I've pulled the motor out of my car about 5 times now. 4 of the five times (including tonight) I left the tranny in the car and just yoinked the motor forward on the engine lift to get the dowel pins disengaged...

One time i removed the tranny... and that was such a PITA, but putting the motor back was a teeny bit easy.

WHo leaves their tranny in when installing / removing their motor? so far ive had more luck with leaving it in place...

ANy tricks to get it to seat without like 2 hours of screwing around however?

 

And guys please be carefull tonight i almost got killed because the engine lift tipped over and the motor nearly fell on me... a couple more inches and i would have been hamburger.

 

More often than not I leave the trans in the car and pull the motor.

Less mess from gallons of trans fluid unexpectedly pouring out, less weight, less trouble getting the whole thing high enough to clear the core support, less distance the car or engine stand has to move forward to clear the car..... the list goes on.

It will work either way of course, it just boils down to a question of which way is less work. In my book, ½" of motion to clear dowel pins is a whole lot easier than the other factors.

 

ive pulled engines from thirdgens over50 times... i ALWAYS pull the engine by itsself.

as far as making it easier to line up, i just leave the tranny crossmember in, have a jack under the tranny pan (with a board so i dont crush the pan) and raise the tranny so that its angle will mesh with the engine easily... then i just tilt the two and drop it in...

 

I always take the engine and trans out at the same time. IF it's an automatic. It's 10 times easier I think. Because getting your car high enough, getting the Torque converter on, and such underneath the car is a big PITA to me.

I think it's more preference. If it's a manual, I disconnect the Dshaft, pull the trans out and lay it there. Then the motor/bellhousing clutch etc come out with the motor.

Easier to assemble these things outside of the car in my opinion.

 

When I pulled my engine out, I removed the trans with it. I prefer doing it this way, and the trans was shot and needed to be rebuilt. Since my engine is carbed, there really isnt all that much to disconnect anyways.

 

I removed the yoke and put it in the tranny to retain the fluid, held in with wire ties, and pulled both at the same time. Extend the legs of the hoist if they're adjustable. I left the tranny under the car the first time and it was a bitch to get it lined back up and bolted up. This time I left them connected, jacked the motor high enough to clear the fenders and lifted the tail of the tranny high enough to clear and it rolled right out. You'll have to jack, inch forward, jack some more, but I got it out by myself in no time doing it this way. I also had a jack under the tail of the tranny to support it & allow it to roll.

 

An engine leveler makes taking the engine/trans out as an assembly a breeze, especially when doing it yourself, but don't kill yourself, get help if you need it.

 

what in the world makes you people think its easier to pull the auto tranny with the motor?

if you think its the bell housing bolts, you can get the upper ones with a wrench from the top and the lower ones easily from under the car....

i always found it easier to pull just the motor.. what do you do when you have both the motor and the tranny out? the engine stand can only hold the motor...... whats the point in yanking the tranny out of there?

 

Well I pulled out the motor yesterday and left the tranny in. I then pulled out all the EFI wiring leftover (removing ECM) then i dropped my new motor in.

The way I did it was i counted the links on the chain holding up the motor, then moved it up 2 links to the front. this angled the motor backwards. then i tilted up the tranny with a jack (left crossmember in though) and angled it up towards the motor. the motor was high enough to clear the motor mounts, but low enough to line up with the tranny. after getting 4 bolts in the bellhousing of the tranny, i simply let down the engine hoist and it fell right into place on the motor mounts.

easy as pie, by myself, took about 2 hours completed. this includes fitting in my new hedman coated long tubes... which i now have to grind off some of that K member to get the driver side lined up. thats next....

 

Well guys, I do this stuff for a living, and on a rear wheel drive vehicle, it is a VERY rare occasion that I will pull both together. If I'm gonna be changing both at the same time, I pull the trans, then lower it down and pull the engine, then put in the new engine, then the new trans. If it is just an engine swap, I leave the trans in. Now, I may consider the next time I do a fourth gen fbody, taking the trans out first, then the engine because they are a very tight fit!

 

Its a pain in the rear trying to get the torque converter to stay on, while you finaggle the trans up into the tunnel and bolt it down and bolt the torque converter down. All of which you are on your back and uses lots of muscle.

How is it HARDER to pull them out at the same time? I mean all you have to do is take the mount off and the torque arm mount off, 2 bolts for the shifter, and the wire connector and it all comes out.

Then taking it off and putting it back on is easy when it's out. You can check and recheck easier too.

 

ive always found it easier when removing an engine from a 3rd gen to leave tranny in the car....but as for other vehicles such as trucks..leave the sucker attached to the engine

 

Fourth gens come out the bottom. I'm dreading the day that I have to pull the engine on my 00 TA.

