Looking for advice.

I removed the old 305 from my '86 bird and am just about ready to put the new 350 in. The tranny is still in the car.

First question is if it's tough to drop the motor in with the tranny still in the car? If it is, how tough and what would I save by dropping the tranny and putting the motor/tranny combo back in at once?

Next - how much stuff should be reassembled onto the engine before dropping it in? I'm thinking I'll put the water pump on but not much else. It looks like the fuel pump will give me grief with the engine mounts, so leave it off. The starter? I'm not sure about that. The distributor - definitely out. Carb off too -that's easy to put on after.

Oh yeah, almost forgot. I'm swapping out the old exhaust manifold for a set of Edelbrock TES headers. Should they be bolted to the motor first then dropped into the car, or is it better to place the headers in the engine bay, and hook them up later? Somehow, I think it's better to put the headers in the bay, drop the motor, and fix up all the stuff that doesn't fit right afterwards.

Any advice?

gene

 

What kind of tranny do you have? If auto, attaching the engine to the tranny while the tranny is in the car is a lot easier than dropping the tranny and trying to stab the pair together. Leave the tranny in, have a floor jack w/2x4 on the pan so it can be adjusted as you go. If manual, pull the tranny and put it on first, then stab them together.

Absolutely leave the distributor out, carb off, intake on; put rags in the intake holes or put some duct tape over them. Watch out for the oil pressure sending unit, that pipe it hangs on breaks off easily.

Getting the fuel pump on while the engine is in the car is a lot more hassle than getting the mount bolt in with the fuel pump on. Put the fuel pump on first. But, leave the starter off, put it on before you put on the y-pipe but after the tranny and converter are all buttoned up.

For the headers, have them in the bay as you ease the engine in, but bolt them up before it's down all the way. It will make the mount bolts slightly harder to get to, but that's a small price to pay for avoiding setting the engine on one of the header tubes or discovering you have to lift the engine up again anyway to get the header up to the engine, etc.

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82 Berlinetta, orig V-6 car, now w/86 LG4/TH700R4. 2.93 limited slip. 2-1/2" cat-back, ZZ3 intake, Accel HEI SuperCoil. AMSOIL syn lubes bumper-to-bumper. Daily driver, work-in-progress (LG4 CC system w/'87 LB9 block, ZZ3 cam, ported World 305 heads, Hooker 2055 headers, 3" Catco cat & 3" catback, restalled TC, Spohn SFCs).
57 Bel Air, my 1st car. '66 396, 9.7 CR forged TRWs, Weiand Action+, Holley 750VS w/4150 conversion, GK 270 cam, Magnum rockers, Jacobs Omnipack, 1-3/4" Hedders & 3" Warlocks, TH400 w/TCI Sat Night Special conv & Trans-Scat shift kit, MegaShifter, 3.08 8.2" 10-bolt w/Powertrax, AMSOIL syn lubes bumper-to-bumper. Idles smooth @ 600 RPM in D. Best 15.02/95.06 @ 5800' Bandimere (corrected 13.93/102.4 @ sea level).

 

Thanks! I can envision everything you say and it makes sense.

I've changed motors in my chevell - big block and a 4-speed. In that one, I always drop the tranny to the ground take the motor out - drop engine in and reinstall the tranny from underneath. It's light enough that I had no problems.


With the automatic tranny I just wasn't certain. Anyway, thanks again!