when i get my crate engine my dads gunna be pulling out the stock engine(88 305 TBI) himself..while having removed many engines before(1st gen maro's) he has not pulled one this "new" before. He will be doing in the back yard since the crappy 1 car garage is being filled by our most recent project car(66 nova ss).....how "easy"(knowing it wont be easy" will this be? what need to be dont before motor is even out of car?any advice is greatly appreciated..thanks

 

ive had the most success with a roll of tape and a black PERMANENT marker. label both ends of everything that disconnects. like 1 and 1, then 2 and 2.
this makes it easier to plug and hook everything back up. make sure its permanent in case you rub numbers off...that really sucks.

just get everything disconnected from the motor. i made the mistake of disconnecting things that were just on the motor when i could have ripped it out with them still intact.

just make sure you are there helping your dad incase you come across something that is still connected when you start lifting it out...heh

have fun.

 

Actually PULLING the engine is the easy part. But, as Zero says, make sure you label everything as you disconnect it. You'll find that disconnecting and labeling everything is the most time consuming part. However, when it comes to actually pulling the engine, I've always had the best luck pulling the tranny with the engine. That way you don't have to **** with the bellhousing bolts, etc. Basically you're just supporting the engine with your lift, and the back of the tranny with a jack, then unbolting the tranny crossmember, etc. and the engine mounts. I find it much easier than trying to reach the bellhousing bolts with the tranny left in the car. Just my opinion ;-)

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1985 Trans Am - rough and ready -- 3" cat and primary exhaust, lowered 2", custom rust body work mild fender denting. Daily driver.
1976 Corvette Stingray - not so rough, but always ready. mild 350/th350 tranny. mostly stock till I whack the hood for the blower

 

I was suprised at how easy it was to reach the bellhousing bolts. That was my fear before doing the engine swap. I was always wondering how long it would take me to unbolt, it turned out to take only 15 minutes with 2 guys. One under doing the bottom 4 and one up top.
I don't think pulling the tranny is all that easy either, you need to angle the engine and trans a lot get the engine out. If you have a/c you will want to use some strong string or rope to just pull it out of the way, you don't need to take it out with the engine. I like that 1-1 2-2 3-3 a-a b-b labeling idea, I made life harder and actually labeled everything for what it really was (IAC, TPS, MAP, etc).

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, Jon (350 TBI!)
91 Red My website

 

Also remenber to not force anything. I thought I had everthing disconnected. The motor just would not come out. I just kept jacking up the hoist. Eventurally the engine came free. However I missed one bolt on tranny to engine and when I got hte engine out i found that the bolt still had a piece of the tranny in it grip.

when putting the engine back in check the motor mounts. This is a great time to replace them.

 

As everyone else said taking it out is fairly easy. Make sure you lable everything yada yada yada. All that good stuff. As far as disconnecting the wiring harness from the engine, that all depneds on what your putting back in the car. If your putting the TBI back in make sure you disconnect only the stuff that pertains to the engine. If you are putting something else in (ie TPI, lt1) you might as well disconnect the whole damn harness(Just the main engine harness mind you, you can leave the accesory harness in the car).

I was able to take out the engine without compleatly taking out the tranny. I found by unbolting the tranny and moving the the whole thing forward it made it much easier to get the bellhousing bolts. One other thing make sure you take out the distributor before lifting the engine out, marking where the distributor was in relation to a ref. point somewhere on the engine. Chances are it will catch on the overhang right under the windshield. Besides that I really can't think of anything to major that might get in your way. Good luck.

Jim

 

the TBI is staying off and im putting in a carbed 355.With this, what wiring will i not need anymore?What will need to be done to make this engine work in my car?thanks.

 

i just installed a carbed 355 into an 83 Cutlass that had a CC 3.8 V6

if you have a non cc distributor and carb then you need to only hook up a few things. first is the wires to the starter and alternator and then the BAT wire to your distrib. hook your grounds up and turn it over.

 

if you dont want to hassle with it go under the passenger side of dash disconnect the leads from the computer than remove the passenger kick panel push out the mounting block fish it through the fender and lay it on the motor disconnect the starter wires est wires relays ground wires etc and the engine will come right out that way you can look where exactly what wires go where

 

Some places sell labels for that purpose. It's just a strip with 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. printed down the whole length made of something similar to first aid tape so it stands up to grease and water. And has matching square labels. Comes on sort of a little sprial notepad thing. Much easier than the tape/permenant marker..