is it possible to pull the motor out from the top of my 1995 TA?? if so, how involved is it?? do the fenders and the front clip need to come off???

 

Yes it is possible, no i dont know how, but its been done and im sure some one will chime in with the right info. Why are you wanting to pull it from the top?

 

Easy to pull from top, take out the driveshaft, intake/heads, accessory bracket, radiator, headers etc., make sure you take off wire harness first then take off transmission support and motor mounts and pull that baby out. Easy as that. Done it 3 times already. Just last time I did it I removed the front bumper and bumper brace so that the bumper doesn't get messed up by the cherry picker.

 

I've pulled 4 engines out the top and one out the bottom. The bottom is easier as long as you can get the chassis high enough. No the fenders and front clip don't need to be removed. You can even pull it with the hood on. I strip off the tranny, bellhousing, waterpump, front pulley and exhaust manifolds. I also remove the radiator and condensor. You'll need to rotate the engine sideways to clear the cowl. I used a "Happy Hooker" made by TPIS; it bolts directly to the top of the intake manifold.

 

The only thing I had to do to remove my from the top was remove the intake. That is with the trans unbolted and radiator out.

 

Here it is going back in...

Now I had the happy hooker too, but wasn't sure I trusted it so I had the tow strap wrapped around everything - it actually got in my way because the engine was kind of bound up in it and harder to move around. I did it just like the other guys said. I removed the front bumper and bumper support because my cherry picker was too short And taking that useless 18" of front end off made the car a LOT easier to work on.

 

I just did this for my 383 swap this weekend, and lemme tell ya...even if you didn't have a lift (which I did), and had to work with dam cinderblocks, 50 jacks and stands and ALOT of other limitations i would STILL do it from the bottom. Aside from it taking twice as long to pull all that crap outta the car if u do it from the top: intake, heads (if u want to), etc.. and putting the old motor at a 45* angle coming out (dangerous and insane), and a new fresh motor at that angle back in is crazy. The #1 reason by FAR to do it outta the bottom is: nothing and I mean NOTHING beats beaing able to put the long tube headers on the motor which is on a stand and then put it on the K member let the body down on the k member. To all you people who did the headers with the motor still in the car (including me originaly) you know EXACTLY what i mean, its all about being able to reach the bolts and tightening them, what a waste to have a $10k motor built and not be able to tighten your breslins or arp (whatever you have), get an exhaust leak and it sound like crap cus its ticking away and robing power! Do yourself a favor, do it from the bottom! PLUS while its out, u can paint the k member gloss black like I did :-)

I guess the original question was, can you pull the motor from the top?

Yes of course you can! But why would you want to.....

 

the reason id rather pull it from the top is that it's probably easier, than taking apart the botom end.

thank you very much all.

 

I took mine out the top. I took the trans out first though, and the radiator as well. It was a piece of cake. I dont have the room in my garage to try lifting the car way up and taking it all out the bottom.

 

i have done this three times in the last two years for mine and friends. in my opnion you can have it pulled from the top twice as fast as you can from the bottom. if you dont have a lift in your garage or basement. that is putting long tubes on after the motor installed, i have not had any problems with header bolts, plug wires, or plugs. now these were camaros not firebirds, it would be a little bit harder with that long nose on it.

 

So you never tighten your header bolts with the engine in the car? I do mine about twice after heat cycles, and I also had to pull them to retorque the heads after run-in. When I put the engine back in (by myself) I set the headers in the hole and lowered the engine in complete minus the accessory brackets and pass side motor mount. I've heard plenty of good arguments for in/out the bottom, but yours aint one of them.

 

possible yes



but A LOT easier dropping from the bottom. easier then headers lol

 

Im another for the out the bottom method. It takes the least amount of time and tools. All you really need is a cherry picker,rims and jacks.

 

Out the bottom is by far the easiest way. You can do it in any double car garage. Total time to drop the engine is at most 8 hours, you can do it in 4 if you've done it once or twice before. Out the top... you have to take the tranny off, headers, and intake. These are all quite time consuming (intake on the way back in, 24 hours for the RTV to cure).

 

What if you have a car with no trans or radiator or any of the accessories in it? I have a rolling chassis I will need to drop an engine and trans in with long tubes soon, should I go through top since everything is already removed? Pulling the old short block out was painless...