I had to take out the engine for the third time (I’m not too lucky with my rebuild...), and while doing it twice by removing the cradle, I decided to take the engine out the top this time. Why? First of all I wanted the rest of the car to be mobile. Second I personally think it’s not all that easy to drop the cradle: Raising the car with the risks involved. Then there’s the handbrake cable, having to disconnect the brakelines, possible problems with the cradle bolts, stabilizer bar if you have one, exhaust system hangers etc. They all come to mind as extra work. Third, and this makes all the difference, I had already taken the intake manifold and cylinderheads off. Doing this is very straight forward and easy to do with the engine still in the car. Remember to let off the coolant before you remove the intake manifold. The only additional thing that has to be done is to take the alternator with the bracket off. This way it’s also not necessary to disconnect your wiring inside of the car, which is advisable, but quite a lot of extra work, when you drop the cradle. So this procedure is most ideal when you need to take off the cilinderheads anyway. Because once you have done this, the rest is a piece of cake: Underneath the car remove the starter, drain the oil, remove the bolts of the Y-pipe, loosen the coolant hose on the right hand side of the car and remove the nuts of all the engine/transmissionmounts (6). The transmissionmounts are only loosened up to give you some additional room to play with while removing the engine. The rest is done from the top: Take out the Y-pipe and use the bolthole of the starter and of the alternatorbracket to connect your cherry picker (why is it called a cherry picker?) to. Take out the transmission to engine bolts (mine is a 5-speed, anautomatic should be even easier, because you need les room to pull the engine from the transmission) Carefully lift with the assistance of another person, first high enough to clear the engine mount and then sliding of the engine from the transmission. Be extra careful with the rear window, and out she comes! All I could find in the forum, including the archives is that it IS possible to remove the engine this way, but not only is it A LOT easier to do if you have the heads of, also you do NOT have to remove the pulley as was suggested in one of the threads I found. Good luck, I hope this gets some follow-up!
IP: Logged
06:34 AM
PFF
System Bot
Gordo Member
Posts: 2981 From: East Guilford, NY, USA Registered: Mar 2002
O'kay: Good procedure for engine removal topside with heads/manifold removed;let's hear the procedure with the engine still complete--and can someone provide the procedure for auto trans removal ? Thanks ; Dewey
IP: Logged
07:33 AM
wanobi Member
Posts: 1257 From: Rockdale GA Registered: Sep 2005
I have pulled a 88 4 cyl out from the top before w/transmission. (Didn't put it back in though) I have gotten so I can drop a cradle in a couple of hours, I would rather drop it than go out the top. But thats just me. I didn't even use a cherry picker, did I metion a forklift helps.
I have also done a clutch on a 84' duke from the top before too.
With the heads off, yea, but last time I tried to take an engine out the top, it took two of us 8 hours, last time I dropped the cradle by myself it took less than 1.5 hours. Needless to say when we went to put that engine back in we dropped the cradle.
First time I pulled the V6 out of my SE I did it out the top. All I did was disconnect the hoses and wires, pulled the axles and yanked the complete angine and transaxle out. I had no idea it wasn't designed to be done this way, I just did it. Wasn't too hard...
