I actually went through and picked up that 88 I talked about in my last post. The engine did have a knock, drove it home it was lacking power. Had about 30 psi of oil pressure idling if that means anything. Im planning on pulling the engine and doing main bearings, rod bearings, rings and cleaning up the heads/valves. I went all over the place locally the other day looking for a book, nobody had it surprisingly. Since it looks like Ill be ordering a shop manual for it, but I also want to get working on this can anyone give me a few tricks on getting this engine out? I have taken auto in highschool, and am a pretty avid mechanic so I know this isnt over my head. Just looking for tips and things to avoid. Thanks

 

unbolt convertor sheild take convertor bolts out,trans bell housing bolts out top ones u can get from top of engine,motor mount bolts,radiator,fan water pump manifolds,pulley brackets,starter,and of coures take harness off motor and lay on to the wipers
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trans lines,power steering pump,hoses,fuel lines,etc

 

Doesnt sound bad at all. I think I can have it out in 4 hours or so?

 

Don't forget to pull the hood and distrib and whatever you can get from the front of the engine. Since they are easy to get to, Pull the ALT, A/C, W/P, A/P too. The less you have on the engine the easier it will be to get out. There are a few ways to pull it.

If you pull with the trans left on which can be easily done if you have a TPIS mount. You have to take the transmount, torque arm, speedo cable and shift cable off. Make sure you have the Radiator and Condensor removed from the car. Pending on TPI or TBI you will have to remove them to screw the adapter plate to the top of the intake manifold. I do it this way to service the trans at the same time as the engine.

If you pull the motor without the trans, You can still use an adapter mount with everything removed, or a chain. I don't prefer the chain as it usually damages something in the process. Usually it takes around 4+ hours to completely remove.

 

Whats the adapter plate? Where can I buy one?

 

In addition to all thats stated above... Definitely pull out the distributor and IIRC the starter. I think I had clearance issues with my starter when I was installing my 355. Be careful around the wiper motor, I broke the case on mine when I pulled my old engine. The TPI runners, when dented look like s**t. Put some old towels around your TPI runners because you can dent them up pretty easily with your cherry picker or chain hoist/ attachments. Remove your radiator so you don't mess up the fins also. You stated that your an avid mechanic so the rest should be pretty straightforward. But as I have listed above, these are some of the the "quirks" associated with the SBC and thirdgen compatibility. -Bob

 

doesnt sound too bad, I was planning on taking everything I could off before I put the hoist on so the fuel runners shouldnt be a issue. Where can I get the adapter plate?

 

http://www.tpis.com/

Look on the left side and you will find Tool/Test Equip <CLICK ON THAT LINK>
Then Click < Next Page> on the right side 1 time and you find the plate.

The part is called the happy hooker and it costs about $49.. I have used it several times to pull my TPIS engine, TPI and Non-TPI engines with and without the Transmissions attached. I personally think it is worth it's weight in Gold. The largest problem that I have found is if I pull the engine with the transmission still on, My cherry picker doesn't go quite high enough to get the tail shaft cleared from the raditor support bracket. I have to help it out a little bit and lift up on the tailshaft.

 

I wouldn't bother with those adapter plates. For 50 dollars you can get an engine load leveler from pep boys. It's got 4 mounting points which usually go into the heads and attatch using intake manifold bolt holes. The plates are good too but with the leveler you get the advantage of being able to angle the engine and it is much more manuverable. Only down side is that you will have to take the lower intake manifold off.

I dont know what kind of hoist you have but I had to take off the front spoiler piece or ground effect to avoid damaging it. Lol my hoist arm didnt extend enough.

One more thing to look out for, plug all holes that have coolant running through them. For instance, if you take the water pump off. There will be coolant spilling everywhere.

Good luck!

 

I have a load leveler from Auto-Zone that I like also, which I think is the same model. One main advantage of the plate with my engine the TPIS intake just bolts right to the top and pull. Makes for a nice quick removal and installation job. I do remove the fuel rails so I get a good tight fit with the hooker plate though.

I don't bother removing the front spoiler. I have found that if I remove the passenger side tire and put a small jack stand under the A-Arm, my cherry picker will slide in very easy without having to remove anything else. I did try it from the front and it wasn't the best choice in my application.

About 3 months ago a friend of mine was bragging about his chain falls in the garage on a track system. It was pretty slick as he could move the engine through-out the whole garage. It worked great until he was trying to show off and had the engine about 6 feel above the car and he didn't screw in the bolt in the head properly, then it happened.. Everyone's worst nightmare came true. The engine came loose landing on the right inner fender and radiator support. I am now searching with him to help find 3rd gen parts for his car.

 

The happy hooker adaptor, where does it bolt to on a LS1 engine and where does it bolt to on a carb engine.

and what kind of bolt to use ?

 

I know if you are doing a carb engine it will mount directly where the carb goes.. I am 100% sure you have to remove the carb.. But a LS1 ??? I am not sure if it will do that. You might want to contact TPIS.COM and ask their tech's directly.

 

I cound understand what u were saying....Did u use the cherry pickkey from the side of the car or from the front....

If I have a happy hooker ......what direction should I go ? Also can I still leave the tranny on and swing the whole thing out of the car --either from the front or from the side ?

 

When I used the happy hooker I removed the right tire and left a 1 foot 8x8 under the A frame. This way I would have full clearance because my cherry picker would hit the front plastic nose clip if I pulled from the front. I found that I was able to easily pull the entire engine with trans with no problems. It did take 2 people to get the tailshaft of the trans up in the air when pulling the cherry picker away from the car though. It made for a real easy pull though. I like to pull from the passenger side because that way the master cylinder isn't in the way.