My 305 died (carbed), I picked up a 350 carbed block, Was just going to unbolt everything put the new engine in after swapping the flywheel for the same transmission and putting back together.
I wasn't sure if that seemed simply feasable, but Im going to start this project in about 4 hours, wasn't sure if this would be an easy way to pull the motor out.

I was thinking of unbolting the crossmembers holding in the engine and the transmission then jacking the frame up, then swap the engine and bolt in the new one, and set the frame back down. Has anyone tried that?

 

Won't happen.

The engine has to come out from above, without the K-member.

Unbolt the motor and trans mounts, remove the fan, radiator, distributor, hoses, wiring, etc, and pull the motor & trans together as a unit.

You may find it easier to put the trans back in first and then drop the engine in; it depends on what your lifting rig is.

 

LMAO HAHAH thats a sweet saying

 

aight, was just wondering, I already have the radiator, compressor, alternator, ac, wireing, vacum's and everything out of the way, only thing I didn't take off is the powersteering since it has Crimped hoses And I don't want to mess with those quite yet.

 

Take the pump off the motor and leave it in the car, leave the hoses alone.

Thanks my86!!

 

ya, I have now taken everything off of the transmission and engine, its all ready to be pulled, only thing that will be interesting will be finding something to do with the extra electrical wires once I pull it out.

 

Is this car an automatic? If so, then you can't use the 305 flexplate with the 350. The counterweights are in different spots. I hope you read this before you get everything bolted back together.

 

Question?? why do you say that?? you can take it out from the bottom. just takes some more work. Our car are pretty close to the 4th gen and it's easier to swap from the bottom then the top.
just wondering

Nick

 

Well, I suppose you could, anything could be done with enough effort. Let's see....

You'd have to disconnect the steering (the gear would stay with the body, the control arms would go with the frame); disconnect the struts (top of the strut stays with the body, bottom attaches to the spindle, which would want to stay with the control arm and K-member); deal with the springs somehow (top sits against the body, bottom sits on the control arm); the brake lines (MC is attached to the body, all the brakes and lines would go with the K-member and control arms and spindles); there's probably a few more things I'm forgetting.

And on top of all that, you'd still have to do all the bulk of the work of pulling the motor, which isn't pulling the motoro at all, rather it's draining fluids and removing the power steering & A/C and disconnecting all the wiring and hoses and all that, that is about ¾ of the total R&R labor time.

The front end of a 4th gen is not even remotely like a 3rd gen. The 2 front end designs have essentially nothing in common except that the sheet metal wrapped around them both says "Camaro" or "Firebird". McPherson strut in the 3rd gen vs. upper & lower control arms with shocks in the 4th; worm & sector steering in the 3rd vs rack & pinion in the 4th; all of the front suspension attached to the cradle in the 4th vs the bottom of it attaching to the K-member and the top going to the body in the 3rd. Just to name a few.

Just as a rough guesstimate, I'd say it would take about 3 to 4 times as long to R&R the engine by pulling the car off the motor in a 3rd gen as it would to do it the right way, namely pull the motor up out of the car. But I suppose if you were stubborn enough to want to do it that way, and had lots and lots of time to do it, you probably could. I suppose you could even R&R the motor through the air conditioner ducts too, given enough time, if you just really wanted to.

 

Amen!

 

... ya ... I knew that too!

I have everything ready to remove it, its just gonna be loads of fun connecting everything back into it.

and after long long long condisderation im gonna pull it out the top with the tranny connected.

- Firl