Hi guys,

Looking for advice for doing my swap. I have access to a lift at work, but due to the nature of my shop, I would only have access to the lift for about 12hrs, and the car would have to leave as a roller at the end. I had thought about prepping the car at home (removing hood, draining fluids, exhaust, wiring, coolant lines and front drive accessories), towing the car to work, dropping the subframe out the bottom, and then installing the new engine and clutch back into the car, getting it back to a roller, and towing it home to complete the project. I just don't know if its worth all that hassle of moving a non-running car around, and if a 10-12hr time limit is a reasonable window for a one man, first time attempt.

On that note, I had planned on doing my swap at home, in my 2 car garage. Unfortunately, I don't have a lift here.

I need to: Swap engines, install a procharger setup, install a twin disc clutch, and install a DTE Trans/Diff Brace, Trans Mount, Hinson motor mounts, and full Kooks 2x3" exhaust.

The real kicker is, I need to be able to close the garage door at the end of the night and secure everything inside my garage. Timeframe at home is a non-issue, but space is. Everything must fit inside the garage at night. And if I were to do it at home like planned, would it be easier to drop the front and rear subframes together, out the bottom, or take the engine out the top, and just deal with installing the DTE brace and trans mount with the rear subframe in the car?

So, for those more familiar with these cars than myself, what are your thoughts on my two options? I'd say my mechanical skillset is above average, as I have wrenched for a living for the past two decades. I just unfortunately (or fortunately, i guess), have not had much exposure to heavy line work on my C5.

 

if you have the means to drop the whole drivetrain as one unit and raise the body that would probably be the easiest way to do it... then you could at least get the new motor, clutch, headers, mounts, and trans brace installed and back under the body... the blower kit and all the buttoning up the wiring and whatnot I would just leave alone and worry about that when you get it home... 12 hours is not a lot of time to get everything done alone and have the car up and running and personally I hate being rushed, on something like this get the heavy work out of the way and take your time on the rest and get it done right

 

I agree. Rushing is typically no fun. I was just trying to gauge if pulling the engine without a lift is really that much of a nightmare.

For clarification, If I were to use the lift, I didn't intend on getting it running. Just to get the drivetrain bolted back in the car so that it could roll onto a flatbed.

 

you can take it out from the top but if you have access to a lift it is much easier to lift the body off the drivetrain then you have complete access to everything you are wanting to swap out or install... I just suggested leaving the blower kit off until you get it home because that is pretty simple so no reason to take up time doing that when you can get the harder parts knocked out while the body is on the lift, that way your time is more wisely spent... but everyone works differently and that's just my opinion

 

Inevitably, you will run into a "while I'm in there" moment.

If you've done this work before, I'd certainly suggest using the lift.

But, since you haven't, I suggest doing it at home on jack stands. It's been done by lots of people. While it can be a literal pain in the you know what, at least you won't be rushing against a clock.

The engine can come out the top with no real issue. Dropping the rear cradle assembly out the bottom is pretty straight forward too.

Good luck with your project.