Engine drop Options

[dumbjim]

Are there any good step by step tutorials that explaine how to drop your engine in your home garage without a lift? Thanks in advance

[Mcraneiowa]

Are there any good step by step tutorials that explaine how to drop your engine in your home garage without a lift? Thanks in advance

Here are the steps I followed.for removing my Porsche 914 Engine

For the second time this summer I have removed the powertrain from my Porsche 914. The first time I followed another set of directions, which I feel were vital to getting the engine out and not running into problems along the way.

My thought process for removing the engine was to work in sections, from side to side, then underneath followed by dropping the engine.

Starting The Process
- I jacked my car up and used two jack stands on each side in case one failed. I did not jack up the front of the car. I removed the rear wheels but it is not necessary to do. I did, as I felt it gave me more room to work.

Starting on the Passenger Side
- Disconnected the connections to the battery.
- Disconnected the + (positive) lead group of wires and took the wire that runs to the starter and the wire that runs to the double relay and separated from the rest as these two follow the engine. (11MM socket)
- Removed the bolt holding the double relay to the side of the engine compartment. I found the plug connections on my newer double relay aren’t as tight and can work lose. The connections in my case are zip tied for the connections in order for the relay to maintain solid contact. (10MM socket)
- Unplugged the wire connection from the resistor block located under the battery tray rather than remove it from the car. I have been told after many years the wires in the resistor block can break from the resistors and have to be fixed, I thought then why bother it!
- Removed the fuel injection hose connections from the injectors (to make sure when I drop the engine, I didn’t snag them and rip the engine compartment seal.
- Disconnected the incoming fuel line from the body and moved the whole fuel rail assembly on top of the engine When you reinstall, if fuel hoses are old or questionable this will prove helpful prior to replacing since its already partially apart.
- Disconnected accelerator cable from engine and pushed it through tin opening to be under the car.
- Reached under the wheel well and slid the engine seal back as it is designed to grab the bottom side of the metal engine tray and if old will likely rip when lowering the engine. On a side note, I replaced mine earlier this summer when I had lowered the engine the first time, since I didn’t do this step then.
- Disconnected the heater box cable on passenger side and then the drivers side.

Drivers Side Process
- Removed air box assembly by unplugging the wired connection from the AFM
- Removed associated hoses for air box and hoses to charcoal canister.
- Unplugged electrical connections from circuit board. Starting with the pin connector, the yellow wire and the three wire connection that goes to the alternator. You do not need to remove the rest since they run with the car body.
- Disconnected the return fuel line from pressure regulator and took the long fuel hose, wound it up and zip tied it to the engine bay up and out of the way.
- Disconnected the fuel rail from the injectors and pressure regulator and put the fuel rail up on top of engine so it would be out of the way when I dropped the engine.
- Reached up underneath and pulled the engine seal from the underside of the engine tin like I did on the other side to prevent from ripping it when I lowered the engine.
- Covered all fuel openings with plastic caps (or electrical tape) to prevent any contamination from entering the openings.

Under The Car
- Disconnected speedo cable
- Disconnected Clutch cable and made sure to get both cables out of the way so that I could place them forward of the engine compartment. This way they are out of the way when I lower the engine.
- Disconnected ground strap (10MM socket)
- Disconnected shift linkage at transmission (4.5mm Allen wrench) and from engine firewall (4.5mm Allen wrench) Be sure not to strip these cone screws. I had one stripped at gearbox so I took a star point socket of similar size and slightly tapped in into the opening to that it could grab the cone screw and be removed. I will need to replace that damaged cone screw.
Note – the shift linkage bar will likely not come out as it may be tucked up and to high to remove. In my case, it was, so I removed as I lowered my engine.
- Disconnected the axles from the transmission. Be sure not to use a hex fitting as these require a star bit to remove. I purchased my set on Amazon for about $12. They work great. I did not remove the axles. I tied mine up. When I lowered the engine I had to be sure to pay attention that they were not getting caught on any engine components.
- Removed the transmission mounts from the body of the car, this way they don’t catch n the way down. Use second jack to support transmission.

At this point everything should be disconnected that needs to be disconnected.

- Place a portable hydraulic jack under the cross member for the engine and raise it until it is snug under the engine support
- Removed the cross member bolts one side at a time and replace with all thread rod with double nuts on top side to keep from backing out. My rods are about 15” long but you could use as short as 12”. Once both sides are done, I left the hydraulic jack under the mount and used my second jack for the transmission at the rear of the car. If you only had one jack this process could still be used with the jack used at the transmission towards the rear and you could thread the nuts down the rod with a wrench. Two jacks allowed me to lower the engine a few inches at a time and hand thread the nuts each time a few inches just in case the jack would ever slip, the rods would catch the engine. It also kept the engine level and didn’t have to worry about the engine slipping ofF a jack stand on the way down!
- I keep the transmission and engine pretty even throughout the Lowering process. Once I get it close enough to use my dollies (2) (picked up at Harbor Freight for about $20.00 each, as I use the heavier ones) I can place one under the engine making sure to miss vital components that you wouldn’t want a lot of weight to sit on and one at the transmission with the same thoughts about missing things that could break with that weight sitting on it.
Since the car is already 2/3 of the way jacked up, at this point I raised the passenger side car support jack as high as the jack could go and slowly slide the engine/transaxle out making sure not to catch on the axles or rear shroud at the back of the car. Once out it’s pretty easy to replace the wheels, remove the jacks and slowly roll the car out of the way.

The whole process, was about 3.5 hours. I know several people say they get it done in about two hours, but I was capturing this information and really not in much of a hurry. Good luck and if anyone reads this and notices I may have omitted a step in my process, please let me know. I want safety as my first concern and to not tear up components in the process. Good luck. Mike