I'm getting ready to swap in a 350 for my 305 on my 85 Camaro this summer. It has a t56 tranny in it. What's the best way to pull the engine? Pull the engine and tranny together or just the engine? What's the easiest and quickest?
If I pull both, what should I do about the torque arm? I'd rather not have the car sitting on it's wheels with the torque arm resting on the trans tunnel.

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Better to keep one's mouth closed and be thought a fool, than to open
it and remove all doubt.(Mark Twain)
Homepage of VTCamaro/Arntzman
Need Wiring Diagrams??
darntz@vt.edu

 

Pull the engine with the tranny, it's very hard to unscrew the bolts of the tranny when it's in the car. and I did it with a chain block it took me 4 hours

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89 Camaro RS Stock as a women with white panties
LT1 IS COMMING SOON.

 

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I have a set of Gearwrenches too. They are the best invention since the wheel!!! It also took me only ten minutes too remove mine. Don't pull the engine and the tranny. It's much more of a pain than removing a few bolts.

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'88 IROC TPI 355, '69 truck 4-bolt, fully balanced, 9.75:1 compression, fully ported '70 truck heads(for now), Harland Sharp 1.6 Roller Rockers, Comp Cams CS 252AH-12, ported '86 TPI converted to speed density, Crane AFPR, Flowmaster 3in. exhaust, Edelbrock TES headers, all emissions equipment is still intact, plan on burning my own chips, many more mods and parts on the way as time and money permits =(
Best E.T. with TBI 305: 16.11 @ 82mph
Haven't been to track with new motor
If you have any questions on converting from TBI to TPI email me at jdkchevy70@yahoo.com
In memory of Dale Earnhardt, I'll miss cheering for that black #3 on raceday!!!

 

I just did this 5 days ago, leave the tranny in the car. The bellhousing bolts aren't that hard to get. An extended 9/16 wrench will make the top bolts alot easier and save a knuckle or two.

I never had the engine collapse toward the firewall. Put a cheap jack under the trans and everything will stay where it's at. Place a piece of wood between the jack and trans to spread the load out, espescially(sp?) if it's an auto.

 

Eh, use duh tree and bailing wire Jim-bob!
No really, i third (forth?) the notion the unbolt the tranny first, just like the others said it really isn't that bad. The effort you will spend in manuvering the engine/tranny out of the car is more than simply unbolting it. plus with the drive shaft out the tranny will spill some fluid when tilted. I didn't have to unbolt anything form the tranny on my last swap, just support it when its off the engine.
But do whatever you feel more confident doing.
good luck

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'88 RS (originally 2.8)
-350, .040 over, vette alum. L98s, stock tpi.
-305 injectors & chip
-TES headers & edelbrock cat back
-3.73 gears, 700r4.
Best with 2.8-17.4@77mph
Best with 305-15.0@93mph
Best with 356-13.7@101mph
on a 2.050 60 ft.
(Damn the 2.8!)

 

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I was sitting here trying to figure out what was so hard about pulling the motor and tranny at the same time and realized when i pulled my motor, it was 2 less cylinders than your working with. V6 was EASY to pull still attached.

My question now is...dropping the V8 with tranny attached back in? easy or a PITA?

I was told it is difficult to line the engine and tranny back up to bolt them while in the car? Suggestions?

 

Well I just swapped in the manual t56 last August. It was 'fun' getting the tranny to line up to the engine. I didn't have a propblem with the bellousing bolts.

I'm thinking I'm going to try and pull them both together. I have an old driveshat I can steel the yoke from to stick in the end of the tranny. My main concern was the torque arm but I'm not worried about that anymore.

If I were to pull just the engine, is it possible to slide it forward 6 inches to disengage it from the tranny's input shaft? Also how easy is it to reinstall if the tranny is already mounted and you have to align the input shaft and slide them together while it's on a cherry picker?

Thanks for the replies.

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Better to keep one's mouth closed and be thought a fool, than to open
it and remove all doubt.(Mark Twain)
Homepage of VTCamaro/Arntzman
Need Wiring Diagrams??
darntz@vt.edu

 

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I figured /i was making this harder than it should be. It's just the anticipation of finally swapped out that old LG4 has me thinking about any possible problem I might un into. I guess all of this college engineering work is getting to me and making me think things through too much Enough of my rambling, thanks for the replies, keep em coming...

-Dave

 

Well everybody has there own Opinion and there own ways about doing things acording to there means and ability, I've always pulled the motor and trans to gether with no problems, with a good cherry picker...and putting it back in is a breeze, takes less time, but thats my own Opinion also

[This message has been edited by MAXGTA2002 (edited May 01, 2001).]

 

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I used the boom on the back of the wrecker. Even with all the functions it's still a bit of a pain. The biggest help is a friend. I did the majority alone and then my friend got there. It was alot easier to line everything up and have him run the controls.

 

I find it easier to pull both at the same time. Theres quite a few people that dont like doing it that way, but they just dont know what they are doing

Actually I just hate lining up the engine to the tranny while its in the car. Did that about a year ago when I put a new (used) engine in my car, left the tranny in that time, dunno why. Guess I felt like trying something different.

 

QwkTrip: I'm a junior in mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech. One more year!!
I've done the jump in and do it thing before but that usually ends up in many extra trips to the parts store, hardware store, etc. I thought swapping the tranny would be easy. Turned out that my frame rail had rusted completely through where the tranny crossmember attaches. Had to weld in some angle iron to fix the problem. I've found that you learn the most from actual experience. Until you do it, you can ask a million questions and never really understand what is involved.

The more I think about it, it's probably going to be an on the spot decision as to how I'm going to pull the engine. Definitely going to get one of those load levelers though, as long as I can return it in few day and get my money back

-Dave

[This message has been edited by Arntzman (edited May 02, 2001).]

 

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Arntzman... i know this is an old post but i was just searchin about pulling motors..

Are you still here at tech? I am just transferrig to M.E. but do you have ur car here, i may have seen it, there are a couple of third gens roaming around here...

 

Wow, I forgot about this thread. Man that was a while ago. After 2 years I finally have finished the engine swap.

Amrish: Yeah, I'm still here at Va Tech, going to graduate school. I'm working on my masters in ME. As for my car being here, no, its back home. I plan on bringing it back here within a month or so. PM me and we'll set something up.

-Dave