Hi guys, has anyone ever replaced a 2 pc rear main on an older chevy small block still in the car? I obtained the kit with the corkscrew puller and installer tools at Napa today. I have built a bunch of engines on stands but have never attempted a rear main while still in the car. I imagine I need to take the oil pan completely off to get the rear main out, no? And to do this I will need to unbolt the motor mounts and jack the motor up significantly to get the oil pan to clear the pickup and crankshaft? I am not looking forward to this but since I will have the transmission and flywheel completely off to do my T5 swap at least I won't be wasting effort tearing down that far. Any tips on making this rear main replacement less of a nightmare are appreciated.

 

Just my two cents but, If your throwing in a T5 anyways wouldnt it just be a hella lot easier to pull the motor. Then you can throw the motor on the stand for easier replacement of the seal and more room to rig up the t5.

 

To replace the seal, the rear main cap will have to come off, which means the pan will have to come off, which means the engine will have to be jacked up, so the exhaust needs to be disconnected, and so on. By the time you've gone through all that, you might as well expend the extra effort to just pull the engine.

 

Grrrrr I hate 2 piece rear mains! I was afraid this was the case. I have a cherry picker and all, I just hate pulling engines on cars with good paint. It's more fun pulling engines on primerd POS's, especially when they aren't mine, in case we drop anything on the body.

 

That's what fender covers and old blankets are for.

 

I've been there done that... twice actually.

It wasnt much fun the first time around, but didnt take me more than about 8 hours the 2nd time (I didnt have a cherry picker, so I had no choice)....

basically....

drain the oil

take the distributor cap off

take the y-pipe off

unbolt the motor mounts

jack up the motor by the balancer w/ a piece of wood on the top of the jack

un-bolt the oil pan

move the crank by the middle bolt on the crank snout to rotate the engine so you can get the pan out without the bobweights in the way.

slide oil pan out

installation is the reverse of removal


have fun lol

 

It's not that bad . Disconect all thw stuff mention above ,and place car on stand's as high as you can safely. What I do is get a peice of 2 by 4 and cut it at about 13 -14 inch's ( depending how high the car is off the ground ), place on top of jack verticly and jack up one side of the block at a time .If you have a nice bottle jack use that . If you need to use the balancer for a good bite becarfull of the distribuator hitting the fier wall . You will have a space inbetween the mount . Mesure that space cut another 2by4 to fit and place inbetween (a rip cut is best) then go to the other side and repete .You also may have to take the oil pump out befor you can remove the pan completly . If you do pull the motor you can clean the top part of the seal housing better . It's tough to get to with the crank in the way .Pulling the motor would be ideal if you have a picker . Also a nice time to clean the engien bay and motor .

 

I do have a picker, it sounds like the engine is coming out. It needs to be painted anyway. Agh! Nothing is ever easy.