My 96 Project is finally under way. I pulled the motor this morning.
I have a lot of experience working on traditional carbed cars but this was the biggest PITA I have came across in a long time.
What were the engineers thinking on some of the placement of lines and stuff around the AC compressor

Well after I got everything unhooked, unbolted and ready to pull I had a big relief. Now I thought OK its finally readt to pull. I bolted up the "Happy Hooker" that was ordered from TPIS.
I wheeled the cherry picker over to that side of the garage. I extended th boom all the way and its about 12" to short

I had to take the bumper off the stupid thing to reach the motor.

Is anything on these cars normal?

 

Couldnt do it from the side?

 

Welcome to the world of fuel injection and PCMs

Hope u like a lot of wires

 

Well the wires and PCM don't bother me. Its how everything is routed and packaged that is bothersome.

Original plan was to do cam ,heads, and clutch with a few bolt ons but tonight after looking a the cyls. I can't in good consence put it back together WO a rebuild. Looks like oil was not changed much by previous owner.

Hmmm..... I do have a Powerdyne blower that I bought for the wagon. Lets see blower pistons etc. ect. This car that was going to be a couple week project for the wife to take to the track is getting out of hand real fast.

 

I've pulled my motor twice now on my car in my garage at home without a lift or air tools. The first time i did it was through the top and it was a PITA...so the 2nd time i decided to pull it out the bottom...MUCH EASIER...the whole motor/tranny front suspension gets out in a couple of hours

Getting the car high enough to clear the motor wasn't a problem...used car ramps and big jackstands...in the front and back...i'd use the floor jack and wood to get it as high as it can, then used the engine jack and chain to hook up to the front of the car to lift it up higher...

All you do to take out motor out the bottom is just unhook stuff connected to the back of the tranny, tranny cross member, k-member up front, and 4 bolts where the shocks are moutned to the car...then disconnect the brake lines, power steering line, and radiator hoses...the whole assembly drops and you can wheel it around to where it needs to go...

This way you don't have to take off headers, i have longtubes and they stay on, and no fighting with the firewall when trying to get the bellhousing to block bolts off...

Putting it back in is also a lot easier..l