searched with not much luck. i'd just like to know people's opinions when they swap engines. if its easier to pull the tranny at the same time or leave it there. i might be ready to swap motors in my car and im lookin to do it in the least amount of time. ive never done a swap on one of these cars before. to me it seems easier to pull the motor by itself. but ive also heard its easier to do it the other way. anywayz lets have some opinions plz. thx.

personal preference, some like to just pull the engine and some like to pull it out as one.

i personally remove and install the engine and transmission together as one. Those bellhousing bolts are ALOT easier to get at when teh tranny and engine are out of the car. It isnt very tough to manuever the engine and tranny in there when they are together. I've tried both ways, for me, i got the job done alot quicker and it was a lot easier with them together as one. just my personal preference

I did a swap by myself and a cherry picker w/o removing the trans. I did it on jackstands outside.

Think about this, removing the trans would involve removing the driveshaft, unbolting the torque arm, crossmember, trans filler tube, TV cable, Wiring, then you are going to have to get the sucka on the ground to drag it out from under the car. You probably should drain it too, so theres wasted oil too.

In my opinion its a pain in the azz if your goal is just an engine swap. If you are doing tranny mods, you may as well take out then and take your time. I don't have experience with thirdgen bodies, maybe somebody has pulled the whole engine/tranny out together, but I got no tips on that one.

Hey cool carlover, I am definatly going to install the engine/trans assembly together this spring, I pulled both out separatly cause I decided to do some tranny work. Got any tips on that torque arm reinstall on the tranny?

True on the bellhousing bolts, if you do it by hand. All my extensions, a duct taped swivel, and an impact wrench make the task much easyer

the torque arm is easy as pie when you take the top bolt off the bracket, it falls right out and slips right back in. Its nice to have a buddy underneath to guide the transmission in and make sure nothin gets snagged on its way down.

if you do decide to take them out separately, take off the tranny crossmember before you do the bellhousing bolts. The engine and tranny tilt down and makes takin out the bolts easier.

WhiteHawk: I thoguht i was the only one that ductaped the swivels. those things get annoying

Right Right with the tilting the tranny. BTW make sure you don't stretch any wires/cables and keep a close eye on the distributer cause it may hit the fire wall and break causing more money dumped into the project.


Duct tape

I think it's much easier to pul engine/tranny as one.

Its easier without tranny. The bellhousing bolts come out easy as pie with a 36" extension, and a swivel socket. I'de rather spend the extra 20 min removing the bolts, then deal with a smashed fender or front cover. Oh yea and my engine stand uses the bolt holes where the tranny goes to hold the eninge up.

doesn't every engine stand?

lol that was the point, hence the at the end I guess he could just use the old pile of used tires trick

Way easier leaving the trans in the car. I have done it both ways. As mentioned above the long extension & swivel socket make removing the trans bolts cake. I recently did an engine swap on a 95 4WD Suburban & left the trans in & it saved about 3 hours work.

thanx for the replies. im not too worried about gettin to the bellhousing bolts. ive had the tranny out before. i just thought lining up and connecting both things together was the most difficult part.

Having a floor jack under the trans to adjust helps to get it lined back up going in.

Forgot to ask, how far did you have to have the car off the ground to do both at once?

when the time comes ima go ahead and just pull the motor alone then. hopefully everything will go smooth. thanks.

Using a transmission adapter on your floor jack makes it even easier.