Wondering where you guys hooked up chains to lift the front of car so engine can be brought in from bottom. Thanks in advance.

 

Maybe the front bumper mounting points.

Take care whatever you do and don't rely on a single suspension point.

 

Generally it's done with a hoist and the car is lowered straight down onto the subframe.

Trying to lift the front of the car with an engine crane then lowering it down over the assembly will probably work but you're also not dropping it down straight. Even with no powertrain or subframe, can a simple engine crane handle the weight of the front of the car safely?

With the engine/tranny already sitting on the subframe, there's a lot of things you'll have disconnected. It's a lot easier to just install the engine from the top.

 

I have roughly a 2x safety factor with the engine hoist. It only has to lift half the car, and about 1000 pounds of what is normally in the car is sitting on the garage floor. I'm more worried about using good lift points than I am the equipment.

My car needs to be put back together (LSx swap) so it's actually easier to assemble a bunch of stuff outside the car and bring it in as one piece. 10 bolts and everything will be in.

 

Maybe get two trolley jacks and put them under the rear of the front sub frames. This is a very sturdy point for lifting but won't cause an obstruction.

 

The front end doesn't weigh much without the engine/trans/cradle. A chain around the sway bar is sufficient.

I had the rear tires on ramps facing opposite directions for a little extra room (having them in opposite directions kept the car from rolling - the parking brake isn't completely effective with the torque arm disconnected). Put the engine/trans/cradle on a piano dolly.