removing engine?

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steve bain
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removing engine?

Post by steve bain »

i have always taken it upwards before but i don't want to hire a crane or remove the bonnet that took me forever to align!

so i was thinking of raising the car as high as possible and remove from below. so to get started i will stick the front on car ramps. so about a foot.

the process as i imagine it:
remove arb(to remove exhaust), lower brace and driveshafts
remove 4 branch manifold and inlet manifold
remove radiator, battery, coolant bottle, washer bottle and all other ancillaries within engine bay like kjet stuff, air filters etc
remove all the bits off the block such as water pump, oil cooler bracket etc as it will make it easier to move around.
disconnect everything else, gearlinks, speedo etc

then i get stuck.

do i drop the engine and gearbox as one? drop gearbox first, then engine? to make it smaller and easier to move around? should i remove head first? or should i just drop it as one and remove all the bits with the additional space?

and just how high will i need the front of the car?

any advice from anyone who has done it this way much appreciated


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bengould
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Re: removing engine?

Post by bengould »

If I was doing it this way I would drop them both together, then remove the gearbox, lie the engine down and then bring it out. that way you don't have to get the car as high.
I do have a hoist though so have always just gone up out of the bay.

Is there not anyone near you you could borrow one off? You don't need to take the bonnet off, you can open it further than the support holds it at, then you'll have plenty of room.

Ben


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steve bain
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Re: removing engine?

Post by steve bain »

ah ok. didn't realise that. if i did lift it out the top i would probably just span a timber across my garage as it is only 3m wide and use a £25 block and tackle off ebay to lift it out and roll the car backwards. i may go out the top then. it was easy last time. i hate making decisions! i would buy a hoist but don't think i will ever use it again so seems a waste.


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bengould
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Re: removing engine?

Post by bengould »

It's a handy thing to have, but for the few times you'll use it it's probably not worth the expense. I got mine cheap 2nd hand and have used it maybe 5/6 times in three years. If it wasn't as cheap as it was I probably wouldn't have bothered.

Ben.


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steve bain
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Re: removing engine?

Post by steve bain »

hmm. there only £100 delivered off ebay. it would make life easier and although i say i won't use it again, we all know that us car folk always will! by the time i have messed about making a lift it will be about £35 i guess.

having said that £100 is a fair wack if i can lower it underneath for free.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-Ton-Tonne-F ... Sw7s5XhGaD


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mark1gls
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Re: removing engine?

Post by mark1gls »

If I was pulling mine out again I would remove the gearbox and pull that out from underneath then lift the engine out of the top.
I tried to pull the lot out and ended up damaging the paint in the engine bay as the angle you need to get the gearbox out past the servo and master cylinder is a lot and the engine kept moving about.
I did even have a engine hoist and someone to help to get it out and still damaged the paint but I was on my own getting it back in so that is why I put the block in then slide the gearbox underneath and lifted it up by hand to fit as the gearbox is not really that heavy.

Getting it out on an angle.
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Getting it back in.
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I fixed the driver side engine mount then I could lower the gearbox end of the engine to lift the gearbox in.
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unknownmale
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Re: removing engine?

Post by unknownmale »

I hired one for a weekend for £25.


- David
steve bain
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Re: removing engine?

Post by steve bain »

fair play. that does look easier. from memory i had the same problem fitting the engine and gearbox together too where as fitting a gearbox on its own is easy so makes sense to do it as two.

i have a plan and amount of days i think it will take bearing in mind that most of the bits have been taken off at some point in the last 10 years so *shouldn't* be too bad, i also have air tools, sand blaster etc so generally quicker.
strip all ancillaries and remove engine and gearbox - 1 day
rust treat and prep engine bay for paint (assuming no rust holes and doing no 'shaving', just keeping it standard so hopefully just degrease and rub down) - 1day
get bay painted by other, strip engine and start cleaning bits - 1 day
clean up bits, paint block, clean annilarries, sand blast and paint bolts etc - 1day
rebuild - 1 day / 2days

so i reckon 5 days to get it out, paint bay, paint engine and refit. sound realistic? this will be done in evenings and weekends over a month or so, just trying to gauge timings.

