I'm pulling the stock L03 motor out of my car to drop in a Tuned Port 350. Kingtal0n brought his engine hoist this afternoon and was giving me a hand pulling the motor out. We removed the motor mount bolts and the bellhousing bolts, and tried to lift the engine out. We were able to separate the motor from the tranny about 3/4 ", maybe a little more. Thats about as far as we were able to get. It was off of the dowl pins, and it seemed like the input shaft was out of the crank, but caught on the clutch/pressure plate. I believe the T56 which is in the car now has less clearance with the transmission tunnel than a T5. Anyone have any tips/ advice, dos or don'ts before we try to pull the transmission tomorrow? I really don't want to remove the transmission if I don't have to. I'm starting to work on it again early tomorrow morning, so any help is appreciated.

 

its a million times easier to pull the 2 as a unit. Put them back together and then jack the rear of the car up.

I was able to pull them by myself in about 5 minutes, and reinstall in 10 with 2 helpers, one working the hoist, myself guiding the engine, another guiding the tranny

 

I was trying to avoid pulling the two together or moving the tranny at all, as that means that I will need to take apart my interior to remove the shifter. Anyway, I was talking to kingtal0n about it, and leaving it seems like it will make dropping the motor in next to impossible because we can't see the input shaft going into the crank. Its too late to pull them out together because they are separated right now, and because we can't see the input shaft in relation to the crank, we don't have a way of aligning them.

Right now, I don't see a way to pull it out without sliding the transmission back.

 

If you only have 3/4" of room now you might be able to push the motor and tranny back together and bolt them up again. That is assuming you didn't rotate the crank or input shaft any. I know it's a pain to pull apart the interior, but I've done it both ways... and keeping them together is easier once you have the shifter out. Putting them back togther with the shifter in is a more luck than anything else.

 

if you have a T56, you need to pull the trans off before removing the engine.

it wont work any other way.

 

Just checking, but did you pull the clutch fork away from the throwout bearing? If not, 3/4" (or a tad more) is about all you'll get before all progress stops.

 

Yup, I pulled the slave cylinder out, and slid the fork off of the throwout bearing. I double checked with a flashlight to make sure its not touching, and its completely off. I went ahead and took the interior apart to remove the shifter boot, to remove the shifter, so I can pull the tranny. Now I'm just waiting until I can find someone to give me a hand with the tranny so I don't drop it on myself. Meanwhile I've been finishing up little odds and ends on the new motor, and I repinned my TBI harness.

I spoke with one of the guys at TransAm Creations, and they told me that they wouldn't bother wasting time trying to pull the motor on a Thirdgen with a 6 speed in it without pulling the tranny first. They've done the swap a couple of times before from my understanding.

 

yea, it wont come out thru the front attached.

the only way to get it off as a assembly is to drop the Kmember with it... waay too much work.

 

Finally got the motor out. My dad came home from work early to help me pull it. We slid the tranny back about 1/2" to 3/4", and then tried to pull the motor, and it motor moved forward a good bit. We used one jack on the front of the tranny, and one at the back, always keeping the back lower. Didn't even need to pull the hood off to get it out. Now I just need someone that wants a free 305, hehehe. I'll post some pics of my new setup in the coming days....