I will go home today and "quadruple chick" all wires. Teamgomez, I must say that I did not pull of the "Clutch Release Lever" from the shaft but i did pull off the "Clutch Positioning Lever" from the shaft. I did not pull the Clutch Release Lever off the shaft because it did not want to slide off and I did not want to start banging on it. . .Make sense?

Keith, thank for you take well taken.

Good luck with it. Make sure you let us know how it turns out.

Thanks guys. I will tackle her tonight. Who knows I may get lucky tonight. : )

didn't want to slide off...
 

that lever not wanting to slide off may be the kicker here- if it doesn't want to slide off it may also be prohibiting the fork from turning enuf to disengage. Look thru the hole in the top of the clutch housing with a mirror to see if the fork is still in the throwout bearing...if it doesn't want to come down w/o banging on it- get your hands on some Kroil lube. That stuff can work magic on frozen nuts/seized stuff (learned about it while researching how to get exhaust manifold fasteners loose without a torch...). Best stuff since God created racetracks and sticky tires!

Good luck!

I think we are all a little curious now. Did you get past your roadblock? Did you end up pulling the tranny too, or did you find out what was holding you up?

Last night she finally dropped. I went home and quadrupled check everything using a list of itmes to check off. I did find one gas line that needed to be taken off. It had enough slack though so it was not damaged in the process.

The CULPRIT was a 3 ton jack stand that I had placed under that tranny prior to dropping the engine. I figured that it needed to get support when the engine dropped. WRONG! Once I pulled that jack stand out, the engine dropped right out. By putting the jack under the tranny, the engine could only drop so far. The extra drop in that tranny did the treak. Of course, once the engine dropped and was out, I put the jack stand right back on the tranny.

Next question if you will please. I pulled the engine to replace my OEM clutch (rubber center no springs) I have ordered the complete clutch kit from Pelican. Any words of advice in putting this in? What are some common errors with this project? The engine on my 78SC has 94,000 miles.

You must remove that lever to disengage on these clutch mechanisms. See the tech article:

http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/911_engine_drop/911_engine_drop-1.htm

-Wayne

Yes DON'T FORGET TO PUT THE STARTER RING GEAR ON THE NEW PRESSURE PLATE!!!!!!! I forgot to do this and had the pleasure of having to drop my engine a second time!

good call on the starter ring gear, Luckily for me my father noticed that it was off as I was trying to mate the engine and trans. I bet that was a real heartbreaker when the engine wouldn't turn.

Yeah!
 

Don't use the *(&&*#*&!#&$*(&!##!@#^@!% fan shroud bolt in your pressure plate. It's 3 threads longer and will bind against your case if you do...here's what I learned last week after my first engine drop:

1. Put the pressure plate on the ground and step on the sides to get the new throw out bearing installed (you'll see what I mean when you try to get the snap ring in place).
2. Use new bolts/lock washers for the pressure plate.
3. Use a *good* 6mm allen socket. I busted my tiawanese POS getting the old PP bolts out...
4. lube the shaft of the tranny/drive shaft well when reassembling. Have someone turn the wheels a little when trying to push the motor back in to get the splines aligned (of course, eyeball the TO bearing fork to ensure it engages as well).

Good luck; great to hear you cured your engine drop problem. It's pretty cool after you're done and the car's back on the street when you've done the work yourself.

Replace o-rings and gaskets, especially if you have any kind of leak. Replace the oil pressure switch. Change plugs, do an oil change.

Thanks for the tips! I will pay close attention to these.

QUESTION: What is this "Starter Ring Gear" I just spent $800 on the Clutch Kit including some tools to facilitate the installation with tranny oil. My parts list does not inlcude this "Starter Ring Gear" is this a part that can be reused or, should it have come with my clutch kit????

You re use the existing one. It is that toothed thing bolted on and made of a metal that rusts. It helps to heat up the ring (to make it expand) to get it off.
-Jeremy

Motor Installation
 

Fhernand,
It you think you had a difficult time taking the motor out with the trans, wait till you mount you engine back. It's a lot easier to install trans/motor together than mounting engine back to the trans.

Some people have successfully removed the engine alone but its not as convenient as removing the motor/trans together. It's your choice. Wish you luck.......

TD

Thermostat O-ring, too
 

Add a new o-ring for your thermostat as well (next to the oil press switch- CHEAP insurance against future leaks).

Don't worry about the install- I got the same grief from my buds (You mean you didn't drop the tranny, too?!). Well, I did drop both together the first time but had to drop it again to remove the long pp bolt so did the engine only (didn't want to fuss with lifting both pieces solo). Went in easy enuf- I think the clincher here is making sure the engine case is aligned (longitudenal axis) with the tranny case (ie same distance from the tranny to eng cases on both top and bottom). Mine slid right in after getting the splines/fork aligned. Did it solo in about 10 min (includes 3 thumbs on left hand...).

Oh yeah, check your bushings on your throttle linkage cam assembly (whatever you call it on the top of the engine case where the throttle line comes up from the tranny). Both of mine were shot and caused the whole assembly to move without any throttle advance where it matters...new bushings 2 bucks from my local P-mech.

Yeah don't listen to all those naysayers. I wonder how many of them have actually done a separate engine drop. I have done it both ways, and it is not hard to mate the engine and tranny back up!

Do a search under "while I am in there". You will find some pretty good listings of things to think about replacing while the motor is out. Do let it overwhelm you. I didn't want to drop the motor again without good cause so I did a bunch of stuff while it was out. You may not want to change everything. I posted a good list on a related thread. It should show up in your search.

Have fun!!

QUESTION: Any suggestion on what I should set my engine on? I am changing the clutch and doing fixing oil leaks, new valve covers, tensioners, etc. I want it up high to make the work easier. Any ideas, I don't want to mess up heat exchangers or lines down underneath. With my engine stand connected and can't change my clutch. . .

I left mine on the stand and did all the work except for the clutch. Once I was ready to put it back in, I installed the clutch with my engine sitting on an ATV jack. Those are real handy, they eliminate the balancing act.