Ive got my new motor, however, ive never swapped in a motor before, so im not to sure of doing this myself. But i want to learn Everybody tells me "oh yea it's just two motor mount bolts and some tranny bolts." I think it's probbably a little harder than that, but i thought id ask to see how hard it would be to pull the old motor assuming i have the engine hoist and all the tools. I would unplug all the sensors, hoses, AC stuff, exhaust headders, take off the plennum, unbolt the engine from the mounts, and tranny, and basically pull it out right ? (hood off), i mean id have my dad help me, and he has some mech. expirence, but id like to know any helpful hints, or tips from first timers, and expierenced pro's about doing an engine swap, is there any info, or things i should be aware of ???

Thanks guys, 91Z28

 

If it's your first, I'd give it more than a weekend.It can be done, but it's better to take your time and pay attention to details.
Some things to note on thirdgen swaps:
Ground straps at the back of the cylinder heads.These are a pain in the butt!I ended up getting the motor up and forward a couple inches before I could really get to them to remove them.Same for reinstalling them, do it with the motor not quite sitting down on the mounts.It's a lot easier.
Motor Mounts:I used steel mounts from Moroso, both on the motor and frame.Opened up a lot of room around the bottom of the motor, but replacing the bottom halfs is difficult without pulling the A-Arms. I swapped out the lower mounts while replacing the bushings, before the motor was out. Even if you're using stock or poly mounts, it's easier with the suspension out of the way, but getting the springs out without the weight of the motor in the car is difficult.
Wire Harness: If any connectors or wires are crispy, now's the best time to replace them.Try and get a wire crimping tool in there with all the motor/smog crap installed and you'll see what I mean.
In most cars, I prefer to pull the motor and tranny at the same time, but the thirdgen engine compartment's pretty tight!I did mine by dropping the trans first,then pulling the motor with bellhousing/clutch out afterwards.Less chance of destroying your accessories (A/C, power steering stuff, etc.).More time-consuming this way, but if you're doing it by yourself or with just one other person, there's less to keep an eye on while it's coming out.
Also, remove the accessories, serpentine belt setup,distributor, before lifting the motor out.Again, less possibility of breakage.
I reinstalled it the same way, Motor with clutch & bellhousing, no belt/pulleys/headers/starter, then adding stuff after it's bolted in.
I know others will disagree with this, but I prefer to be careful, rather than have to replace thing that get tore-up during installation.
Hope This Helps.
-Rich-

 

Depends on how good you are. I've pulled an engine out of two cars, took one of them and installed it in the other car and had it driving away in a half day. Realistically, especially if this is your first time around, figure a couple weekends to do it. In any case, dont rush it. Thats when you make mistakes.

 

my first motor swap took me one and ahalf days. the first day from 8-12 was unplugin everything and takin bolts out. from about 12-5pullin old motor and putting new one in. quick that day and the next day it only took me a couple hours to hook everything back up.

 

Remeber, when working w/ cars, a general planned on time frame usually doesnt work b/c something stupid always happens to frustrate you and cause more time consumption.

 

A buddy and I swapped a 305 with a 350 long-block in abt 8 hrs. We had all the right tools and a shop to do though.

I would pull the radiator too. Doesn't take much to poke a hole in it.
Be really carefull with the A/C stuff. Don't flex or bend the lines any more than absolutely necessary. They'll start leaking.

Soak any rusty hardware with penetrating oil the day before.

Like Rich was saying, the ground wires and (AIR tubing on pass side) on the back of the heads are the toughest things to get to.


Main thing is not to destroy or lose anything. That's where all the time adds up.

 

:hail: :hail: :hail: :hail:

 

at the most a weekend is all you should need...

 

Plan on some "feature creep"
You will find that with the motor out you might as well...
1. paint
2. fix this that and the other
3. modify this
4. break that

I suffer from this all the time :-)

 

Yea, sometimes I :hail: to myself... amazing what you can do sometimes. It helps too when you just want the stuff done and gone.

 

lol... almost forgot about those ground straps in the rear... My motor is almost ready to come out and hearing a couple of snaps from the back of the motor would be bad.
Tip: See that large ground strap on the front pass. side head? CLEAN THE RUST OFF AND PAINT OVER IT WHEN YOU RECONNECT IT!!! My brother didnt do this and his starter wasnt getting enough juice to turn the engine over because that strap rusted. He got stuck out in the middle of nowhere b/c of that one. I cleaned mine off a month ago and already the connection was rusted when i went to take it off.

 

Hmmmfff!
And radiator, disconnect starter, lotsa wires, ground straps, distributor, drain radiator, A/C if there, throttle linkage, exhaust manifolds, block or suspend transmission, torque converter, hood, and about a zillion other things.

