Im getting ready to pull the motor in my car to send the block to the machine shop. Im pulling it from the top regardless. But my question is..what is the easiest way to pull it from the top? Should i take the intake and heads off first? Pretty much, how far should i disassemble it to pull it from the top?

 

Your going to see a number of opinions but the easiest way to do this is through the bottom. It's the way the motor's are designed to come out in the first place...

 

I've seen them pulled from the top you have to break it from the tranny and as you pull it twist the engine counter clockwise as you work it out.. I haven't ever pull one this way but its how i seen it done

 

They will come out of the top or you can drop the engine, suspension, tranny and all accessories easily out of the bottom in one piece. They will slide out from under the car like this and it's way easier to take them apart...

 

I've pulled/installed both ways and if you are going through the top take the trans out at the same time and just pull it straight out. I actually put my BBC in the Trans Am that way. If you are against that then the picture above is worth a 1,000 words

 

I've done it both ways, I really prefer the bottom, man is it easy to put headers on standing next to the engine. Actually when I do cam swaps now thats what I do .

With the two post lift in my shop it might as well be in there with a zipper. Starting at 8am I have had the k member and engine/trans out on the ground in about 2 hours taking my time. The first time I did it i took the harness and computer out with the engine. Ef that just unhook the harness from the engine and drop it out. Takes me longer to fight the harness and get the pcm connections unhooked inside than it does to just unsnap connectors which have to be removed anyways.

Out the bottom I also emlpoy a short heavy cart with 4 casters to sit the trans on.

Out the top is more brain damage imo. The one time I did that I took the hood off the car, pulled the intake and water pump. Undid the crossmember, fought with the y pipe for god knows how long. Took the radiator, ac core, fans etc out and pulled the whole works as one assembly with a happy hooker.

I do not use an engine lift, I have an 18ft tall A frame setup with electric crane on it. YMMV on how tall your engine lift will get when pulling such an item out.

 

out the bottom
http://www.michiganspeed.com/enginepull/index.html

 

I also recommend out the bottom. Without the "happy hooker" it's difficult not to damage the cowl.

Here are instructions and pictures in word documents. I did not write these but they are excellent. Found them on this board.

http://www.ace1252.com/LT1_Removal_F...ne_Removal.doc
http://www.ace1252.com/LT1_Removal_F...l_Pictures.doc

 

-take nose piece and foam off
-radiator and ac condensor assembly off
-all accessories and bracket coil, icm, etc off
-water pump, balancer, (i didnt pull the balancer hub off but it would make things easier coming out)
-wiring harness and hoses etc disconnected and pulled out of the way
-valve covers and intake off
- i was able to loosen clamps on headers and y pipe and unbolt from heads and pull off to the sides and out of the way, would be a lot easier to remove headers and y completely
-good luck getting oil dipstick off
-i connected chain for engine lift to one bolt threaded into back of one head and another bolt threaded into front of other head support it and undo motor mounts
- underneath: disconnect drive shaft, torque arm, tranny mount (have a jack to support tranny)
- undo tranny bolts wiggle motor around on hoist to get at a few if needed

i am sure i have forgotten a few things but i really didnt have a difficult time pulling it out the top as the first motor i have ever pulled.

 

Having done it both ways, I found out the bottom much easier.

 

Im about to do a heads and cam swap. Whats the consensus on just removing the motor to do this? I was going to just take it down to a shortblock in the car but reading this thread has me reconsidering it.

Thanks!!

 

I would and have rolled the motor and trans out the bottom for a head/cam swap. Way easier.

 

I just did my first engine/trans removal on my Camaro and it went great! I did it out the bottom by myself. I have a mid-height full car lift (using jacks points on the car). I bought a 1,000 lb rated capacity hydraulic platform for the engine. I set the platform at 24 inches high, supported the engine/trans, removed bolts, raised the car to top extreme of my lift and rolled the engine straight out on the cart.

I didn't have to mess with multiple jacks this way.

I pulled just the transmission some years ago and could have pulled engine/trans in less time knowing what I know now.

FEI - I love my mid height car lift. It was under $1500 delivered and I've used it on my VW Scirocco, Nissan Sentra, Camaro, Blazer and Dodge Durango. It is so nice to use for under car or even just cleaning the wheels. It's even nice to raise it a bit for vacuumning the interior or under dash work. It rolls into my garage when I'm not using it and rolls back out when I need it. I've even used it in my garage with one of my cars. It worked great indoors, I just couldn't lift the car all the way up due to my garage's ceiling height.

 

Didn't somebody do a video of pulling out the engine from the bottom, played 3x fast? Does anyone have the link to this, or is my memory shot?

 

Out the bottom.