Engine Installation, 1 best way? Options

[malcolm2]

I have read thru the books and viewed a view you tube videos, there seems to be any number of ways to install the engine.

One books says to mount the tranny to the engine first,
One book says you HAVE to mount the tranny first,
Tom Wilson's book says you can mount the engine 1st, and it might be easier to handle without the tranny, then install the tranny to the engine in the car. (I am kinda leaning this way, but wonder about the spline lining up and how well I did centering the clutch, etc...

I have seen CAR UP/engine raising and
ENGINE DOWN / car lowering.

Anyone out there tried several and have an opinion on their favorite way?

[SUNAB914]

Get car up to 24 inches or more, install engine and tranny together. Usually will require two jacks.

[rhodyguy]

mine is this. it will require 2 floor jacks, 2 old license plates (or tin approx the same thickness and size) and a furniture dolly (homedepot, $20 or so).

place car on jack stands, just high enough to get the wheels off of the ground, and remove rear wheels. i take the muffer off at this point too. in the engine compartment slide the 2 license plates, vertically, one on each side in between the engine tin and the shelve at the point where the 2 nuts for the rear control arm are located, just covering the stud/nuts. this will help prevent the engine tin from getting hung up on the control arm bolts when you lower the engine.

place one floor jack under each rear control arm at the rear. now you have control of the rear of the car. leave the jack stands where they are for now.

disconnect all cables and slightly loosen the fasteners at the outer ends of the of the engine mount bar and the rear trans mounts.

roll the dolly under the engine and raise the rear of the car with the floor jacks to just clear the stands. the jacks should be angled so you can pump them both at the same time. slide the stands aside. SLOWLY! release the floor jack stop valves and the car will come down. stop lowering when the engine is just above and not making contact with the dolly. the rear of the car will be angled down. stop and put some dunage on the dolly to so the f/r engine/tran makes contact at the same time and rest the weight of the car on the dolly. it won't take a whole lot of dunage. a 2x4 at the front and maybe a few strips of plywood. you're just trying to approx the angle and keeping everything off of the ground.

quickly remove all of the fasteners and slowly raise the rear of the up as high as it will go with the floor jacks.

you should be able to roll the dolly out the back. as the haynes would state, 'installation is the reverse of removal'. i drop the big front bar bolts down from the top as you can use them to get real close to the correct placement of the package. pull the bolts back out and put them back in from the bottom when you're where you want to be. tighten the all (f/r) the fasteners, raise the car back up, slide the jack stands back in place, rest the car on the stands, and torque everything down. i like this method because you're never under the car while it's not on stands, you don't have to balance the eng/trans while trying to raise it up on the re-install and scrambling to work on the fasteners.

k

[ThePaintedMan]

I prefer engine down, car lowering onto it. Safer and easier in the long run, IMHO. Just need an extra jack. Luckily, since my neighbors are always bugging me for tools, I never had a problem asking them to borrow one.

The only thing necessary is to remove carbs or possibly some the FI stuff to give you a little roomwhen installing.

[lsintampa]

While we're on the subject, what about the half axles? Should they be on the hubs or off when putting motor back in.

In other words, is it easier to install half axles after the motor is in?

Hopefully will get there this month - or next.

[rhodyguy]

forgot. undo them at the trans ends. you'll have to rest them on the trans and walk them down the length of the trans/engine when you pull the dolly back. re-install with new schnor/belleville locking washers. i've done the removal this way so many times i take certain aspects for granted.

[malcolm2]

It's done....Took 9 beers, 1.5 hours with a couple friends and my 17 year old son. Surprisingly, we were forced to use a combo of ENGINE UP and CAR DOWN. I had a transmission jack from another friend that just would not lift the weight of the engine and tranny to it's full height.
Got the engine to the floor, raised the tranny end with a 2x4 then inserted the tranny and torqued it up.


Lifted the new assembly onto the tranny jack and balanced it. Moved everything to the car and started lifting. Eventually we determined that it was not going any higher. So one friend LIFTED the rear of the car and we lowered the jack stands 2 notches, then again, one more notch and started bolting everything up....DONE.