On 3rd gens I leave the trans in the car. It's no trouble at all pulling the motor and installing it with the trans already there. It took about 30 minutes for me to install the 355 in the 88 about a month ago. I did have an extra set of eyes to make sure everything was lining up as the engine was dropping.

 

when i rebuilt the engine in my fourthgen i pulled the engine just like i do on thirdgen's, from the top. this requires the removal of the a/c condensor. not a problem for me since i have all the hvac stuff.

 

Well I lost count on how many engine swaps I have done on automatic v8 RWD gm vehicles of all types.
I allways pull the engine only. Why? Well no issues with transmission coolant lines, shifting linkage, loss of tranny fluid, crossmember, tranny mounts, speedo cable or speed sensor wires, kickdown cable, detent line, controll arm, scratched driveshaft yoke, extra weight to tip the hoist, etc...

When swapping just the engine on most vehicles I use a 4 foot extention and a universal from underneath to get the bellhousing bolts off, while I am there I take off the wires for the starter and the exhaust bolts from the collector(s). Then the rest of the work is from up top.
You have two options when it comes to putting it back in. Leave the coverter bolted to the fly wheel or bolt it up last and leave it in the tranny. I prefer leaving it on the flywheel for time's sake and I prefer working with someone over working alone as it is much easier to line it all up with someone moving the tranny by hand vs a jack and piece of wood.

With one good coworker I have done engine swaps from pulling the car in to driving it out in under an hour.

 

I always leave the transmission in the car, less hassle, less mess.
The comment about the 4th gen, It can come out the top, seen it done that way with an LT1 tricky chain. I pull them from the bottem let it all drop and I leave the tranmissions on 4thgens.

 

On my 86 5 speed, we pulled the engine by itself and lef the tranny in the car.
On my friends 82 we pulled them both out together since the LT1 and 4L60E were being installed. We installed the engine and tranny together, was pretty easy.
Did the same on my 86, put the LT1 and 4L60E in at the same time.

I personally have never removed a tranny while it was in the car, but I am going to try it next week on my 88 formula when I swap tranny's.

 

You mean swap tranny while the engine is in the car?
You will want to remove the distributor cause the engine will tip back and bust the cap aginst the firewall. That can be avoided by placing a jack and board under the oil pan but you'll need to tip the engine beyond the limit of the dist and firewall anyway to clear the hump vs the top of the tranny bellhousing.

1st step is the 3rd leg and drive shaft removal.
2nd is the crossmember and tranny mount.
3rd all the lines, wires, and linkage
4th the bellhousing bolts
5th dropping the tranny on your chest and with a mouth and head full of tranny fluid slide it out

as usual instal is the reveres of removal but in this case you'll want to have the torque converter in the tranny and bolt it to the flywheel with an open end wrench before fully tightening the bell housing.:

 

cool, thanks for the tips.
Hopefully it goes as smooth as your instructions.

 

I'm with the guys who leave the engine in the car. MUCH less hassle that way IMO for all the reasons mentioned.

I have NO idea how putting the torque converters 3 bolts in poses any kind of a problem while lying on your back. I'd even be so bold as to say thats the easiest part of the job. And the bellhousing bolts aren't that hard. I'd rather unbolt the tranny from the engine than the cooler lines from the tranny anyday. Talk about a pita. Or how about wrestling the TV cable hook-up. You fans of pulling them together, are you sure you remember those fun details. I mean really, i could probably do an entire engine removal start to finish in the average amount of time it takes to get the ^$#%$# cooler lines to go back on the tranny.

 

Pulling them out together, you leave the TV cable on the tranny, and wire tie it off to something on the intake manifold.

The tranny cooler lines you unscrew from the radiator, remove the radiator, and finagle them up a bit to clear the radiator support.

I don't think people take the engine out, when all they are doing is replacing the trans..... When we need the ENGINE to come out, in some of our opinions it's easier to leave the trans bolted.


I sometimes have a hard time getting the TC to click onto the output shaft of the tranny, while the tranny is out..

Having a 700R4 weigh so darn much, I can't see how it'd be easy and easy to check, that the TC is all the way on... so when you start the engine you don't shred the converter.

 

When I pulled the engine to rebuild it last month we left the trans in the car with the torque convertor still on the trans. I am not doing anything to the trans this time so I saw no need to remove it.

When I pulled the original 305/5spd, we pulled them together because I was going to replace the trans and engine. Then installed the 383/TH-350 as a unit also.

I just remove what is necessary. If I plan on changing or rebuilding the transmission, then I remove the engine and tranny together. Otherwise I'll leave that sucker sitting in the car.

I say only do as much work as you need to. If you are not doing anything with the trans, leave it be.

BTW, if I had a lift at my house I would probably remove the transmission seperately from below. I don't do much engine removal at work...