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Even though I've owned my 2002 WS6 Trans Am for almost 19 years, I've still got a newbie question. When it comes to actually wrenching on an LS, I'm a newbie!
I'm removing my brand new crate engine out of the crate and I want to mount it to my engine stand. I've got to replace the OEM oil pan with my Holley oil pan for my Fox Body Mustang LS swap project. I have absolutely ZERO experience with aluminum blocks and heads. I wouldn't be asking this question if this engine were an iron block and heads.
I will use a total of four lift points; the fronts of the two heads and two bellhousing bolt holes in the back. Is it safe to use these lift points to hook up my cherry picker and lift the motor out of the wooden crate?
I'm sure the answer is, "Yes" but I thought I'd ask just to make sure. I don't fully trust the threads in aluminum but that's just because I'm a newbie with this stuff.
Last edited by dannyual777; 08-18-2020 at 10:14 AM.
Reason: added text
I like that bellhousing position, should be M10x1.5, try to use as short as reasonably possible and as high a grade as possible bolt 10.9, but I've used 8.8 and gotten away with it on an iron block. I'm not sure I'd stick the other in the head. Then again I'm a noob.
Yeah, the bolts in my pictures are too long. They are 10.9 grade, though.
I don't seem to have too much choice at the front of the engine. The bolt holes in the heads looked like the best choice. The threads are at least as deep as the bellhousing threads;
I got my engine out of the OEM crate and onto my stand. I ended up redoing the chains and made sure the chains were closer to the heads instead of at the ends of the long bolts. In the rear of the engine, I ended up bolting the engine stand's "mounting plate" with the four "arms" to the bellhousing bolt holes. I then hooked the chain to the mounting plate.
Those bolt holes in the aluminum still make me nervous!