.

What is SOLD as a "2-ton" hoist is really a budget-built one-ton or even 3/4 ton hoist with a too-short lifting arm because a proper lifting arm would overwhelm the crappy, undersized hydraulic ram. They can call it a two-ton hoist only because the lifting arm (boom) is so tiny.

Which then means the entire hoist framework is small, thin and flimsy; but that makes 'em easier to ship from Asia.

I have two engine hoists. One came from Sam's Club decades ago; the other I bought when I moved--I needed a hoist at the old house; and another at the new place. The second hoist is another of the nameless, generic junk engine hoists that will barely lift an engine; and won't lift it very high because of the short, cheap boom. If you're pulling the trans with the engine, you're gonna need to lift the thing to the moon to get the trans over the radiator.

Here's what a real hoist can do: Cadillac 500, Turbo 425, suspension, steering, brakes, tires and front half of the frame from a '73 ElDorado. Consistent with safe practice, this is not anywhere near as high as it would lift, just enough to get it loaded onto the trailer.
(No, the crappy hoist at the other end of the road was not used to remove this from the trailer!)

How I do it by myself in my garage.

Both the engine and trans were being replaced.

I simply rolled the car backwards little by little as I extracted the engine and trans rather than pull the hoist rearward. I always remove the radiator, why take the chance of damaging it?

The Mac’s Pivot Plate makes it so easy.

Does this mean the 421 is getting installed?.................finally?

Pretty much.

Haven’t done much on the Le Mans since I yanked out the 389/ST-300 because I always seem to get sidetracked with my air-cooled projects.

Glad to hear! Hoping you’d get somewhere with it soon, before they tote you (and me...) to the old folks home!!

I have one of those! Think I bought it at Sam's 30years ago! Heavy sucker! Had to replace the hydraulic ram this year.

The reason I did the engine and tranny together was that I had to. I did the work in my driveway and there's no way that I was going to get the transmission in from underneath after. I put the front wheels up on the drive up ramps for clearance.

I have a Cherry Picker that I have owned for about 15 years.
It has the longer boom and heavier duty Hydraulic Ram.
I have pulled out only Pontiac Engines with it and believe the number of
times with it, (removal and reinstall =1) is about 10 or 11.

I did modify the legs in the front for a wider opening as my engine stand has
a equal width front cross bar, (same as the rear cross bar side to side width).

The Ram has worked perfectly for me during that entire time. It was not a Chinese
built unit.

If I move to a bigger piece of properly & garage I will have a roll around Chain Fall
Engine puller and sell the Cherry Picker. Main reason is to lift Heavy "Bottom" Tool
Boxes into my truck without emptying them out.

I could also load my engines onto the "Easy Run" clone "Run Stand" I am building right now.

Tom V.

ExCel Manufacturing, I think the model number is W1000. Superb unit.

I had an air leak into the original ram; couldn't find an O-ring that would seal it. (Metric???) It would pump up and "lift" but the ram got squishy, and it took a thousand pumps to lift anything. I could make it leak less air into the hydraulic system, but I never got it genuinely sealed.

Forced by lack of choice to buy a Chinese 8-ton (air-over-hydraulic) ram; it now pumps up with the push of a lever on a blow-gun body. As best I can tell, the original ram was also 8-ton, but without the compressed-air-powered pump--just a hand pump.

I would like different leg spacing on mine, but it's "OK" as-is.

The properly-long boom makes ALL the difference!

I fabricated a steel "cradle" to fit between the wheels of my rollaway tool boxes, with chain and spacer bars so I could lift them with my engine hoist. I've told you about my two engine hoists--one worked GREAT loading 'em onto the trailer, and the other is a piece of flimsy crap trying to get them off the trailer. Yet, it worked and the boxes didn't hit the ground.

About two months ago, I bought a (too-small) gantry and 3/4-ton manual chain hoist off of Craigslist. Went to eBay and got a 3/4-ton trolley to hang the chain hoist from, so it can roll side-to-side on the I-beam. Previous owner just wrapped a chain on the I-beam and hung the chain host from that--at least, that's what he claimed. I'm in this about $400 now.

The downside to this rig is that it's at least three feet too short. It is (just barely) wide enough to drive a pickup truck (with mirrors in place) between the uprights, but it's useless for pulling an engine--the chain hoist hangs so low, it'd never get high enough to get the oil pan over the radiator. I don't know how the previous owner got enough height, 'cause the difference between using a chain wrapped around the I-beam, and using a real trolley, would be about six inches. I think this is the real reason it was for sale.

Plans are to cut the 2" OD square tube uprights, buy 8 or 10 feet of 2" ID tubing, slip the 2" OD tubing over the 2" ID tubing, overlap for strength, weld or bolt to suit, and add a bunch of altitude.

Probably won't happen this fall. Maybe.

Doing it yourself pull the trans PERIOD, when attempting engine and trans takes a couple of people other wise huge pain in the ass. Pull trans-Hood and radiator and will come right out all by yourself with out risking damaging anything.