i installed the headers on my 92 rs with the engine in the car. im planning a engine swap a few months down the line if money still allows it. could anyone thats installed their engine with headers bolted up tell me if there was any difficulty doing so, or did the whole thing just drop in. im planning on pulling the 305 and 700r4 and installing whatever crate engine and new 700r4 together in one piece with everything that i can possibly put on it before lowering into engine bay.

any insight would be appreciated. im in the planning stages right now and ive never done an engine swap before and im trying to nail down all the details i can before i actually do the swap.

 

I think it would be smart to leave the headers off until the motor is in. I know on some headers there are clearence issues with the brake lines under the master cyclinder. So be safe and leave em off..I will be swappin my 350 in soon and I'l tell ya how it goes!

Jason

 

I put the passenger side on with the engine out. The driver side I put on as I was lowering it in worked great . Everything is still tight and leak free

 

After doing my own swap I'd have to agree with 305. I had a hell of a time getting my SLP's on and after going through that I would say that installing the passenger side header with the motor out and install the drivers side after the motor goes in would be a smart bet.

Thanks, Martin

 

same thing with the hedders... passenger side you can bolt up before you put the engine in, but the driver side you have to either install before you lower the engine completly down, about 6-8 inchs from the motor mounts, or you can remove the drivers side motor mount after you install the engine, and jack up the motor about 4-6 inchs.

 

Well, I'm going to have to disagree on this one. I dropped my 350 in with hooker headers on it on both sides with absolutely no problems. I got it in without any help and it even had the pulley bracket on the driver's side with the power steering pump in it and the alternator on. What header's do you have? I think that would be the biggest issue with this. I didn't have to move anything, only swivel the motor on it's chain a small amount to get it past the heater box and the brake lines. One thing I will say is that I was dropping the engine in directly from above the engine compartment without a lift. If you are going to use an engine lift you may want to double check all the clearances. You will definately want to have someone around to give you a hand. It was a pain to do by myself, but I got tired of waiting around for someone to help me out.

I put my engine in with two grade 8 bolts in the holes in the heads. I managed to have the headers, intake, plenum, runners, coil, throttle body, alternator and power steering pump in place before the install and this saved a lot of hassle trying to get them on after it was in. If you're going to drop it in with the trans already on it, you're going to have to use some brackets that will allow you to tilt it to get the trans in, so you may not be able to get as much on it. If you use some strong bolts and washers you may be able to keep the plenum on. What I finally ended up doing was cutting a piece of pipe about two feet long and putting the chain through it which connected to the hoist. The pipe spread the chain out and kept it off of the plenum and anything else that might get damadged.

 

thanks all for the input... especially 91DropTopTA, thats exactly how i want to drop the engine and transmission in, everything bolted on.

the headers i have right now are flowtechs with 1-1/2' primaries. these are fine for my 305, but they will not be going on whatever engine i install. im considering some hedmen elites or the hooker shorties. i like the slp's but they are way too expensive in my opinion. btw, my flowtechs were very easy to install with 1-1/2" primaries and all.

 

I dropped my LT1 in with both headers, all accessories, and tranny.. just had the back of the car jacked up and viola! took about 15 minutes..

 

i have heddman shorties, the porblem i was getting was the collector on the driver side as hitting the k-member just aft of the motor mount. and since i didn't put the tranny and engine in at the same time, i had to line up the input shaft with the motor, which is always good fun. so i found it easier to just take off the driver side header.

 

hey J's T/A... that's an interesting approach to installing the engine and trans. never occured to me to do it that way. about how high did you have to jack the rearend up?

 

When we first installed my 383/ TH-350 combo, we installed the engine and trans as a unit. We installed the driver's side header when it was about 3/4 of the way in the engine bay. The pass. side slide right in from the top at this point to. I never even considered trying to install the engine with headers bolted to it, but if it works great, I may need that trick some time in the future...

FWIW, I like to jack the rear end up on jack stands as high as I can get it to install the engine and trans together. I think it makes the installation go a bit smoother...

 

It may not work as well with the trans on the engine because of the k-member and having to get the trans into the tunnel. I was surprised that the thing went in so easily. I had pretty much figured that I would have to pull the header off of one side, but I was using the Stage 8 locking bolts and I really did not want to try to put them on after it was in if I could help it. It worked great torquing down the intake with it out too. The only thing I think I will have to recheck is the valve covers, I think I have a leak. The thing dropped right in past the brake lines with a little wiggling side to side. The only place it hit was on the heater box and that was because I was lowering the chain hoist and trying to guide the thing by myself.

By the way, nichoulasc, you will probably want to get your hands on a 1/8 NPT pipe plug from the home depot or somewhere else for the oil pressure sender near the intake manifold. I also had to find a plug for an oil level sender sensor which was pretty large. I ended up going to an industrial bolt supply place to get it along with a bunch of other bolts for the plenum. I don't know the size, but if you end up needing one, do a search for a oil level warning sensor and you should find the size. The large supply houses are great because I was buying these bolts I needed for cheap, unlike on ebay where they are outrageous.

 

i would have to agree with everyone on this: either leave the headers off and then install them right before your about to bolt ot the motor mount. or put the passenger side on, lower the engine in and then put the drivers side header on. do either of these and your install will move smoothly.

 

Ditto with my 305.