Engine + Trans pull -- story :)

[phi22b@ck]

So --> I got up bright and early this morning (yeah ok, so it was 8am) to do all of teh prep work on the engine and trans removal from my parts car for insertion into my race car. I have to say, Nissan/Datsun engineers made this as easy as a small block in a 69 chevelle. I had room to work, the only stubborn bolts were on the exhaust (no shock there).. I cut the down tube off, I will just re-weld it later...

I was ready to pull the engine at 12:30 -- so I ran off to pick up my friend and the hoist...

Now -- the fun really started -- we had the hoist hooked up, and the engine and trans were coming out and it was about 3 oclock! What an efficient morning I was thinking!

All went well hoisting it up, but I have to say -- if you try this, watch your hooks, the rear hook popped out on mine at full extension DOH! Luckily it was resting on the upper radiator support!

So I walked around the garage for about an hour trying to figure out what I would do to fix this problem -- I did not want to try to swing the engine and trans into the race car without the rear hook for support -- my good buddy Doug had the plan -- I was going to weld a rectangle of 5/16" steel together and drill a hole in it as a replacement for the other hook -- had to bolt it to the bell housing instead of the exhaust though, the stud snapped off! So Doug's solution was just to weld a piece of heavy chain to a 1.25"x 3" piece of 5/16" steel and sling that on the hook... That was the deal!!!

The engine slid into the race car -- no problems at all!!! You can see how happy I am below!

But we did one fatal thing wrong... We did not try to bolt up the rear engine support (more like the trans crossmember from other makes)... Now I think my car may have had a problem of sagging, spent a long time on jack stands with no trans crossmember. I am going to jack the car way up and try to coax that support back into alignment.

But I still have to say that it was an overall easier process than I thought it would be.

If anyone has seen this kind of thing with the trans crossmember and has some advice, please let me know how you solved it -- I would say I am about 1/4" to 1/8" too short horizontally to make the holes in the bushings align.

[JEFF]

The nuts in the holes on the trans tunnel are fit in pockets and can be moved in the holes some - maybe as much as 1/4".

Try to move them in the direction you need to with a screwdriver first as it is difficult to do it with the bolt through the crossmember holes. I hope that helps.

P.S. I can't open any of your pictures.

- Jeff

[phi22b@ck]

Thanks for the advice!

I fixed the pictures.. I had the case wrong on the extensions... Sorry about that!

You can see them now!

[2ManyZs]

What were you doing Dan? Cuddling that engine?

You sure do make a mess of yourself when you work....

[phi22b@ck]

I do love my race car...

No really, I ended up covered in oil when we did the pull, gear oil came streamin out of the trans on the way up. Plus that shirt has some other transmission jobs in its short history

If your not dirty, your not having any fun! I even had gear oil in my hair...

Hey does the parts car in the woods have a shifter bar? Mine got fubarred...

[JEFF]

80/90 gear oil make a nice cologne, A little behind each ear....

- Jeff