Just a quick question about your preference when installing an engine into your thirdgen.

When I pulled the engine, I yanked the gearbox first and then pulled the engine.

When I go to put it back in I'm thinking this will be the easiest way to do it (engine first from top, tranny later from underneath) rather than bolt them together and try to stab them both at once. I don't have an engine tilter/balancer thing either.

I got to thinking about it because I'm going to mate the tranny up to the bellhousing (which will be on the engine) to make sure it's gonna slide up easily once under the car (clutch alignment). So I though, "maybe I should just bolt them together..."

Anybody have better luck one way or the other?

thanks
Clem

 

.

 

I did mine engine first, tranny in from underneath.(mine's a T5 Manual)
I put the flywheel, clutch and bellhousing on first.
Mainly, did it this way because I didn't want to take the chance of tearing anything up during install.
Hooking up the ground connections on the back of the cylinder heads, complicated things.Ended up connecting them before the motor was resting on the mounts, so they were easier to reach.
I've done other cars with the trans bolted to the motor, but there's not a bunch of spare space in thirdgen engine compartments.
I think you've got the right idea.
-Rich-

 

Easiest way is to put the trans in first, with the bell housing, clutch fork, & throwout bearing installd to it; then put the engine in, with the flywheel and clutch on it.

 

did trans from under.........T-5s are light.

 

I dropped my motor in with the clutch assembly on it. I then bolted the belhousing on from underneath, and then slid the tranny in. If you hook up the hydraulics before installing the tranny, you can depress the clutch once you get the tranny most of the way in and then the alignment doesn't matter much.

Another hint is to put the tranny in gear before installing it. That way if the splines won't line up, you can turn the input shaft by turning the output shaft (usually you'll have to stick a driveshaft in the end). Use 5th for T5s and 6th for T56s, that gives you the most mechanical advantage.

 

i didnt use an engine tilter with mine either, but i put the engine and tranny in at once, i just put the chain on an angle to tilt the motor back, you can also jack up the car a little to clear, or have someone lift up on the tranny if you hit bottom, this was easier then when i put the tranny in afterwards

 

exactly how i did it last night

i hope everything went in okay...gotta get my clutch pedal fixed and bleed the system

 

My rule of thumb is: auto trans - put them in separate, standard trans - put them in together. Piece of cake, even without an engine tilter. Everything is easier to line up outside of the car, not from underneath. I've tried both ways, and it all comes to down to a matter of personal preference. I've done it enough to be able to pull one, drop in the new in about an hour or two, depending on how "motivated" I am at the time. As a matter of fact, I will be pulling the 305 and dropping in my "back-up" 350 that way tonight/tomorrow morning. I'll take some pics if you like, but most likely will just be pulling the motor from the van tonight.