Calan
DSM Wiseman
- 7,250
- 399
- Jan 16, 2007
-
OKC,
Oklahoma
I've got the motor in, so now it's just a matter of lots of tedious work; a bit more wiring, some minor fabrication, and hooking everything back up.
I wasn't really looking forward to torquing the flywheel bolts, stabbing the tranny, and dropping the motor in by myself, but it was actually really easy. (Most of this entry will be spent describing the method I used).
For starters, I made a couple of custom lifting brackets out of some scrap mild steel. They aren't pretty, but they are plenty strong and worked out nicely. I bolted one to the top of the driver's side motor mount, and the other to the back side of the head. I also picked up a chain swivel and removable chain link from Lowes so that I had more control over the motor position on the hoist.
View attachment 908 View attachment 909
Once I had the motor positioned on the hoist, I lifted it enough to put a jack stand under each roll-stopper mount. (by rotating the mounts outward and then tightening them down, they set perfectly in the saddles of the jack stands). I then put a stack of folded cardboard boxes under the oil pan to help stabilize it. This 3-point engine cradle (along with the hoist) was surprisingly stable.
View attachment 916
To attach the flywheel, I simply placed a breaker bar on the crank and leaned it up against the rubber on the front motor mount. This made torquing the flywheel bolts very easy. And with most of the motor's weight sitting on the jack stands, it barely moved while I was cranking on the torque wrench. (Since my flywheel and pressure plate had some pretty nasty hot spots, I decided to have them resurfaced and the step height checked before reinstalling them...hopefully the machine shop got it right
.
View attachment 920 View attachment 921
View attachment 910 View attachment 911
Once the flywheel was bolted up, I set the clutch disk in place (with an alignment tool of course and tightened down the pressure plate. For the tranny, I simply set it on a floor jack to help take off a bit of the weight, and then pursuaded it onto the guide pins and snugged up the bell housing bolts. I also bolted up a new starter and alternator, and set the alternator and PS pump belts in place. Then it was time to drink a beer or 3, stare at the motor for a while, and get ready to go for it.
View attachment 917 View attachment 918
Once I got the motor lifted high enough
pray: oh PLEASE don't fall), it was fairly simple to position it correctly due to the swivel on the chain. The only hiccup I ran into was that I had bolted up the crank damper, and it had to come back off. Not a big deal, but it made the difference between the motor/trans dropping straight in or not.
View attachment 912 View attachment 915
With the damper off and no brackets on the passenger side frame, there was about 1 inch of clearance. With the engine at a slight downward angle on the trans side, I was able to go straight down until the trans cleared the frame, and then I just kept enough pressure on the front of the motor to keep the water pump pulley from hitting the frame. It also took a bit of care and a little rotation to keep the rear roll stopper out of the firewall components and wiring, but once it cleared the AFPR it was smooth sailing.
You can't tell from the pics, but I was standing with my right hand on the front of the block, and my left hand working the bleed valve on the hoist. I only had to go back up one time (just an inch or so), to pull the hoist forward slightly to give me more room for the rear roll stopper.
View attachment 913 View attachment 914
Another important point to note is that I had both the roll stoppers bolted up, but they were left loose at the insulator so they could rotate as they came into contact with the frame. That let me set the motor down onto the front crossmember and rear subframe, and then just stick a bolt through each of the mounts to keep the motor aligned while I brought it on down and wrestled with the driver's side mount.
Once I got the driver's side mount close, I removed the front lifting bracket, tightened the motor mount nuts back down, and then lifted on the rear bracket to tilt the engine towards the driver's side. With the urethane inserts, the fit was too tight for the motor mount to slide into place...so I ended up removing the mount from the block and tapping it back down into place with a mallet once the motor was tilted far enough forward. Then it was just a matter of bolting up the trans mount, and tightening everything up.
For those of you that haven't done this before, here's a tip...when you bolt up the trans mount, it's best to leave the 4 bolts holding it to the frame loose (barely started actually). This makes it much easier to install the bolts holding the mount to the tranny. Once the bolts are in and snug, you can then tighten the frame bolts and insulator bolt, and torque everything down. Also be sure to use a magnetic socket and/or be very careful with those frame bolts...you'll probably never get them out if you drop 'em.
Here it sits with the intake loosely attached, waiting for some more wiring to be completed... I think I'm at the beginning of the end (relatively speaking)!
