i'm going to swap my 97 z28's 145,000 mile lt1 engine with a better ,lower milage lt1 engine....question here is it possible to pull motor from top side rather than the bottom end? I will be doing the myself so anything that makes my work much easier would be greatly appreciated!

 

you can but it is much much easier to drop it through the bottom from what I have heard. I don't have experience with going out the top but I have through the bottom and it isn't too bad. Someone posted a guide with pictures. I'll see if I can dig it up.

 

It can come out through the top or bottom.

 

I pulled mine out from the top . I had to take the heads , intake and manifolds off. and it was on a major angle.

 

http://web.camaross.com/forums/showt...moval+pictures

enjoy!

 

pulling it from the bottom is definatly the way to go. me and my buddy got it down to about an hour and a half, from in the car all hooked up, to all the way out. here is a few key points to remember when you do it,

-put the rear wheels on ramps, and chalk them. its very dangerous to lift the front with an engine crane while the car is on jack stands.
-put the front on jack stands
-build yourself alittle cart. i built one with 2x4s, 24'x24, kinda like a pallet, just as long as it looks strong enough to bear a load. and get some heavy duty casters from a hardware store and put them on all four croners. this way you can just lower the subframe down onto the cart and put a jack under the trans and pull it out from the side.
-drain the coolent
-disconnect all the coolent hoses
-take out the fans and radiator
-disconnect the wiring harness, label it, it will make things go smoother when u put it back together
-a/c, im not sure if you can get away with not disconnecting the a/c, it looked like too much of a pain in the a$$ so i just disconnected it. you dont need a/c in a hot rod any way.
-you can leave the power steering hooked up, just unbolt the res, and fold it onto the engine.
-disconnect the right and left front brake lines up top, and make sure you watch them when you are lowering the engine, they allways get snaged.
-unbolt the steering shaft. make sure that when you are putting it back in you steering wheel is straight as well as the front steering knuckle, and work the shaft back on as you are putting the subframe back up. if you dont you will be kicking yourself in the a$$ trying to put it on with the subframe up.
-unbolt the top of the struts.
-take off the exhaust, torque arm, and drive shaft.
-put a jack under the trans and undo the mount and cross member bolts, make sure you take out the shifter if its m6, or disconnect the linkage if its a4
-hook the engine crane to the radiator support, i allways use a ratchet strap and hook it through that. it bends the lip on the radiator support, but you can fix it with a BFH lator.
-jack it up off the jack stands and lower it until the subframe is a few inches off the cart, then undo the the subframe bolts, and jack the car up with the engine crane until you can pull it out.

thats pretty much it, im sure there are a few details that i missed but that should be the major stuff u need to look for. im sure there are a few more guys on here that will chime in with a few other tips. all in all its really not that bad, you can get it done in a day if you have everything with the new engine squared away. hope this helps, good luck.

 

I've done it both ways and out the bottom is easier. You just need to get the body/frame up high enough to clear the engine out the bottom. Definitely have a friend or 2 come by to help; too many things to watch by yourself to be safe and not to damage anything.

 

much thanks guyz!