Hi,

I have a 1988 IROC with an L98 350 TPI.

The cross member is damaged and I'm about to replace it. I have an engine support brace that sits on the strut towers to support the engine while the cross member is being swapped.

My plan is to use a length of chain to support the engine, but I'm not sure of the best place to fasten it to on the engine. I notice others use the inlet manifold bolts or maybe the exhaust manifold bolts, but these look a bit flimsy.

Any suggestions on the best place on a chev V8 engine to attach a chain for lifting?

Cheers.

 

Both of those places work well, if the thing the chain is attached to, is bolted tight to the casting.

Probably the easiest though, is one of these. http://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-g1015-1/overview/ Especially if you're under a roof or something, that has enough strength to use a hoist.

 

I've borrowed a brace specifically designed to support engines. Only problem is that the TPI engine sits high and the brace sits low, so there isn't much space for lifting.

Thinking about it, the Y pipe for the exhaust manifolds is disconnected, so I might be able to run the chain around there. That way there are four exhaust manifold bolts in each side to bear the load.

 

Bolts will hold more load than I think you're giving them credit for:

A single 16 thread-per-inch bolt, at 30 ft-lbs of torque, puts down almost 1000 lbs of clamping force. That's just the clamping force;, i.e., doesn't include whatever additional load it might be carrying in the form of work that it might be doing.

Your engine only weighs around 750 lbs, fully dressed.

What a bolt CANNOT do, is deal with force that would tend to bend it; i.e., if you put a long bolt in a hole at right angles to the application of load (say, a bolt in an exh man bolt hole or one of the acc bolt holes in the head), and hooked your chain an inch or 2 out from the casting. That would simply snap the bolt off sideways.

A well-designed chain sling type of setup would have flat brackets that bolted hard to a casting, with a hole to put chain hooks into. In that scenario, 2 3/8"-16 bolts could easily hold up SEVERAL whole engines.

Yes lifting by the exh mans themselves will work totally fine; a bit harder to control maybe, but since the trans will still be connected, that should stabilize it plenty.

 

I've bolted to intake bolts, exhaust ports, wrapped the chain around the manifolds... I've even left the carb gasket on the bore opening and bolt a chain to two opposite corners using CARB STUDS. As long as the chain is secured in place TIGHTLY with nuts and washers you don't really have to worry about it.

 

Thanks for the tips guys.

With the TPI plenum in place I don't think there would be anywhere to both the flat engine lifting plates.

The car will be up on a hoist for a few days while I replace the cross member and sump and I'm a bit paranoid about having the engine fall.

 

On my camaro I've always used one bolt in the back of one head, and one bolt in the front if the opposite head, in the accessory bolt holes. The oem lifting brackets were attached to a pair of intake manifold to head bolts on diagonally opposite corners of the engine. I've used that method as well on Chevy truck engines that still had the brackets installed. Neither method has ever given me a problem supporting the weight of the engine and trans together.