Yesterday a fellow F-Bod and I pulled the motor and trans out of my 99 T/A. We took the trans off first, then pulled the motor.

4 hours total, not too bad considering we had to remove one engine pedestal to get the motor out.

We plan on going from the bottom for putting it back in; now that the motor is out, seems that will be MUCH easier than through the top again.

What a day!!

Just thought I'd share the experience.

 

Why did you pull the motor?

 

seems as though noone told you it was easier to pull it with the heads and the transmission still attached That is the only way to pull the motor out the top.

 

Looks good, another ? tho, why did you take the hood off? It will clear with the hood on.

-Sly

 

Do you happen to have any other pics? I'm getting ready to drop mine in and it's a good reference to see if I have everything attached right.

I took my hood off just to make it easier and make sure I wouldn't scratch it up.

 

Pulling throught the bottom has to be easier only a few bolts hold the entire cradle to the car. d/c a few lines steering linkage and remove a few bolts and the motor tranny and all will come out. A guy told me that the easiest way to install heads on one of these is to do that. I guess if you have a lift handy it really is the easiest way.

 

yeah I just pulled mine out the top as well. didnt take too long. but why are your pistons notched???? did you do that.. mine is a 99 as well and I have no notches. just a thought.

 

I'm the guy that helped out, and i'll try to answer some of the questions since i saw the post,

We took the hood off just to make sure it wouldnt get damaged (5-10 mins is worth it in our opinion).

and we dont have a car lift, just an engine lift, but we will probably put it back together from underneath next time. It should be much easier to put everything together out of the engine bay, then just plug things in as the car is lowered onto the kmember/powertrain assembly.

Also, we looked at it, and werent sure how you can get the trans out the top with it attached. When you do it this way, how high are you getting the front of the car in the air? (i assume you have to get a good angle out of the front of the car?) any other tips/tricks would be appreciated, but all in all, it didnt take too long, and we didnt break too much.

the motor is coming out because a valve spring broke and a valve slammed into a piston. It will probably be sent out for the internal work, or at least to be looked at by someone who knows these things better than us.

The pistons are aftermarket, and they were changed last year when the heads/cam went in.

hope that answers everything. Now, for pulling the whole powertrain out the top - HOW? we pulled the motor with the bellhousing, but another 2 feet of transmission doesnt look easy. Now, if the headers were out of the way, and both motor mount pedastals off, i can see it if you get hte car kind of high, and maybe a 3rd person underneath to help quide it?

EDIT: and another thing, what do you guys bolt your chains to when you lift the motor? We couldnt get any good support int he back of the motor, and it kept wanting to twist even with our leveler on the lift. the problem is that the cowl was in the way, and we didnt want to damage anything (obviously), we probably should have used the mounting holes for either the motor mounts, or hte ones infront and behind them (one of those was used, and the other was for the alternator bracket).

Miki

 

Yep, pulling the motor to get the whole thing gone over. JPR built it and I don't trust it. Probably new cam, re-ring, bearings, etc. Miki and I may try and rebuild our trannies as well, or send them out if we can find a good deal near Ohio. Sorry no more pics, this is all we got except for the empty engine bay.

 

I bolted chains to the motor when I lifted it out, and I still believe that putting it in and pulling it out the top is easier w/o a lift.

 

i put the car on ramps (front and back) with 3 2x4's under each ramp for added height..i then hooked the chain to the front of one head and the back of the other..i pulled the motor with tranny, heads,crank pulley on...it WILL have to come out, go in at a CRAZY angle..i think to get it in i had like 4 links in the chain in the front and about 12 in the back..its almost vertical..also my crank pulley was a little bit of a bitch to get to clear the ac coil but with two people you can get it done..all in all its a little harder but it is well worth it versus trying to torque the crank pulley,head bolts and bellhouding bolts with them in the car.. might as well do it where you got unlimited room if you can..good luck..obtw as a side note..think ill try to do it from the bottom next time.. but hopefully there wont be next time in my near future..( to the cargods..)
matt

 

I pulled my motor out the top as well with the tranny. I had a couple of people helping. You definetly need someone underneath the car working the tranny out. We had to jack the car up until the bellhousing cleared the k-member then lowered the car to get the tranny to clear the front fascia.

 

John,

Just buy the SLP ZL 402 and stick it in there....


Bill

 

Taking the motor out the bottom looks cool, but I can't figure how to roll the car out of the garage afterwards so I can work on the motor

 

I just put mine back in today from the top and it wasn't too hard. Definitely helped to have someone under the car watching the engine/tranny mate up. After they were lined up it was just a matter of lowering both the engine and the tranny together (had to go back and forth since I was the only one on the jack and the hoist. Took a bit of a shove to get it in there good too. Of course, I have my heads, pully, and everything else off too, NO clearance issues for me.

Next time it will definitely go out the bottom!

 

Bill,

Tempting indeed! So many choices now. It's like starting from scratch. I think I'll get rid of the 3-1/2" exhuast at the same time and go true duals.

 

I pulled mine out the bottom, took me 2 hours, by my self, and that's the first time I've ever done it. not too bad I think.. I've attached a few pics, click the link for all of them.

http://www.fbodypages.com/justin98tr...8ta/enginepull

 

Thanks man, I plan on doing that with help from your pics for reinstall. What can you safely put the car on after you pull all that out? Or did you just leave it hanging on the engine lift till reassemble?

 

I put in on jack stands

 

Justin, what is that you used to set the engine on and roll it out from under the car? Where'd you get it? That's definitely gotta help when dropping the engine out the bottom.