Heads off or engine removal

[Grant]

Raise the back of the car up onto those sort of drive on ramps or as high as you can with axle stands Andrew and remove the lot in one go.. much easier in the long run

[thomaslk]

i pulled the transmission for an overhaul and let the engine in situ - so not exactly your task. IF i remember right reaching the bellhousing bolts was quite manageable from under the car with a couple of combined 1/2" socket extensions up to about 1 meter length. Than we could reach over the tranny to the bellhousing. I guess we dismounted the crossmember first to get the rear transmission closer to the ground allowing a bit more space.
Good luck ...
rgds
Thomas

[PeterHume]

Hi Andrew
I don't think you will have sufficient height using a mobile engine hoist to remove the engine and trans together. You will need to get an A frame gantry with at least 2.5m headroom. You will probably also need a second hoist (hang from same point as main one) to raise the back end of the trans to safely clear the front of the car on the way out.
Regards
Peter

[AndrewP]

Thanks everyone for the info.

I was very tired yesterday after a full days (work) work, then 3-4 hours fighting with the car before throwing in the towel. In the meantime Ive done some reading, and can see that it can be done, and along with the helpful info here, I think I can take another run at it over the weekend.

Headroom will not be an issue as we are pushing the car onto the driveway to give us lots of space and I`ll try Grants method first of getting the back up as high as possible, keeping the front low to ensure clearance.

If all else fails, then plan B is to use my newly acquired 2 x 600mm 1/2" extension bars, so I`ll attack those bellhousing bolts from the rear if its possible. Always a silver lining...new tools

Thanks again.

Andrew

[AndrewP]

Hi everyone,

Just to catch this up to date.

A good neighbour came round a few weeks ago and helped get the lump and gearbox out of the car.

Engine Out.jpg (77.23 KiB) Viewed 780 times

The rear of the car was jacked up on stands, and the gearbox was all disconnected and out it all came.

As in another post, the first thing apparent was the huge crack almost around the circumference of the L/H exhaust manifold, which will need replacing. Fingers crossed the replacement 2nd hand unit from the US will work OK and match up to my downpipes.

I`ll begin the strip-down shortly after a few other car issues (with the daily drivers this time) are sorted.
No issue as its a winter job, and I have a good few months to sort it out properly.

Cheers

Andrew