I saw a fixture that my tuner had welded up that he bolted to the knock sensor holes which obviously meant he would take the intake off before pulling the motor.

The Haynes manual shows them using just a chain front to back from one side to the other with the manifold still on.

Anyway what tricks have you guys learned from experience? Do you pull the alternator and air conditioning compressor and all the accessories off before pulling the motor?


What have YOU found to work best?

 

bolts in each head. stay AWAY from the intake. 99% sure your gonna break the oil sending unit though most people remove them from the bottom but being a third gen. i can remove from the top. good luck

 

i pulled mine from the top. I pulled the intake, heads and front accessories minus the crank pulley. I already had my a/c out. Radiator needs to come out and i took the bumper off just in case for some extra room

 

through the bottom is actually extremely easy. there are a lot of online forums that go step by step. the hardest part is just getting the car high enough...but as along as you follow it step by step the entire k member rolls out on the tires....i did mine in my driveway in the middle of a snow storm and it only took 5-7 hours to get it out (a lot of going back in the garage to warm up etc......beers...lol)...once you do it, it gets easier...on a clear day, my dad and i could probably get the entire carriage pulled out in 2 hours...if that working straight at it.

im trying to find the book we followed step by step but most auto stores sell manuals or like i said...there r a lot of online forums...

 

I do have a 2 post car lift maybe I will going from the bottom. Only problem I see is I will need a front end alignment when done since they move they k to adjust alignment

 

From the top!!

 

Yes you will need a new alignment, and have to bleed the brakes, but the bottom is definitley the easiest way to remove the engine on a 4th gen f-car.

 

i did mine from the top and it was extremely easy. just pulled off all the accessories and the intake and radiator. smooth sailing the whole time. and i did it all by myself

 

You don't need to go this far, but I removed the oil pan, oil pump, cam, timing assembly so the engine builder could assemble it to the new SB.

 

Are you pulling both the engine and trans or just the motor? Can you post the name of the manuals or a link to the forums that helped you as this is my first time pulling an engine. Lol.

 

If you pull the intake and heads its so dam easy pulling the engine out the top I CAN"T IMAGINE why anyone would pull it out the bottom. The only problem I see is the auto trans welding itself to the steel alignment pins can be a BEAR to get apart so you may end up pulling the auto trans with it out the top.

 

Well, crap. I had fully intended to pull mine out the bottom but now you guys have me thinking. I've got to pull all the accessories off my LS1 to swap them over to the LQ4 anyways...

 

Either take the transmission with it, or pull transmission later and reinstall the transmission after the engine is back in and secured. It was a PITA to line up the transmission input and dowels using nothing but the hoist, a jack, some pry-bars and a whole lot of cursing.

 

I've always pulled mine from the top, the first time was with the six speed still attached. Second and third time I unbolted the TH350 and took it out first then pulled the motor

 

I'm doing the clutch while the motor is out anyways...so should I pull/install the engine and trans as one unit? Or separately? I have a leveler for my hoist, so angling is no problem if I can put it back in as one unit...seems like it would be easier to install the new clutch and all with the engine/trans out of the car.

 

one unit

 

Do the clutch with the motor in..it's not hard at all. That would be way too much work to pull the motor to do it.

 

Sorry man, maybe I wasn't clear. My stock LS1 has toasted ringlands, so I picked up an LQ4 shortblock and have put together a build with the mods in my sig. I'm swapping the motor soon, and I justed picked up a Monster Level 3 clutch, so I wanted to do it all at once. That's why I was asking...

 

From the bottom. Your back will thank you. You can assemble the entire engine/trans/exhaust, everything and slide it back in.

 

Can you pull the motor from the top and leave the exhaust (headers) in place?