My first engine drop... The madness begins!

[azasadny]

One of the motor mounts is definitelty "shot" and will need to be replaced. I can get to everything I need to with the engine dropped about 1 1/2 ft, so I'm going to leave it there.

[toolman]

Darn it Art, I go out of town for a few days and you start something like this. I could have brought over a few jacks, and TOOLS, we could have ahad it OUT in less than four hours. Do you still have my number?

[Thomas Owen]

We need to see more pictures.

[azasadny]

More from last night...





Now the engine is low enough for me to reach the fuel lines and vacuum hoses to replace them...

[Bob Spindel]

Seems like you have plenty of engine drop advice. The interesting thing to me is that I also have an oil leak in the same place, and have been plannig to drop my engine tomorrow! Let me know what you find. I'll do the same. (My guess is it is the oil thermostat o-ring, hopefully. The pressure sensor, hopefully. The oil cooler, less hopefully. A pulled stud in #6, much less hopefully.

[rcecale]

YIKES!!!!

Looks like your roasting this thing over an open flame!


Randy

[aigel]

Will the engine clear with allt he wood? Why did you jack the car that high?

Tip: Make sure you stuff a big rag into the throttle body and put tape on your open fuel lines. Any grime or hardware in there will make you very unhappy.

Cheers, George

[qikcpa]

Did the same job a few weeks ago for the first time. Thats a lot of wood.

[aigel]

Originally posted by qikcpa
Did the same job a few weeks ago for the first time. Thats a lot of wood.

It would be easier to go with no wood and leave the car lower. Then, once it is dropped, if the engine doesn't clear rolling it out, you can jack the car higher.

Now, if the engine doesn't clear with all the wood unerneath it, you will have to get it off the stack of wood or jack the car even higher.

Hope this helps.

George

[qikcpa]

[azasadny]

Yep,

I agree that I should have left the car lower, then not used wood, but since this is as low as I'm going, I think it will be OK. I'm only doing a partial drop to replace fuel and vacuum lines. The "flame-like" look comes from my digital camera reacting to the shop lights. The oil on the passenger side het exchangers is from when I disconnected the oil lines, there isn't a leak there. The ATV jack is very sturdy and this is a good way for me to learn how to do an engine drop. Now I'm also replacing the rear shocks and engine compartment sound pad since they're so easy to get to with the engine dropped out of the way.

[Randy Webb]

Nice try with the duct tape, but I think the "wood pile" is nonetheless unsafe. Be careful. You have other people there, right?

[aigel]

Art:

Nevermind, I didn't get that you were doing a partial drop. The thread started out with you wanting to do a full drop and I must have missed out on the phase where this became a partial one! With the partial drop, having the car high, will help to save your back. Also, here the ATV jack works great.

What Randy says, Add some thick wire or XXL zip ties to the tape.

Make sure the jack doesn't sag on you over night ... ask me how I know ...

George

[azasadny]

I just got the old shocks off. I used a 15" "Spud Wrench" with a 2ft black pipe extension on it. The PB Blaster penetrating oil helped, but it was still a pain to get the lower bolts off. Whomever worked on this car before must have used impact tools and I'm paying the price! As soon as the new vacuum and fuel lines, shocks, and motor mounts arrive and I get everything put back together, I'll take some pictures. Thanks!

[Darkmoon]

Man... I don't know... I dropped mine for the first time in February '04. I pulled the tranny with the motor. It's only 4 bolts. I can't understand why anyone would try to do a job half way. These cars were made for taking apart. It's your balleywick, but gosh, it sure seems like you are just working way, way, way too hard. 4 bolts. out. done. - That egyptian truss you have set up is going to kill someone.

[Bob Spindel]

I agree with Darkmoon. Your set-up looks downright scarey. To give you an idea how easy an actual drop is, I took mine out Friday, detached the transmission to check for leaks in there (there were none), put a new o-ring in the oil thermostat (where apparenlty the entire leak originated) and put the engine back in yesterday. Two hours to get it out, about the same, maybe less to get it back in. You could do it all in a day. I took two afternoons. And I'm just a backyard do-it-yourselfer, not a professional (By any means!!!).

[azasadny]

The engine is back in, no more fuel leaks! Everything turned out fine and I replaced the motor mounts, rear shocks, all fuel and vacuum lines, clamps, valve cover gaskets, etc... Everything else was fine and the car runs great! What a great feeling to have the car back together and to know that I did the work myself and saved some $ too. Thanks for all of your help guys, I really appreciate it!!

[toolman]

Congrats Art!