First and foremost, I did search a lot.

Long story short, I'm doing and engine (and maybe tranny - at least clutch replacement) in about 2 weeks.

Here's the kicker, I need to drop the engine, and then trailer the corvette (with no engine in it) and then haul home the vette and the engine on my truck. I have a winch so no problems hauling it on trailer...

I'm doing this in my garage. Standard 8 ft. ceiling 2 car garage. I haven't done much work to the 'Vette, but I'm an experienced shade tree mechanic and have done a lot of engine work in the past.

I want to drop the engine and trans out the bottom. I've read its easier to drop out the bottom as opposed to the top /if/ if you have a lift. There are lots of great write-ups on pulling the engine out the top, but I haven't found any on dropping it out the bottom, especially without a 2 post lift.

Can anyone give me a guesstimate of how high the car needs to be to pull the engine out? 2 ft? 30 inches? I will remove all the accessories and intake etc.

I have several jack stands, hydraulic jacks, and a motorcycle jack to be used as a tranny/engine jack.

Here's my idea, I build a sturdy platform out of 2X12's and 4x4's to lift the car 18" or so off the ground Then I can put ramps or use jacks to get additional height, and help with dropping the engine.

Then I can put the cradles back on and roll the car off and onto a trailer.

Here's a picture of my idea. I'm putting on new exhaust and rear turbo so I like the idea of lifting the entire car up anyway to make that part of the install easier.



What do you guys think? Ambitious or crazy?

 

are you related to larry the cable guy git er dun?? Just kidding, looks kinds hooky to me.

 

The suspension has to come out with the front crossmember. So, having big ramps that the wheels can sit on won't work.

 

Yes, I didn't clarify but my idea was to use bottle jacks to lift the car higher than the ramps and take them out to remove the suspension.

Also probably place blocks or jack stands under the bottle jacks for safety also...

 

i saw someone on here with plans for full drive up ramps.

 

This looks like a child's rendition of ...."how not to work on a Corvette"....

 

Dude, did you use crayon's or Flair's to do that drawing? My 5 year old want's to know if you can play tomorrow...

 

This is high enough to pull the engine from the bottom. The jackstands supporting the frame rails are approx 20" off the ground.

 

What year is your car?

 

I'm sure it is possible to build something out of wood that would be strong enough to hold the car while it is on jackstands without the suspension, but it looks like just as much work to build to whole wooden assembly.

If it was me without a lift. I would pull engine first out the top (you still have to drop the front suspension about 4 inches to clear the oil pan). Than I would pull the drive line.

 

Thank you! That is exactly what I was looking for.

I think I'm going a different route, but I'm keeping this idea in the back of my mind.

 

That was what I was going to suggest, if he doesn't have the front mount EBCM.

Regardless I wouldn't make a wood ramp. Just get some heavy-duty jack stands and support it at the frame tie-down points with the jacking pucks.

 

I did it and no issues about to finish my build waiting on my the FAST and the converter and shes going back together here in a week or so. Just do it. The satisfaction on getting cht done when people say you cant is imaginable.

 

unless I had 3-4 friends helping no way would I attempt to pull out the bottom. whatever you do be safe and good luck.

 

I have a alternate plan. Use jack stands like these.
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/too...FewF7AodsF4Ayw

You won't spend a lot of time and money building what sounds to me like a dangerous set of bulky ramps that won't allow side access. When your done, keep the stands for future use or sell them.

 

Even though you're not supposed to, I used cinder blocks as jack stands before I got my lift.

Get some 12" cinder blocks & slowly jack the car up one end at a time adding blocks under the jack points as you go. When the jack don't reach anymore, add blocks under the jack. I had my car 40+" (5 blocks) off the floor already.

Just make sure no metal touches the cinder blocks, use pieces of 2x12 on top of the blocks to distribute the weight across the whole block, very important.

 

Well, you'll need either a lot of jacks or a block and tackle (my preference) to actually lower the cradle out once it's all disconnected.