If i cant get my hands on a picker for my swap im about to do, how much more difficult is it to do without a hoist? thanks.
also anyone know if autozone rents them? heard they did..need to call them...


[Modified by KAMiN, 2:19 AM 10/20/2001]

 

No problem.... just take the axles out, drop the car to the ground so that the engine is on the ground, unbolt it, lift the chassis up and drag the motor out..... slide the new motor in, drop the chassis down to the ground and man-handle the new motor into position (hardest part cause I was at an ackward position), bolt it up and jack the car back up and finish the rest of you swap.

Now see, wasn't that easy?

 

can that damage the engine tho?

 

Where are you planning on doing the swap. Before I bought a cherry picker, I just chained a Come-along to the ceiling and used that, with an engine leveler (must have, if you're going to lift)

 

in my home garage.

 

Nope not at all, but if you're really worried though use an old tire and place it under the engine before dropping it out my friend.

That's how all Junkyards/Recycle yards pull their Engines out anyways, its faster !!!

 

ok so sliding it on the oil pan dosent damage it. good. (ill probably throw a peice of carpet under there so it dosent tear it up)
now, about lifting the car that high. i dont think my jack goes that high, about how much clearance is needed for the engine?
sorry about the questions i want thist to go in smooth.

 

We used a piece of cardboard to slide the motor on.... needs to be very thin so you have maximum clearance. You need to jack it up as high as possible... a full size floor jack should do the trick. The SOHC motor was able to slide out w/out any problems, but we had to pull up on the frame (lift it a lil) for the B20 to clear when sliding it underneath it.

Oh yeah.... take the front bumper off, makes life much easier.

 

Oh yeah.... also, put the floor jack back by the rear crossmember (where the rear motor mount would go) so that when you jack it up back there, it lifts the front end higher than if you just jacked up the front end.

 

ok near rear mount
got it.

 

Why not rent an engine hoist? I used to back in the day drop motors out but i used a jack on the factory header and then just lowered it. I usually left the car on stands. I did however put a movers blanket underneath in case it fell. As for installing, i always used a hoist. No point in hurting your back. There is a place called Baker by my house that is like $8 an hour, or a autopart store that is $25 for two days. Just look in the phone book, and call around. Its definately worth the extra money to rent a hoist for the install. Like i said though, pulling the motor, you dont need a hoist.

Of course now i have 2 hoists, so no more need to rent. And i use the hoist now to lower the motor as well. But i always install from the top. Little hint, leave the back mount attached when installing, and then just attach the two side mounts when its in position.

 

im thinking about just buying one.
im probably going to wind up pulling this engine to work on it eventually.
but i need to call around
thanks everyone

 

We always use engine hoists (aka. cherry pickers) but this time some homo was borrowing it couldn't return it when we needed cause "his friends were over" looking at his fucked up looking race car... whatever. So we said fuggit and just did the swap anyways cause I needed to get the B20 up & running at that time. On some swaps, I'd say that it's almost easier doing the "lift chassis up and slide the motor from underneath" method... like when doing H22A swaps.... that's the method I've seen and done before, and my friends do it all the time (they do like 2 H22 swaps a week in LA.... crazy) but they got it down to where the can have the motor slid under and bolted up in 15 min

True, try to get some kind of hoist or leverage device... my back was a lil sore the next day from trying to push that damn motor into place from an awkward position, but I'm also saying that it can be done.

 

I remember reading someone's website where they had like 5 guys actually lifting an engine out of the bay, and dropping in the new one. Crazy pics.

Anyone know who I'm talking about?...

 

last swap i did i used my cherry picker to lift the car off the engine instead of the engine out of the car. forget floor jacks and removing engines from the top. BTW you can leave the bitch pin installed until you pull the engine out and it is no longer a bitch pin when the engine is on the floor

Andy