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AdamIsAdam · 01-01-2008, 11:42 PM

Short of a cherry picker, what's the best way to raise up the engine while in the car? Jack with wood under the crank? The shop manual shows a special 'tool' for this that grabs somewhere from under the engine, but I can't tell where.

I'm going to be trying to replace my oil pump without pulling the motor.

webfoot · 01-02-2008, 12:23 AM

I just replaced the oil pan gasket in my chevelle without removing the motor. I would remove motor mount bolts, and possibly dist cap for extra clearance. Jack up the motor with a block of wood as you suggested, and find some 2 x 4s to block the motor up in the motor mount area. May need to loosen trans mount bolts as well.

My .02

b-man · 01-02-2008, 12:47 AM

You need a cherry picker.

You can't get the engine high enough without one, and even then good luck to you.

Pump replacement is best done with the engine out.

Sealing the pan with the engine in the car is a nightmare, if you can even get it off.

Having anything in your way under the engine in the engine mount area will make things impossible to get at.

Don't fight it.

Just do it.

Take the engine out.

My

, again.

david400 · 01-02-2008, 01:09 AM

I have do it in my 68 with out a cherry picker by jacking it up by the harmonic balancer and the bell housing ,In the end the oil pump was fine so i still ended up pulling the motor.

surfnuke9 · 01-02-2008, 08:08 AM

Agree with B-Man.

Tried to raise my engine enough to replace the rear main seal a year ago. Getting enough clearance to remove the pan was impossible for me. So I said No Mas and rented a cherry picker.

The aggravation of not using a cherry picker, not to mention the extra time invovled sure doesnt compare to the low cost of renting a picker, or buying one for that matter.

Yanking the engine /trans combo and replacing it can be done in a fairly short period of time, you are sure everything lines up well, you will be certain of a far better seal on your gaskets, you can replace the rear main seal while you are in there, etc etc etc...

AdamIsAdam · 01-02-2008, 10:44 AM

Thanks. I'm just exploring my options and seeking experiences others have had. Please don't take my asking (again) in any way as my not welcoming advice and tips.

Is it best to take the engine out with tranny or without? Keep in mind, I'm working in a basic 20x20 garage (and my wife really doesn't enjoy being displaced from 10x20 of it!).

Jeff Walker · 01-02-2008, 11:03 AM

Leave the transmission in the car. That way you don't have to mess with transmission lines and tranny fluid on your floor. Also don't forget to unbolt the dipstick from the back of the block or you will have a lot of tranny fluid on the floor.

HTH

goathead68 · 01-02-2008, 11:25 AM

I managed to change the oil pump without removing the engine from the engine bay. However, the only way to get the engine high enough to drop the pan, so it'd clear the windage tray, was to lift it with an engine hoist. Needless to say, it was a mess. The new pan gasket subsequently failed, so I ended up pulling the engine anyway to fix the gasket. Coulda saved a ton of time by doing it the right way in the first place.

As Jeff's suggested, leave the tranny in the car. It's easier to handle the engine without the trans attached.

AdamIsAdam · 01-05-2008, 01:16 PM

i bought a cherry picker. If i'm just pulling the engine, how should I attach to it? I don't have that loop on the front of the engine. Do I remove the carb and buy one of those plates? Or do I buy some HD chain and bolt that to the block? where?

getmygoat · 01-05-2008, 02:17 PM

You can buy a lift plate, that's a safe and secure method.

You could also utilize the intake manifold bolts to lift the engine out...

Greg Reid · 01-05-2008, 03:23 PM

I remember after getting my '68 GTO engine back from the machine shop back in 1982. I installed the engine and was just about to start it and realized that I needed to get to the oil pump for some reason that I've now forgotten...
I knew I didn't want to pull the engine back out so I broke out my trusty Motor's Manual and looked at the steps for removing the oil pan.
Step 1. Remove engine and transmissions as a unit.
Well, I didn't do that but I did remove the engine. You just can't get that pan off without doing it.

AdamIsAdam · 01-05-2008, 03:28 PM

My manual states:

1. remove engine.
2. place on stand.
3. remove pan.

good thing they broke that down to 3 steps

6806goats · 01-08-2008, 06:26 PM

One thing to watch out for and maybe everyone knows about this. If it's an automatic make sure you get the torque converter pushed way back on the pump. I wish I could say I made that mistake 30 years ago but around 99-2000 I broke the housing on a numbers matching Powerglide for my 68 Camaro. Ok it's only a Powerglide but it was the original one. Still have it somewhere but I'll need to weld it up. If it doesn't line up...find out why and don't synch it down if you have a gap. And it doesn't take much until you hear the dreaded "pop".

engineer · 01-09-2008, 02:54 AM

said it before, done it several times in A body cars, can lift engine without picker hooked to an automatic trans, to get oil pan out to get to pump, or even rear main. Can be done. just takes patience and planning.

AdamIsAdam · 01-09-2008, 11:52 AM

engineer,
can you please elaborate what you mean? I'm not sure you had typos or just quick typing less punctuation. Were you saying that I can do this without a cherry picker on a car with an auto tranny? Sorry, I just didn't understand exactly what you were saying.

goathead68 · 01-09-2008, 10:26 PM

You may be able to get the pan off some A-body engines by raising the engine, but you're not gonna get the pan off a '68 GTO 400 just by raising the engine because the windage tray is in the way.

I tried it. It sucked.

We ended up dropping the windage tray into the pan, which allowed us to remove the pan and get to the oil pump. That being said, the only way we could get the tray reattached to the main caps was to lift the engine with a hoist, and not a few inches either. That engine was darned near out of the engine compartment.

Plus, you've got that four piece pan gasket to install amid dripping oil and tight quarters.

It's easier to swap the pump with the engine on a stand, upside down, so you can see what you're doing. Installing the pan gasket is a snap as well.

fyrebird68 · 01-10-2008, 12:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by getmygoat

You can buy a lift plate, that's a safe and secure method.

You could also utilize the intake manifold bolts to lift the engine out...

Is this safe to do with an aluminum intake (Edelbrock)?

AdamIsAdam · 01-10-2008, 04:10 PM

is the lift plate generic or is a Qjet stock manifold different than, say, a holly plate?

Also, does the oil pan gasket get RTV? I figure I'd do it like valve covers: light RTV on the pan, then put gasket on pan. Let that set up for a few hours so it won't slide off during installation.

other tips? (keeping in mind I still hope to do this on the car)

surfnuke9 · 01-10-2008, 04:42 PM

lift plates are fine for aluminum intakes.

The method referred to is to remove two or four intake bolts and attach the lift with a chain to the bolts and retighten them. The bolts can be run through links or the chain should really have flat plates attached for the bolts to go through. The use of a load leveller makes this much easier (and a one man job I might add)

GT182 · 01-10-2008, 09:07 PM

Oh, don't forget to remove the hood from the car too.

Believe it or not, I've seen guys try to remove an engine without doing it. It will not work..... no matter how hard you try.

Best way to pick up the engine is by removing 4 intake bolts. Just get 4 grade 8 bolts and heavy washers, and use them instead of using the intake bolts. Safer that way than ruining the intake bolts.

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