I want to put it in for an mot in march and do not want to run out of time by taking the engine out! as far as the rebuild goes i have to refit the door guts and glass, refit sunroof inc mechanism, sort the grill out and wire in the stereo so not too much i would say and few odds and sode but its generally there so it would appear that i have time.


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steve bain
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Re: removing engine?

Post by steve bain »

just checked my local hire shop and they are £25 too for 2 days. but i would need to hire it twice so £50 so i may as well pay another £50 to keep it.


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mark1gls
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Re: removing engine?

Post by mark1gls »

The only other thing is that it's the winter and it's getting colder so the paint will take a lot longer to dry if you are in an un heated garage like most of us?


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mr.brown
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Re: removing engine?

Post by mr.brown »

The way I've always done is to do some of the removal bits you've mentioned = injection system, exhaust etc but also the rear engine mount.

Then remove the wheels and drop the whole car as low as possible - literally have the sump resting on whatever you're going to move the engine with - a wheel dolly from ebay is good for this.

Undo the remaining three engine mounts and then raise the car. It's possible to do this with a combination of imagination, jacks and wooden blocks.

If the engine is being rebuilt removing the head first makes life a LOT easier.


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unknownmale
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Re: removing engine?

Post by unknownmale »

Good point above, it'll be much easier to remove from underneath if the head is removed first.

If you didn't remove the head, you'd have to remove the exhaust manifold from the head for it to clear rather than at the downpipe.

Depends on what you have I suppose! But lifting it out is much easier for sure.


- David
steve bain
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Re: removing engine?

Post by steve bain »

too many options! i have a 4 branch so will have to take it off anyway and access is easy around that. At the moment whether the heads comes off or not is dependent on two things. The compression test i am yet to perform (which i have no reason to believe will be bad) and if i can justify to myself getting the head ported and possibly big valved. I really want to get it done, but £500 - 800 is quite a bit of money to make a quick car quicker! but i also know if i don't do it now, i never will!


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james butler
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Re: removing engine?

Post by james butler »

i put my abf engine and gearbox in from underneath and found it far easier than lifting it out the top as you will scratch the crap out of everything going that way.
i have a engine crane so jacked the car up into the air using an old bumper iron and then slid the engine in from the side.
if i was to lift it out from the top i would definitely remove the gearbox first to give your self lots of room.


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PeteGLi
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Re: removing engine?

Post by PeteGLi »

steve bain wrote:ah ok. didn't realise that. if i did lift it out the top i would probably just span a timber across my garage as it is only 3m wide and use a £25 block and tackle off ebay to lift it out and roll the car backwards. i may go out the top then. it was easy last time. i hate making decisions! i would buy a hoist but don't think i will ever use it again so seems a waste.
You cannot use a fixed block and tackle to lift the engine out with the bonnet still on the car, as you will not be able to open the bonnet, without damaging it, far enough for the block to sit directly above the engine.
The last time I removed an engine, I lowered the it onto a wheel dolly, padded with an old folded blanket, and rolled it out under the front of the car.
Engine and gearbox balance nicely on a wheel dolly, which, as it is on wheels, is far easier to move, than trying to slide an engine and gearbox resting on a pallet or other solid support over the floor!
Obviously, you need the clearance under the front valance to be the height of the engine plus the wheel dolly.
I do not have a lift, but do have manual height adjustable wheel ramps, which give me just enough clearance.
Or you could use the engine hoist to lift the front of the car attached to the bumper mounts, or the side engine and gearbox mount bolts.
If you are not going to strip and rebuild the engine, you do not need to remove either inlet or exhaust manifold, and the k-jet metering head you can just loop over and attach loosely onto the block.
And it is easier to leave the gearbox, attached.


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