Motor Swappin' SHO

[Modemagic]

I have a pair of '89 SHO's that I am thinking of a motorswap. I was curious as to if anyone as performed this seemingly huge task and how involved it is. Basically just wondering if I should tackle the task or not.

FWIW, the SHO I'm pulling the motor out of (the working one) is on a junk certificate and I can't title it, and besides.. the one I'm putting the motor into has a moonroof!

 

[SHO--ripper]

Any motor swap is a big job. Depending on your mechanical skills/time i would go for it. There are many very skilled SHO mechanics on the forum, and they will help you do this job. I am assuming you would pull the engine and tranny as one. You have to take the halfshaft/axles out of the diff.safely support the engine/tranny. Remove the motor/tranny mounts. Remove the radiator hoses,torque limiting mounts, intake/air box assembly,take the plug wires off the coil, unplug several electrical connectors. There are things that i didn't include, but i hope you get the idea. I would get all the necessary items to do this job before i started if you don't already have them. Good luck and i'm sure someone else will chime in to help you. I probably will be doing this soon when i put my stage II cams on my extra engine.
P.S How are the ebay items i sold you?(chrisdcars)

 

[SHO--ripper]

I forgot to tell you to remove the y from the exhaust manifold

 

[Modemagic]

The parts look great, although I haven't installed them yet. My original plan was to pull the donar motor seperate from the tranny. My donar has a bad clutch in it. I intended on leaving my current tranny in my car and just doing a clutch on it since it'll be all apart anyway. Would you recommending pulling the tranny along with it to simplify the swap? Either way I'll be putting a clutch in something, so I guess it doesn't make alot of difference.

 

[A-Rok]

He he he.
I am in the process of putting my new motor back in to my car.

If you pull the engine and tranny as one, you have to take them out the bottom.

If you just pull the engine, you have to drop the subframe and pull the tranny out the wheel well.

Either way you go, you're dropping the subframe and tranny. You can not seperate the engine and tranny in the engine bay easily. I did it the hard way, which involved dropping the subframe and squeezing it out with the subframe and tranny pushed aside a fair amount. In the end I had to drop the tranny anyways to get the engine back in.

Is this a fun job? **** yes, I am very glad I did this myself.

If I were you though, I'd start searching and reading this forum now though.
I don't think I could have possibly done this without the forum.
I started and ended up knee deep in shit until I remembered this great forum.

 

[A-Rok]

He he he.
I am in the process of putting my new motor back in to my car.

If you pull the engine and tranny as one, you have to take them out the bottom.

If you just pull the engine, you have to drop the subframe and pull the tranny out the wheel well.

Either way you go, you're dropping the subframe and tranny. You can not seperate the engine and tranny in the engine bay easily. I did it the hard way, which involved dropping the subframe and squeezing it out with the subframe and tranny pushed aside a fair amount. In the end I had to drop the tranny anyways to get the engine back in.

Is this a fun job? **** yes, I am very glad I did this myself.

If I were you though, I'd start searching and reading this forum now though.
I don't think I could have possibly done this without the forum.
I started and ended up knee deep in shit until I remembered this great forum.

 

[munkee]

With the right tools it's not too bad. I was going to do a wright up the last time I did it, not sure what I did with it.

If you pull the engine and tranny as one, you have to take them out the bottom.

I have pulled three engines with trans attached out the top. IMHO, it is easier that way. Just remove the hood, disconnect all of the car to engine wiring and hose connections. Disconnect the shift linkage, clutch cable, y-pipe, fuel hoses, air conditioning, motor and tranny mounts, (I usually just remove the nut on the sub frame that holds the mounts on) and slide the halfshafts out of the trans. You will also have to remove the intake of course, then pull it out with a hoist. It is a tight fit, you will have to turn the motor a little bit at a couple of points too. Just go slow and check all around the engine bay every couple of inches to make sure you didn't forget something and you aren't hanging up on something. Be especially careful of the heater core tubes sticking out of the firewall. If you bump those ( and not very hard either) you risk damaging your core. I would rather change a clutch than a heater core. jpshakeh You also want to be careful of the brakelines on the tranny end. If you snag one, it won't put up enough resistance to keep the motor from rising until you have ruined the line. Once it's out, separate the tranny and do the clutch and 60k. It's a lot easier to do the cps and stuff like that while it's out of the car. If you run into something your not sure about, post. It could very well save you a lot of money. I think you will do just fine, and you will learn an awful lot in the process. Good luck. thumb

 

[SLOSHO89]

Another option is to just pull the motor out the top. I have done it this way 3 times. There is no reason to pull the tranny out if you don't want to.

One tip, if you pull just the motor out the top, leave the rear motor mount attached to the motor (unbolt the one nut from the subframe).

Also, pull out the pass. side axle and jack up the tranny while you pull the motor out.

Efren

 

[Modemagic]

Well.. my plan anyway (and a very tentitive plan it is) was to pull seperate the motor from the tranny and pull the motor out from the car. Then pull the other motor out from the tranny and put the good motor in the good car. Sounds simple right? hehehe Won't I need some sort of gasket between the motor and tranny? Also, in my good car, (the one I plan to keep) The shifter seems stuck in reverse. I can't pop it out. I dunno if a cable came off, or if the tranny is legitimately screwed. Would I be ahead to swap trannys as well? Man you guys are lucky that you aren't closer to me, otherwise I'd be recruitin' ya!

 

[twr]

No gasket between the motor and tranny. Although it is recommend to replace the rear main seal while you have it a part.

 

[Modemagic]

Rear main seal shouldn't be a big deal considering the motor will be yanked. I still am not sure whether I should just swap trannys as well and give it a clutch job or not. Any ideas? Anyone?

 

[Devin]

I'm doing a swap as well, but we have found it almost impossible to take the engine out of the top without the tranny. I'm going to try to take both the tranny and the engine out as one (especially since I have to do work on the tranny anyway).

First question, I have locknuts on my wheels but no key. What is the best way to get the damn things off. The dealership said I can just drive it down there to get a key so they can match it, but the engine was screwed from the get go.

Second question: what should I replace or tune on the tranny that won't cost me as much as a complete rebuild? Thought I'd do some clutch work while it's out. Thanks!

 

[JoeHoe_SHO]

Modemagic- I sent you a PM regaurding this but just in case:

I really need a black rust free driver side fender from a Gen I. If you have one that you can part with, I would be more than happy to take it off your hands. I would pay cost of fender+shipping w/money order. Let me know! Thanks!

Also, take these guys advice about doing your homework before you do this. I'm sure swapping a 3.0 w/another 3.0 is a lot easier than a 3.2 swap, but I imagine it can get quite harry.

Drop it from the bottom if you cannot get it out the top. Cut or disconnest the fuel lines, and drop the subframe. Search on that method as well for the specifics. Good luck!