My dad and I are pulling the engine and trans out of our '64 this weekend. Any tips, suggestions, or order of sequence we should follow? My plan was to review the AIM. I haven't looked to see if they have instructions in one place for this or if it is scattered throughout the document. Tried a search on here but didn't find anything. I'm sure there are postings containing what I'm looking for, but I couldn't find them.

Thanks in advance.


Patrick

 

you will not find anything in the AIM on how to remove the engine.

if I was doing this I would pull the radiator, fan shroud and all components off the front of the engine than pull the engine leaving the bell housing and trans in the car. I would than pull those.

What do you have for lifting?

 

I have a "cherry picker" hoist and one of those engine hoist things that lets you change the angle as the engine comes out.

 

I don't care for the angle things they just get in the way. You need to pull the hood and come in from the side with a tire removed. Coming in from the front can get pretty tight depending on the hoist setup.

 

That is the way I do it. Others prefer to pull the transmission with the engine but if you do that, your hoist will have to come in from the front. It takes a boom extension or a long hoist to come in from the front.

I balance the engine on different combinations of the center manifold bolts. Depends on which engine accessories are installed. That makes for a neutral balanced engine, fore/aft and you don't need those balancer contraptions.

 

Thanks for the input guys. I'll return the balancer thing. I had assumed it would be easier to just pull them both out together, but if not, I'll do as you suggest. Same advice for installation? Trans first and then engine? I was thinking having those two married before going in would make it much easier. I have memories of other cars I've worked on where getting the input shaft to line up right and getting to the bellhousing bolts was a nightmare. If not an issue on the C2, I'll install them separately.

 

I would do the same going back in and you should not have a problem just have a floor jack or some type of small jack under the transmission to support it. Bell Housing bolts are easy to get to and should pose no problem.

 

No, don't pull the transmission first!

Aligning the engine/transmission with the engine in the car is easy. You just have to hold your mouth right, AKA, aligning the input shaft with the clutch disc on the same plane.

Sometimes, if the input shaft doesn't want to slide in to the pilot bushing you can release the clutch pedal and it will fall right in place. Resist any temptation to draw the engine/transmission together with the bellhousing bolts.

 

Big thumbs up! Thanks guys!

 

Well, there always has to be an ugly duckling in the flock. Guess that is me.

The first time we did it, I pulled the trans first and it was a real PIA because of the non removable cross member. Still had to strip most of the things on the engine to allow it to drop down in the back. If you are pulling both anyway, I would pull them together. Just me, 68 years old and don't have the body strength to do things under the car I used to and bad discs in my neck. We have taken it out 3 times, once separate and twice as a unit. The only help I have is my 69 year old wife.

I put the car up on stands about 14" above the floor. You need to do this to remove the trans anyway. Remove the hood. Disconnected the wiring, clutch, PS, exhaust, fuel line, etc., removed the distributor and carb just to prevent damaging them. Drain all fluids. I didn't remove the radiator, just the fan and shroud. I brought the hoist up to the front of the car and lifted the engine to clear the motor mounts, move it forward to clear the cross member, then stood the engine / trans up on the tail shaft of the trans with the leveler you have, then moved it forward until I had it high enough to clear the front end. Level it back out and pull the hoist to clear the car.
It is a lot easier for me to remove and reinstall the trans, bell housing, etc. with the engine on the floor.

As was stated above, you should check the reach on your hoist before you attempt to do it this way.

Each to his own.

 

I would use the leveler. They work great especially installing the engine. Like stated previously, most cherry pickers won't work from the front, but will from the side with a tire removed.

 

Thanks for the different opinion R66 and ILBMF, I appreciate it. Another limiting factor I didn't think about is my ceiling height, or actually, garage door open height. I have about 8' till I'm bumping in to the opened garage door. If my hoist extends far enough, think I'll have enough room with my leveler in place? I'm almost tempted to take it out with one method and install with the other just to experience both myself.

 

Not to highjack the thread, but I'm going to try it this way (I'm old, too), mostly because I need them both out and I do not want to bugger up the tranny to engine reconnect trying to do it with them both in the car. I guess I trust the pull them both out method over the bolt them together once in the car method.

When you say "lift the car 14" - from where is that measured? From the transmission cross-member?

 

8' ceiling no problem, that is what my garages had and have done it in many different house over the years on several cars, I always come in from front and leave trans/bell housing in car, both on c2 and c3 BB cars with 4 speeds. good luck and pay attention to detail and be careful and hopefully you have someone to help you as spotter, I never did but helps I hear.

 

Engine and trans together is pretty easy and you can make sure all the bolts are torqued right. Jack up the front end and drop it in. Use the leveler.

 

Guess I missled you a bit. Went out and measured the 3 ton jack stands that I used and they are about 17" fully extended. I had them setting under the frame on 2 or 3 2x12s x 12" (I've gotten a little fat). Positioned them on the flat part of the frame just in front of the door and in front of the kickup at the rear. Shake it before you crawl under it.
I have a homemade picker that has a long reach, but you can rent one for a few bucks with the right reach. My engine leveler is also homemade, but works the same. It's more fun to make it than work for the man to get the money to buy it in may opinion and it leaves more money for the car.

 

Yes, this way...get car on jack stands...always go in from the front...get/rent a hoist that has a long boom...Harbor Freight has them for about $250 if you can't find one...pull eng and trans together...do all your clutch setup/trans mating in a "1G" environment...(not under the car)...reinstall as a unit...

Get the rad, rad support, alternator, brackets, exhaust & manifolds, carb, distributor, etc out of the way too...if you have power steering you can swing the pump out of the way and tie it off to the front control arms so you don't have to fool with reattaching the lines.

 

I'm calling photoshop - no garage/shop/engine/tranny is that clean, even if it is a fuelie.

This is the way I'm going - the Harbor Freight long/adjustable reach boom was on sale for 250 ish with the tilting rig. They seem to repeat this sale with some frequency. I will probably leave it at the 1000 pound setting since I'm pulling both together.

 

This is exactly the method I recommend, except that I also remove the radiator.

My view is that if the engine is coming out anway, it's easier to just leave the transmission attached and separate them after the engine/trans assembly has been removed from the car. Similarly, it's easier to install them as a unit if they are both out of the car.

As others have described, this method involves coming in from the front and tilting the engine/trans assembly at a steep angle. So, the engine tilter that the OP shows is very useful. Once the engine, tilter, and hoist are all hooked up, the removal process consists of the following steps:

1) Lift engine slightly
2) Pull forward slightly
3) Tilt engine nose up
4) Repeat

For this to work right, the car needs to be up on jack stands at least a foot, and you need room to roll the cherry picker back as the assembly comes out. To minimize the amount of lift required, I attach the leveler fairly close to the engine, using the exhaust manifold bolts as attaching points.

Be sure to drain the transmission first or use something to plug the tailshaft, because the fluid will try to drain out the tail shaft.

Also be sure to remove the distributor and the rear brackets for the ignition wire looms. If the exhaust manifolds will be getting removed from the engine anyway, it's best to remove them first so that you have a little more room to wiggle the engine as it comes up out of the engine bay.

 

You guys are awesome. Thanks for all the great advice everyone. I'll look at it with my dad and we'll decide if we are doing them together or separate.