I recently bought a 383 stroker engine to put in my 87 Iroc. The question that plagues me is, Doing this by myself would it be easier to just unhook the tranny from the car and pull them both, or should i unmount it from the engine and leave it in the car? I'm almost ready to pull the engine, but thought I would ask those of you who have tried it.

 

I usually do them by myself...

But that has nothing to do with whether to pull them together or leave the trans in. Personally I usually leave the trans in, especially if it's not necessary for it to come out in the first place; but also, I find it ALOT easier to deal with when there's not this ginormous WEIGHT hanging off the back of the motor, unbalancing everything. But that's just me. Some other people think it's easier to do the other way. Can't imagine how, but w/e, that's just what "they" say. Might also have something to do with the space and equipment you have available to you.

 

I always pull the trans out of the car, then deal with the engine separately. I've pulled them together and I find it unnecessarily complicates things, especially when you're doing things alone.

 

I have done it both ways. If you arent changing the tranny, then you can leave it in. I find that if you leave the tranny in, I like to leave the motor mounts off until I bolt it to the tranny then, I put the mounts back on.

 

By the time you rig up some sort of support to hold the front of the transmission, is there really any time/effort saved compared to the few minutes it takes to yank the driveshaft, unbolt the trans mount and drop it out of the car?

 

I agree. What will happen when you're working alone is the tailshaft on the tranny makes a beeline for your A/C box on the firewall, busting it all to crap...or your master cylinder reservior.

 

I'm in the "other" camp. Dealing with disconnecting/connecting the engine and transmission with them in the car is, in my opinion, not worth it. And, yes, I have done it both ways (by myself). And, I didn't find managing the engine/trans together particularly difficult. I did find putting the engine hoist on the side made it easier.

Of course, there is another option nobody mentioned:

 

Seriously? Out the bottom? This is NOT an option for 99.9999999999% of us, since we don't own car-lifts. As one who has done it, I tell you, trying to re-align the bolt holes on reassembly will have you cursing whatever diety you may have been praying to on Sundays. I pull the trans every time.

 

Any 3rd gen engine removal I do from here on out will probably be out the bottom. Notice the engine hoist is lifting the car instead of the engine/transmission. The rear tires were on ramps (pointed in opposite directions so it wouldn't roll off). The engine/tranny are on a piano dolly from Harbor Freight. Realignment was a piece of cake (used the long bolts in the short location as I brought it down, then switched them when it was on the alignment dowels).

And, yes, I did it by myself. The only thing my wife touched in these pics was the camera.

If you're doing a V6 to V8 swap with a V8 3rd gen donor car, this is the only way to do it.