im almost ready to pull my 305 tpi out to swap for my lt1, my qwestion is where should i start?? and should i drop the motor, or actuall lift it out??
im about clueless here as to where to begin, and im anxious to get the lt1 in.
and also for my headers, do they need to be coated?? and i read somewhere that long tubes wont work?? im still in need of headers and y pipe tho

 

i dont get it. are you talking about droping the engine out the bottom? thats not the way to go. lift it out the top.
long tube headers will work but you may have to have the y pipe custom made or dont have a y pipe have dual exaust made. coated headers will just make them last longer.

 

If you go long tubes, you'll need a ministarter type. You'll also need to clearance the cross-member some. Ceramic coating is recommended if you want to keep them looking nice, without they'll start to surface rust over time. If you're living in a place that does emissions I would recommend just getting a set of 1 3/4" shorties and y-pipe unless you plan on making serious horsepower or serious RPMs.

I'd also recommend you buy a set of polyurethane motor mounts and install those while the motor is out too. All our mounts are getting old now and starting to sag some. I actually noticed mine were bad enough I was touching my edelbrock shorty collector off the K-member.

Main part is a label everything. It's always easier to label to much and not need than to try to figure out where one certain connector goes and have to pull up the wiring diagrams and trace it.

I don't see how you could drop it out unless you took the A-arms, steering components, and cross-member out of the car. Just mark the location of the hood hinges and pull the hood. Then use the traditional hoist to pull the motor out once everything is unbolted. A sling lift chain crisscrossed on the head accessory bolts works well. The load leveler sling is really nice too as you can adjust the pitch of the motor coming out or going in.

 

Dropping the engine out of the bottom isn't that hard. You unbolt the crossmember, wiring/tubing, struts, and lift the car off of the engine. Required for 4th gens, optional (and probably harder) on 3rd gens.