Mike2000Z28

My friend and I have the motor almost out of the car. I'm going to pull the motor from the top. I have a couple questions. 1)How hard is getting the motor from the tranny and the process to get it unbolted? 2)Does the pulley have to come out to get the motor out? 3)What should I do to protect the A/C system while the motor is out and how much A/C refrig will i need to get the system back up?

racecar

Just cover the AC lines with plastic plugs or tape, no big deal, just keep them from falling on the floor and getting full of dirt.

Jed Z06

iTrader: (1)

I am pulling my motor too,
This is a pretty cool write up

http://www.cajundude.com/engineswap.htm

Mike2000Z28

Thanks for link. I'm just trying to get some ideas before I climb under the car to see how to get the motor apart from the 4L60e, if anyone had a few things to look for or some time saving tricks to getting it apart.

TchargedLS1TA

iTrader: (9)

Pull the starter and headers and unbolt the torque converter from the flexplate.. Dont try to pull the tranny out of the converter- I learn this the hard way the first time I pulled my motor, ended up damaging the converter.. Also, pull the heads off, it will make it easier to reach the top 3 bolts on the bellhousing..
I would also pull everything off the front of the engine (water pump, pullies, balancer)..

silverthriller

if you are going to take the heads off anyway then take them off now before the pull. the pulley doesnt need to come off. be sure to look for all ground wires still connected especially the lines and sensors behind the motor. be careful with the oil pressure sensor behind the manifold, do not break it. remove the ac and radiator along with the starter and you are pretty much done. if you havent double checked and tripple checked please do it. good luck man

Studytime

iTrader: (15)

Guys, what about leaving the compressor attached, but just swinging it out of the way? I've pulled motors before like this, but haven't pulled a LS1 before.

Ben T.

Viper

iTrader: (6)

I did the above, worked fine.

Mike2000Z28

Thanks guys... I have removed the radiator, a/c system, the alt., the a/c water pump, the coil packs, and the headers. I didn't really want to remove the heads so that the guy that will be working on building my motor can get an idea of what happen to the motor and what caused the coolant loss that I couldn't visually find.


If pulling the heads will make the job pulling the motor from the tranny easier then I'll make it happen. I didn't know how many bolts are holding the torque converter (four) and how many are on the bell housing (8?). Everything else is off labeled/bagged/numbered/cleaned. I've only got about 6 hours on the project.

Mike2000Z28

Also how did you guys strap the motor to the hoist.

Viper

iTrader: (6)

I strapped it to the back of the passenger head and the front of the driver head ( where PS pump was ).

Jed Z06

iTrader: (1)

just finished mine
see pics here
http://www.jget.net/z/index3.html

1hotls1

iTrader: (6)

The bolt at the top center of the bell housing is the worst, but if you buy or borrow a 3 foot extension and a swivel, you can easily see and pull the bolt by laying at the end of the tail shaft. There is no need to pull the heads.

Mike2000Z28

Thanks for the help and the pics. I was hoping not to pull the heads off. I'll probably get in to it this Sunday.

Joel_SS

iTrader: (8)

Front left valley cover botl and right rear valley cover bolt.

Stroker2112

Mike2000Z28,

I just removed my truck's 5.3L, and have to say the biggest challenge was getting separation from the tranny. I think most Gen IIIs have steel dowels at 3:00 and 9:00 o'clock on the bellhousing. Mine appeared to be rusted. I also broke my Oil pressure sending unit that SilverThriller mentioned so watch out for that.

Good luck,

Stroker2112

99T/A

Just got the motor back in my T/A. I pulled it from the bottom. I left all of the a/c intact, rad.,fans, and catback still in the car. Took 2 hours to pull it and 2 1/2 to put it back in.

67Firebird455

iTrader: (27)

I yanked the ac and radiator, shortblocked the engine, removed the starter, etc and it actually physically took like 20 minutes to pull it including removing the transmission bolts and motor mounts. BTW I love these style motor mounts, I'm used to the ones on my 67 which I hate. What I want to know is it feasible to install a longblock through the top on the F-body? I haven't found any write-ups about it, I would REALLY like to install a longblock with intake. Not to hijack, just kind of relates to this.

Sartobuilt

iTrader: (2)

Pulling the motor out the top is crazy.

Drop it!! Alot less work.

67Firebird455

iTrader: (27)

It was simple for me pulling it out the top for some reason. How long does it take to pull the k-member/front end to install from the bottom?