But for a person with a couple under his belt it's definately do-able in a weekend, if nothing major goes wrong.

 

I say YES too ... you can get the motor and tranny out of your car in maybe 1-2 hours if you guys are two ... don't smoke pot don't drink too much beer cause you'll get lazy, trust me I know !

Putting a motor doesn't take long, it's maintenance and tweaking that adds up . If you have to witch intake manifold and stuff like that well it can easy slow you down.

Carb is the way to go for ultra express swap. let's say you guys are really good in mechanic well 1 day of 12 hours in enough.


Why don't you tell use what you want to install and is it TPI or TBI.

 

I always use Scotty's repair estimate formula... Multiply your original estimate by a factor of four. Wish I had remembered that when I was putting in my headers...My father in law said that he had done it before and it only took him a couple of hours...we started at 12 in the afternoon....11 pm rolled around and I STILL was not home yet....boy, was the wife PISSED!!!!!!!!

 

I dont know about yours but the bolts on my flexplate/TC where nothing short of impossible to get out. Even with a breaker bar i could just bearly, ever so bearly get them undone! Too much thread lock... Im a big guy too. G0D those things where in there.

 

If you plan on leaving the tranny in the car, ratcheting wrenches are a huge time saver.

 

Two years ago, this very weekend...I commenced to doing the V6 to V8 swap in my SC. Started Friday noonish, and drove the car back out Sunday about 8PM. Swapped all the necessary stuff (springs, rad, fuel lines, PS pump, clutch mechanism, trans), and turned every nut and bolt myself....I dont regret one minute of it

Pete

 

another mechanic at the dealer i work at pulled the 427 out of my service manager's 68 vette in 3 hours

mind you, he was in the shop, had lotsa tools, and has 35 years experience

 

yes, yes, YES! my arms where killing me aftarward from having to contantly reposition the wrench in all those tight spots.

 

i can second that!

 

im also doing an engine swap...im pulling a 350 out of a 89 camaro with a th350...and placing it in a 92 RS with a 5 speed...is it possible to just pull the engine and leave it in the car...or should i yank both trans out with the motors?

DABE

 

Ok im well into the engine swap, however, i couldnt complete it in one weekend as i hoped, i think the hardest parts are over but i may be wrong, is putting the engine and components back in more or less time consuming then say pulling it out ??? Oh and my recomondation is pull both engine and transmission, it seems like a hassle but it's well worth it to get in there and paint some stuff, and you wont have to worry about lining things up afterwards, hopefully ill be done next weekend.

Oh another Q for ya, when my dad dissconnected the refrigerant line of course it all leaked into the atmosphere, was there any way to have salvaged that, or would i have no choice but to let it leak out and pay the outrageous fee to recharge it ???????

 

actually, you should have had it reclaimed by a dealer. Thats good ol' hard to get R-12 and it does a number on the ozone layer. For that matter you didnt even have to diconnect the compressor or anything, you could have just laid the stuff aside, assuming your going to keep the a/c. I know it doesnt do you much good now but for future reference you dont have to diconnect that. Its even possible to remove the whole system w/o discharging it (although i hear its difficult)

 

How long should it take a mechanic or a "speedshop" to swap in an LT1. And how much would htey probably charge? Aside from the engine, how much money should I be looking to spend on all the other necessary parts? I've saved up $2000 and I'm looking into doing the LT1 swap when I get a little more money.

 

wow, 1-2 hours to pull an engine out? are we talking about carb? TBI, TPI? I am a mechanic and have a shop full of tools and dont get stuff dont that fast. if you guys are pulling engines that fast wow, just dont tell my boss, lol. you have to worry about exhaust, all the wires, and the ones you forgot that are being streched out when you are pulling the engine out. Tranny bolts, convertor, the list goes on and on. best of luck to your swap, IMO a weekend is not enough time for your first swap. last motor sway i did at work was a 87 F150, put the engine in at 8am and was done at 230 that afternoon after my hour lunch break and i thought i was doing good.

 

On a lot of older cars it's really easy to pull the engine, I can pull the 360 with the transmission attached out of my 74 Dart Sport in about 2 hr. not that I have to very often, but it's just an engine, no airconditioning, power steering, smog crap.

 

Im well into my second wekend working on the motor, we got the new one back into the car, and all of the accesosries hooked back up, im topping it off soon i have just the injectors and the plennum mostly, and some other odds and ends, but im hoping to get to done really soon, but what happens when i go to start this bitch and nothing happens....... lets hope it goes good. If i have a lower compression engine( for the charger), but it retains all of the factorty sensors, but is bored out to 355, how should i expect the computer to react on the stock chip will it run smoothly or really really ****ty, any expierence ???