Pulling motor from bottom (pics)
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Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 1,326
From: Tulsa, OK
Pulling motor from bottom (pics)
As soon as I get more pics downloaded and sorted I will post more.
It is kind of a PITA to do alone! well over 4 hours for me. My fuel lines caused me trouble, one of the quick releases would never come loose so the metal clip ended up mangled. Will I have to replace the whole line? The other parts that took me the longest were finding and popping off all the little places where the wiring harness is clipped on the body and the damned steering column. I could only see 1 bolt holding the steering column together, and the more I lifted the body the more that connection scared me with creaking. But it finally popped out. Getting those brake lines out of the way is a major pain by yourself too!
I think I'm going to do a noob's writeup for this whole thing. I took detailed pics of all the crazy difficult spots I had and I labeled everything. There are a lot of little bits of info I wish I had that the other guides don't have.
It is kind of a PITA to do alone! well over 4 hours for me. My fuel lines caused me trouble, one of the quick releases would never come loose so the metal clip ended up mangled. Will I have to replace the whole line? The other parts that took me the longest were finding and popping off all the little places where the wiring harness is clipped on the body and the damned steering column. I could only see 1 bolt holding the steering column together, and the more I lifted the body the more that connection scared me with creaking. But it finally popped out. Getting those brake lines out of the way is a major pain by yourself too!
I think I'm going to do a noob's writeup for this whole thing. I took detailed pics of all the crazy difficult spots I had and I labeled everything. There are a lot of little bits of info I wish I had that the other guides don't have.
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Joined: Nov 2006
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From: Houston(clear lake)
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Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 1,326
From: Tulsa, OK
I raised my stands every couple inches to be sure I wasnt going to drop it if it slipped, and periodically i wiggled the jack to make sure I was firm EVERYWHERE before lifting AT ALL. I need to get a hoist but it can easily be done without, it just takes a LOT of care to not get anything unbalanced.
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Joined: Dec 1969
Posts: 27,725
From: Little Rock, AR
It's even easier if you leave the wheels on (= instant dolly). Plus, you won't have to lift the car so high. I carefully lifted mine by a jack in a similar manner. No problem. The jack may creep a very slight amount as the body goes up, but it is not going to go anywhere if the car cannot roll.
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Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 48
From: Houston
noob question- When putting it all back together, how do you make sure everything is 100% exactly aligned? I imagine there's dowels or something, but is it possible to reinstall and not have the sub-frame exactly aligned?
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Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 59
From: Bahrain
yes there are dowel pins on each side. It cant be installed if its not aligned...i had to have a budy helping me have the strut bolts in place while lowering the front-end before the dowels get in position.
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Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 1,326
From: Tulsa, OK
It's even easier if you leave the wheels on (= instant dolly). Plus, you won't have to lift the car so high. I carefully lifted mine by a jack in a similar manner. No problem. The jack may creep a very slight amount as the body goes up, but it is not going to go anywhere if the car cannot roll.
I had the jack creep a few inches back every 8" or so up. Everytime the jack creeped, I notched up my stands a slot or two, then I would lower, re-adjust, repeat. It only took me 20 min from having my last wire unplugged to lift the body. Personally, it was WAY easier to get to the K-member bolts with the front wheels off. I don't know how a guy could even untorque those bolts without the extra space for leverage. It took me a break-bar and a pipe over the handle to get enough leverage.
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Joined: Mar 1999
Posts: 2,068
From: Kernersville, NC
Just be careful. Cinder blocks can crumble without warning. I would prefer you not use them....I don't want to see you hurt or worse.
From another thread on going back in....
From another thread on going back in....
What I did was to build a wooden stand for the k-member and with a jack roll the engine and tranny back under the car(a jack under the tranny too). Like so...
Once in position, I lowered the body close to the engine, then set the body on jackstands. Then I put a chain across the heads and pulled the engine to the body with the cherry picker(jacking up the tranny as I go up with the cherry picker). Like so...
This way you can easily swing the engine to the alignment pins and put the bolts into the K-member when the entire assembly starts to lift up on the body.
Once in position, I lowered the body close to the engine, then set the body on jackstands. Then I put a chain across the heads and pulled the engine to the body with the cherry picker(jacking up the tranny as I go up with the cherry picker). Like so...
This way you can easily swing the engine to the alignment pins and put the bolts into the K-member when the entire assembly starts to lift up on the body.
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From: Tulsa, OK
Here are the dowels that poke through the top of your engine bay:
They are on your upper A-arms and two nuts snug down on both sides, along with 2 bolts or 2 t45 torx screws.
then, here are the three bolts on the k-member that drops the whole motor:
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Joined: Sep 2005
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From: Tulsa, OK
Everyone searching this right now, this is EXACTLY WHY if you use cinder-blocks, don't use them as your SAFETY support or under your jack-stands. They are okay to lift with ONLY IF you have the rest of the car supported EVERY FEW INCHES of the way up, in case the cinder block goes south. Its very rare for one to just break apart under load, they usually do it as weight is being loaded and there is an internal failure, but it still happens. I mean, some of those strong-man exhibitions feature guys punching cinder blocks into dust, i would never trust any of my cars to just chill on them
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Joined: Dec 1969
Posts: 27,725
From: Little Rock, AR
Yeah and shoebox is the man for all those little bits they leave out in the guides!
I had the jack creep a few inches back every 8" or so up. Everytime the jack creeped, I notched up my stands a slot or two, then I would lower, re-adjust, repeat. It only took me 20 min from having my last wire unplugged to lift the body. Personally, it was WAY easier to get to the K-member bolts with the front wheels off. I don't know how a guy could even untorque those bolts without the extra space for leverage. It took me a break-bar and a pipe over the handle to get enough leverage.
I had the jack creep a few inches back every 8" or so up. Everytime the jack creeped, I notched up my stands a slot or two, then I would lower, re-adjust, repeat. It only took me 20 min from having my last wire unplugged to lift the body. Personally, it was WAY easier to get to the K-member bolts with the front wheels off. I don't know how a guy could even untorque those bolts without the extra space for leverage. It took me a break-bar and a pipe over the handle to get enough leverage.
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Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 1,326
From: Tulsa, OK
thats how we do it in Oklahoma!
lol really they work great but I wouldn't get under any. I thought about going through the trouble of building a lift block out of 2x4's but these were much handy-er. and the wheels in the rear are GREAT for this job, seriously the car pivots perfectly and you can leave it in neutral
lol really they work great but I wouldn't get under any. I thought about going through the trouble of building a lift block out of 2x4's but these were much handy-er. and the wheels in the rear are GREAT for this job, seriously the car pivots perfectly and you can leave it in neutral