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Have you considered doing it yourself? Personally I think it's easiest done by pulling the engine. If you can't beg/borrow/steal a cherry picker, you can buy one at HF, still way less than half the cost of paying someone to do it. And while it's out, why not paint and detail the engine compartment.
Have you considered doing it yourself? Personally I think it's easiest done by pulling the engine. If you can't beg/borrow/steal a cherry picker, you can buy one at HF, still way less than half the cost of paying someone to do it. And while it's out, why not paint and detail the engine compartment.
That seems like pulling the axle to change a flat tire.
Have you considered doing it yourself? Personally I think it's easiest done by pulling the engine. If you can't beg/borrow/steal a cherry picker, you can buy one at HF, still way less than half the cost of paying someone to do it. And while it's out, why not paint and detail the engine compartment.
Sorry, I don't agree. I just finished dropping the new engine in and pulling the whole motor, along with the trans wasn't easy. Even the trans by itself wasn't easy. And as far as a Harbor Freight cherry picker, they aren't nearly long enough to clear the nose of the car to pull the motor from the front and pull it straight back. As many will atest, you'll be pulling it from the side, because the upper arm on the engine hoist is too short to do it from the front. And working the cherry picker sideways over the fender is a total bitch.
You'll probably be removing both the radiator and radiator support as well, as mine didn't come out, a couple of weeks ago, unless I pulled both and that was just the engine. We disconnected the Super T10 from the bell housing before we did that (and that wasn't easy either...). Good luck!
Have you considered doing it yourself? Personally I think it's easiest done by pulling the engine. If you can't beg/borrow/steal a cherry picker, you can buy one at HF, still way less than half the cost of paying someone to do it. And while it's out, why not paint and detail the engine compartment.
I agree and you can rent a cherry picker at any local tool rental company. Rented my from Sunbelt Rentals. Last time I did my clutch I had the engine/trans out as one unit in less than a day. I spent another day doing the clutch and a few other little jobs and the third day I had the whole thing back together and running. Might be overkill to do it this way but it's not hard.
2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (performance mods)
2019 C3 of Year Winner (performance mods)
2016 C3 of Year Finalist
yes you have to pull it from the side with the car on stands and the tire off on the side you're pulling from.
yes you have to pull the radiator although some dont, but its easy to put a hole in it.
with a helper and an engine tilter its not bad, grease the engine tilter liberally and run it full in and out before using it.
The only way to avoid all this is if your trans crossmember happens to be removable. If it is then it can be plled alone but I always have trouble reseating it in the trust bearing. A tranny jack will help a lot too
REMEMBER NOT TO ASSEMBLE THE ENGINE BY PULLING THE TRANNY TO THE ENGINE BY THE TRANNY MOUNTING EARS. They will snap off and thats a bad day
Dont try and extend a cherry pickers crane arm past what the factory length is without putting alot of weight on the rear of the jack or extending the length of the legs. It will tip over because you will be moving the center of mass past the front legs.
Take your time and plan ahead. It can be done quickly and while the engines out you can fix the leaky oil pan, paint it up nice and pretty. Clean the engine compartment. Change the radiator fluid. Oil change. Theres a lot of benifits of pulling a motor if you look at everything that can be done at once.
before
paint and polish the clean up the reassemble, afterish
Last edited by Rescue Rogers; Apr 7, 2019 at 08:07 AM.
I just had a clutch put in my 75 last week. My clutch was $209 shipped to my door from Rock Auto. I did some home work and talked to a local shop owner who has a very good reputation in town. His quote was $350 plus parts to do the swap. It took a week to get scheduled in and I dropped it off this past Wednesday. I picked the car up the next day and drove it home, happy as a clam.
2 Summers ago I did the clutch in my 70 Dart in my garage on jack stands. That was a miserable 4 days and my 66 year old arms and shoulders were not very happy with me. 20 years ago I would have done the Vette clutch without hesitation, even on stands laying on my back. Now, letting someone else do the hard stuff makes more sense. On a side note, my friend had the local GM garage do the clutch in his 84 last year and it cost him $1400 parts and labor.
Jerry
Have you considered doing it yourself? Personally I think it's easiest done by pulling the engine. If you can't beg/borrow/steal a cherry picker, you can buy one at HF, still way less than half the cost of paying someone to do it. And while it's out, why not paint and detail the engine compartment.
I disagree with the premise of pulling the motor out. What works for me is a transmission jack. I don't have a removable crossmember and the tilt feature of a transmission jack makes it a one man operation, even for a guy my age.
Worst case scenario, the $200 engine hoist is less than the labor of the pay someone else to do it. And when you're done you still have an engine hoist. And then since the car knows you have an engine hoist you'll never have to use it.
Last edited by derekderek; Apr 7, 2019 at 03:25 PM.
And then since the car knows you have an engine hoist you'll never have to use it.
My neighbor says my air compressor doesn't leak because it's afraid of me. It can set, full head of air pressure for 6 months and when I turn the switch on and open the valve it still holds enough air it won't immediately start. May be the same thing.
I disagree with the premise of pulling the motor out. What works for me is a transmission jack. I don't have a removable crossmember and the tilt feature of a transmission jack makes it a one man operation, even for a guy my age.
From: Some days your the dog and some days your the hydrant.
Royal Canadian Navy
I pulled my tranny laying on my back and a floor jack with the car on jackstands at 63 yrs of age. Tranny only weighs about 75 lbs. Far less complicated than pulling the engine.
I have removed my Muncie twice on jack stands to do the clutch with the help from my son .Make sure you resurface your fly wheel I didn't hence the 2nd removal .I wouldn't remove the engine ,three times as much work .It is a good time to change the Muncie oil and tunnel insulation if needed .
I use the lift to pull the body off. That is still easier than pulling the motor!
So to change the clutch I can pull the body to pull the motor to change to clutch. 😁
maybe I’ll just pay someone $350 to do this as one member did. I’ll work on my collector cars but I buy nice cars so this is about as far as I get into. I enjoyed the comments and appreciate everyone’s thoughts.
I use the lift to pull the body off. That is still easier than pulling the motor!
Here is a list of what I have to disconnect to pull my motor and I can do it in less that three hours.
Headers
Fuel line
Rad hoses
Vacuum lines
Starter, alternator and ignition wires
Engine driven fan (I pull the water pump too)
Radiator
Clutch linkage
Shifter linkage
Backup light switch
That's about it. I could go out then back in in a day if I had to. It's really easy to me as I've done it a few times.
It does help that my car has no power accessories. The only thing the engine drives via belt is the fan and alternator. Another thing is I enjoy doing it and I like to get my hands dirty. The last time I did it I helped my cousin check off a bucket list item of his to pull and reinstall and engine once in his life. We had a blast doing it.
Last edited by theandies; Apr 8, 2019 at 05:09 PM.
