Head removal while engine in car ?, Can heads be removed from engine while engine in car? Options

[pistonboy]

Hello

Can heads be removed from a 914 engine without removing the engine from the car?

Thank you.

[Jack Standz]

Don't mean to criticize, but why would you do this repair this way?

Yes, there's so many repairs we've done because we have to get to work the next day, fortunately that's not an issue for most of us with 914s as most are not used as our only or even primary transportation.

If the engine bar is unbolted and the transmission bolts are already loosened (and the fuel injection is removed), how much more does it really take to remove the engine? (Remove the accelerator cable, clutch cable, speedo cable, unplug wiring, and the cv bolts - which should take maybe 15 minutes? Unless you don't have the triple square tool for the cv bolts)

Seems like a tremendously more difficult and time consuming way to swap a cylinder head. Don't do it.

[VaccaRabite]

Don't mean to criticize, but why would you do this repair this way?

Becasue it CAN save time in the right circumstances.

I know everyone claims t be able to drop an engine in an hour....
And maybe they can if they spent the prior evening doing all the unhooks and removals.

For me at about a 4-6 hour job to pull an engine start to finish. Start being when the car pulls into the shop and the clock starts when I start draining the oil.

If you have helpers - maybe it goes faster.

But by the time the oil is out. Electric is undone. Exhaust is off. CVs are undone and bagged. Fuel is undone and capped. Battery is out. Harness is unplugged. Shift bar is out. Anything from the induction that won't clear the back of the car is removed. Oil cooler unplugged. 02 sensor undone (my car is different, but not THAT different).

AND you have dealt with all the usual home hobbyist BS that come up while working on a project car (wife says empty the trash, dinner is ready, dog needs to go out, your turn to change diapers, pause to drink a beer or smoke something, work calls, pick your distraction).

Not to mention the maybe stripped out CV bolt that you end up having to weld on to the driver in order to get it out, or and whatever other mechanical issues will arise when dealing with a 50 year old car.

I'm pretty good at pulling an engine. But it takes a good bit of time to do it.

And then there is putting everything back together. Did you remember to order the new Schnorr washers in advance? What about new CV bolts? New gaskets? New cone screws for the shift bar? New oil? You should not reuse any of them, and the corner store MAY have the right oil and WILL NOT have any of the other things. So now you are delayed by several days to a week waiting for $25 in parts.

Putting the engine back in usually goes faster, but its still a 3-4 hour job from pushing the engine under the car to turning the key to start the engine, assuming everything goes RIGHT.

There are valid reasons to do it with the engine in the car that most of us probably don't think about or vastly underestimate the time needed to do the work. But if you don't mind working in cramped conditions with a little more risk of badness, you can pull the head and replace it saving both time and money.

About 7-10 hours can be saved by not dropping the engine. That savings gets eaten into by the work you are doing taking longer due to cramped conditions and poor visibility. So a smaller job may make sense, and a larger one certainly DOES NOT make sense.

So, if you need to do both heads - pull the engine. Totally agree. At that point you are not saving time or money.

Zach