View attachment 923
In the next part, I'll get into my ignition coil relocation and some of the other stuff that is happening now that the motor is finally in.
Stay tuned!
I wasn't really looking forward to torquing the flywheel bolts, stabbing the tranny, and dropping the motor in by myself, but it was actually really easy. (Most of this entry will be spent describing the method I used).
For starters, I made a couple of custom lifting brackets out of some scrap mild steel. They aren't pretty, but they are plenty strong and worked out nicely. I bolted one to the top of the driver's side motor mount, and the other to the back side of the head. I also picked up a chain swivel and removable chain link from Lowes so that I had more control over the motor position on the hoist.
View attachment 908 View attachment 909
Once I had the motor positioned on the hoist, I lifted it enough to put a jack stand under each roll-stopper mount. (by rotating the mounts outward and then tightening them down, they set perfectly in the saddles of the jack stands). I then put a stack of folded cardboard boxes under the oil pan to help stabilize it. This 3-point engine cradle (along with the hoist) was surprisingly stable.
View attachment 916
To attach the flywheel, I simply placed a breaker bar on the crank and leaned it up against the rubber on the front motor mount. This made torquing the flywheel bolts very easy. And with most of the motor's weight sitting on the jack stands, it barely moved while I was cranking on the torque wrench. (Since my flywheel and pressure plate had some pretty nasty hot spots, I decided to have them resurfaced and the step height checked before reinstalling them...hopefully the machine shop got it right
.View attachment 920 View attachment 921
View attachment 910 View attachment 911
Once the flywheel was bolted up, I set the clutch disk in place (with an alignment tool of course
and tightened down the pressure plate. For the tranny, I simply set it on a floor jack to help take off a bit of the weight, and then pursuaded it onto the guide pins and snugged up the bell housing bolts. I also bolted up a new starter and alternator, and set the alternator and PS pump belts in place. Then it was time to drink a beer or 3, stare at the motor for a while, and get ready to go for it. View attachment 917 View attachment 918
Once I got the motor lifted high enough
pray: oh PLEASE don't fall), it was fairly simple to position it correctly due to the swivel on the chain. The only hiccup I ran into was that I had bolted up the crank damper, and it had to come back off. Not a big deal, but it made the difference between the motor/trans dropping straight in or not. View attachment 912 View attachment 915
With the damper off and no brackets on the passenger side frame, there was about 1 inch of clearance. With the engine at a slight downward angle on the trans side, I was able to go straight down until the trans cleared the frame, and then I just kept enough pressure on the front of the motor to keep the water pump pulley from hitting the frame. It also took a bit of care and a little rotation to keep the rear roll stopper out of the firewall components and wiring, but once it cleared the AFPR it was smooth sailing.
You can't tell from the pics, but I was standing with my right hand on the front of the block, and my left hand working the bleed valve on the hoist. I only had to go back up one time (just an inch or so), to pull the hoist forward slightly to give me more room for the rear roll stopper.
View attachment 913 View attachment 914
Another important point to note is that I had both the roll stoppers bolted up, but they were left loose at the insulator so they could rotate as they came into contact with the frame. That let me set the motor down onto the front crossmember and rear subframe, and then just stick a bolt through each of the mounts to keep the motor aligned while I brought it on down and wrestled with the driver's side mount.
Once I got the driver's side mount close, I removed the front lifting bracket, tightened the motor mount nuts back down, and then lifted on the rear bracket to tilt the engine towards the driver's side. With the urethane inserts, the fit was too tight for the motor mount to slide into place...so I ended up removing the mount from the block and tapping it back down into place with a mallet once the motor was tilted far enough forward. Then it was just a matter of bolting up the trans mount, and tightening everything up.
For those of you that haven't done this before, here's a tip...when you bolt up the trans mount, it's best to leave the 4 bolts holding it to the frame loose (barely started actually). This makes it much easier to install the bolts holding the mount to the tranny. Once the bolts are in and snug, you can then tighten the frame bolts and insulator bolt, and torque everything down. Also be sure to use a magnetic socket and/or be very careful with those frame bolts...you'll probably never get them out if you drop 'em.
Here it sits with the intake loosely attached, waiting for some more wiring to be completed... I think I'm at the beginning of the end (relatively speaking)!
View attachment 923
In the next part, I'll get into my ignition coil relocation and some of the other stuff that is happening now that the motor is finally in.
Stay tuned!
and your almost there 
