Pulled the engine today... MAN!!!

[jasonty]

Well, I pulled the engine/trans from my parts 90 today, and let me tell you, this is a chore! It only took me about an hour to drop the engine, but I'm having troubles getting it out from under the car now... I have an engine hoist, so I hooked it to the car, and lifted it up pretty high, but I guess I'm going to have to lift it higher to make the struts clear the body. I shoulda pulled this from the top, cuz now I realize how much of a bitch it's gonna be bolting that subframe back up to the body. I was thinking about just unbolting the engine from all the mounts and crap, then pullin the engine out from under there with a couple of friends or something. I guess we'll see. Just to let you future engine pullers know, it's easier to pull it from the top! Does anybody know if a tow truck will tow a car if it has no front wheels or anything like that on it? Because if they will, I'll just yank out the whole subframe with engine still connected and let them take the car with the rear wheels only. Any advice is appreciated...

 

[Jr's Sho]

Yes, I must say it is easier to pull the motor through the top. Or if you have a torch, it's eaier to pull it through the front. When I pulled my motor and ATX tranny from my 1995, we used to a torch to cut the whole front of the car off. Oh course most people may not have access to one but it sure did make things faster. Hope you work things out, maybe you can go ahead and go through the top.

 

[Mr Anonymous]

It's 50/50 depending on the scope of the project. To remove a motor from a car you're parting, it's usually easier to drop the whole shebang: motor, tranny, subframe, steering rack & front suspension onto a pallet and just lift the car off the works with a good hoist (or a forklift hehe) and pull it out from under. The car without the motor & tranny isn't that heavy that if you get 3-4 friends over they should be able to lift it high enough to yank everything out.

For an engine swap, it's usually neater and a little more controlled to do it out the top.

Either way, having the right tools for the job helps tremendously!