has anyone swapped engines without a hoist? my plan is to lower car, drop the engine down, raise car, slide engine/tranny out, swap tranny to new engine, then slide it back under, lower car, then bolt engine on. anyone see problems with that? i have 3 oem jacks, 1 hydraulic floor jack that goes to 13" and blocks of wood.

share how you swapped your car without a hoist, or how you would improve my method

 

done all the time,but ya can alwayz use a friend to help "steady" all on jackz going back "up" w it... (bought a hoist myself finally,lol)

 

Man its been done many a time but for your engine/tranny/car's sake Ide just rent one... for 40 bucks gets you 48 hours with one.... Its a helluvalot easier.

 

i have to do it in my yard which = no way to roll the hoist around. mainly i want to know if the engine w/ tranny will slide under a car thats raised around 16" (jack + wood)

 

check it with a tape, I think I had mine higher when I took out the tranny but I'm not sure...

 

Did my z6 swap in the backyard with no hoist and no help. Not as bad as people may say. I didn't even have a floor jack at the time, used a small hydraulic jack and some jack stands.

 

you can deff do it that way just a little extra work is all. I feel you I did mine on concrete so my process was a little easier but non-the less you can do it I wouldbe very careful though.

 

thanks for the pic, my hydraulic jack barely raises the wheels off the road. how did you get it so high, blocks of wood? mind posting how you did it?

 

Jacked it up as high as the jack would take it and set it on jackstands. Then sat the jack on one of the tires in the pic and that carried it as high as the jack stands would go. Put a board under the jack stands so that they wouldn't sink into the dirt with the weight of the car on them. That pic is actually when i jacked it up to see if i could get high enough to clear the z6. I knew then i was good since the z6 is taller than the stock motor. When i dropped the old engine i just sat the front end on the ground and took everything loose, then jacked it up and pulled the old out and slid the new in.

 

Don't be cheap, buy a proper jack.
It's stupid to raise a car with blocks of wood and a cheap jack, that's how accidents happen brother.

 

You talking to me or the op?

 

I want to say both, but more towards the OP.

Having a car on jackstands in uneven/soft ground is also dangerous...

 

i know i should buy a proper jack, but i am broke and have $0. im borrowing money from the parents to swap it. my job pays $6.50/hr and i only have 2 shifts a week. if i had the money believe me id have the right tools.

never thought to use a tire, ill give it a try. did you lower the engine with a jack? or lower the car enough to drop the engine on the ground?

 

I agree with what you said above but i did neither. I didn't use blocks of wood or a cheap jack. Also i agree that having jackstands on uneven/soft ground is dangerous as well, thats why i said i put boards (flat ones not blocks) under the jackstands so they wouldn't sink. There is always more than one way to do something. The important thing is to use common sense, no matter which way you go about doing it.

 

the way i did it was using a com-a-long if you have a friend with 1 you can put it in from on top, its eisier that way, i used a tripod made from steel to hook the comalong to.. if you dont have that you can use a big tree limb..lol sounds ghetto but it will work

 

interesting, i do have a big tree in the backyard. whats a come along?

 

how did you guys get the engine + tranny up to install it? im thinking roll it under on a jack, then jack it up? but that would mean even more clearance needed for the engine

 

 

there cheap, like 20$ at a hardware store. and btw your in w.v so it wont look dumb having a engine hanging from a tree..lol (im in w.v also)

 

id rather do it by dropping it down, my trees lowest branch is 15 ft in the air

 

ok so i found some cinderblocks around my house, got it really high up! im going to take off the im and head, then it should slide out with enough clearance

 

You could use the come along to raise the car enough to get the engine out. I would rather do it that way then use blocks of wood and a jack...

 

Man this sounds so dangerous!!!! When I pulled my motor I just rented a engine hoist for a day. I think it was only like 15-20 bucks a day. Knocked it all out in one day.

 

there's a thread on this somewhere....lemme look right quick!

edit: got it! here ya go! https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-civic-del-sol-1992-2000-1/putting-my-motor-under-car-not-too-56k-friendly-466327/

 

^ you the man. +1 internet to you

Here's as high as I could get it without feeling dangerous today, I might go a little higher just to do the swap but I want it safe and sound when I'm pulling stuff off