Heads on from the top, no problems.

 

i vote bottom reason you can put your motor together with tranny and exhaust all at 1 time then just hook the wiring back up

 

can get it out in about 2 hours(or less) this way

 

No you dont just hook the wiring back up and go. You need to bleed the brakes, clutch, and power steering. You've got the harness pulled through the firewall so you've got that to deal with as well. Plus once you've dropped the k member you then have to take off all the stuff you left on. I can see where it seems like it migh be easier but in the long run it really isn't IMO.
I dont have an automated bleeder or shop vac and am doing the whole thing myself. Try bleeding brakes that way. I'm not saying it isnt a good method, I'm saying there is more to it than meets the eye.

You need to take stuff off and move it over one way or the other. You either do it first or do it last. Its personal choice. All the mechanics I know and talked to about doing my swap for me all said the same thing. Out the bottom is over rated, they all do it out the top for the simple fact they dont have to bleed 3 systems afterwards. Dropping the trans is too easy to think that leaving it attached is a better idea.

Basicaly theres a lot more to it than is being said about out the bottom. Its just different. Does it make the total job quicker? Thats debatable.

 

Thanks you guys. I'll make sure I take pictures and post.

 

power steering and a/c doesn't need to be unhooked to take it out the bottom

 

well, quicker, I still think is out the bottom , but bottom is easier FOR SURE. everything is right in front of you, like its on an engine stand. no leaning over the car, worrying about scracthing anything the whole time. and pulling the wiring through the firewall is very easy. its 3 plugs that are directly inside the firewall. just have to pull the pass. hush panel above the footrest area and its very appearant which conn.s have to be pulled and fed back through the firewall. the power steering system takes all of 30 sec.s to bleed, but bleeding the brakes is a bit of a chore. first, it'll take some time to gravity feed the system just to get fluid in all the lines again. then some time with a buddy. Ive heard those speed bleeders are super easy to use. one person is all it takes to bleed the brakes that way with out any fancy tools or anything. bleeding the clutch isnt hard, but time consuming on the LS1's w/o the mightyvac, but from what Ive read that does the trick very easily. other bene's of doin it out the bottom are you can easily remove and reinstall things like ypipe and headers since all the bolts are right in front of you. and that dreaded power steering pump would be alot easier to do that way also. I myself use a pulley puller and the pulleys off is 20 sec.s and the pump is very easy to remove from there. plus, this is an excellent chance to route your wiring away from the headers if your headers create clearance issues with the harness ala :SLPJUNKLONGTUBES: and what better opportunity will you ever have to clean the engine bay should you so desire? alot of bonus reasons to do out the bottom, and the brake bleeding is the only reason I see that counts against it. you gotta bleed the clutch anyways if your replacing the engine since your gonna have to drop the trans out the bottome to pull the eng. out the top right? so that one doesnt count anyways.

just my two cents worth anyways.

 

You do not have to bleed the P/S when pulling out the bottom. I just pulled my motor out the bottom and this was not required.

 

yeah, you dont have to unless you want to leave EVERYTHING bolted together on the eng. when dropping. for that matter, you could remove the pump from the engine and tie it out of the way as well as the a/c compressor. Ive jus never worried about it since it takes very little time to bleed the power steering system and the pulley will come off waay faster when the eng. is dropped since I can use an impact on the pulley removal tool that way. but to each his own I guess.
chris

 

So you're saying its easier to unhook everything while the motor is on the car rather then when everything is out? I beg to differ. The brake lines are the ONLY bitch when it comes to pulling it out the bottom. The harness is only 2 clips once you take the kick pannel out. thats it. then theres about 3 ground wires, pcm and you're done for taking wires off.

 

I don't think anyone mentioned having to get an front alignment after pulling out and reinstalling from the bottom.

 

true. you will need that. but atleast it'll be a good $45 spent on the car.

 

I have done about 10out the botton and none have needed an alignment. the only thing affected would be clear vision but all have been perfect. I checked my car after and it had not changed at all

 

Can the alignment on a 4th gen even change from taking it throught he bottom???


Anyway...I just did this when I did my engine swap. 1BADAIR posted a picture that sold me on the idea. It was soooo easy.

In fact, I didnt even have to break open the clutch lines... If you take the master cylinder off the firewall, you can lay it and the resevoir on the motor. Well I made a small "jig" to hold them upright and attached it to the side so when I installed it into my swap vehicle, I wouldnt need to do a FULL bleed. In fact I didnt need to bleed at all.

Installing the LTs and other odds and ends was much easiser with the engine sitting on the k-member outside of the car as well.

After the K-member was unbolted, and all the other parts were un hooked, lifting the body off was easy. Me and a buddy easily lifted it when done to adjust its position on the jack stands a bit. Just make sure the back end is up too...and stable. Thats the key. We slid my motor,trans, and even shifter right out through the side. Did it this way on my 3rd gen as well.

Justin

 

I didnt have any trouble with it. Others might find it more difficult.
Either way you need to swap the trans and all the stuff from one block to the other. I took all the stuff off and had the motor out no issue at all. The only thing left to do was transfer the old block from the hoist and put the new one on. Then is was a few minutes to put it in.

You can do the whole swap by yourself out the top. Lining the bolts holes up for the re-install from the bottom might not be so easy by yourself. I dont know havent done it. Maybe there is a trick to getting 6 bolts to line up while they just want to swing out to the side with the weight of the whole control arm and spindle.

From the top the only left is turning the key. Out the bottom you've got brakes to bleed before you go anywhere. I really think its just personal choice. I dont see one method being easier than the other but out the top leaves you with less steps to take on the re-install.
Good luck with it either way.

 

I agree, bottom is much easier.
Alignment was fine afterwards too.

 

When you set the body back down, how hard is it to line up the shock tower bolts? Is it something that one person can do alone?

 

I am getting ready to do this...from the bottom. My question is, is how high up do i have to bet the car to slide the engine out?

thanks

 

As for alignment... I did it by myself. I got it close by eye. Remember that when lowering the body, the nose will end up forward a bit...since its moving in an arc. Then...I used the longest of the 3 k-member bolts on the rear most hole. Thats the hole for the shortest bolt. Use the bolt to help get it close. There are two alignment dowels that are tapered on either side of the k-member. Once you get it close, those dowels will help get it spot on. Before lowering the body completely down, start all of the bolts, and make them snug. I tightened mine until they actually started to lift up on the k-member. then I lowered the body all the way down, and torqued the bolts.

As for how high you have to take it... that depends on the dolly that you set the k-member on...how high you have the back wheels, etc. Just keep going until you have room.

Oh...one other thing I forgot to mention. You dont have to remove the hood!! I hate doing that. It takes two people and I feel its a pain to do. Ide rather bleed brakes...thats easy and fast.

Justin

 

Sounds good. But you dont need to remove the hood out the top either. Maybe next one I'll try the other way. I have a friend with a 96(?) SS thats kind of tired. He loves his car so maybe we'll swap in a fresh lt-x.