Dropping engine... how much space needed to slide it out from under the car?

[Scottc714]

Originally Posted by sempaipaul

Title says it all

Trying to buy the correct jack stands and also figure out my strategy.

I was trying to get one of these:
500 lb. Capacity Hydraulic Table Cart

Take off the handle and place it under the engine. Drop the engine on it and then roll this thing out from under the car. I need to know how much clearance however the engine needs. I assume the bumper will have to come off?

The reason I want to use this cart is that I will have to load the engine into an SUV or a pick up for delivery to my rebuilder.

Any other alternative ideas that you guys have approached this with?

Thank you,
Paul

I used an old cart I had laying around and reinforced it with some 3/4 plywood. The cart had just enough room to get a floorjack under it.

My strategy was: I jacked the car up a foot or so to a comfortable safe height to climb under and disconnect everything. I then centered the cart and jack under the engine and only had to lower it a few inches to get it down to the ground. Then i jacked up the car a few inches at a time with my 2nd floorjack using the jack pads and jack stands under the torsion bars. The rear end has to go up pretty high to clear the engine but the engine is already sitting on the ground and the car weighs nothing at that point basically. I removed mine with the tranny.

I didnt measure how high but I did mark the notches on the jack stands for reinstalling later. I only had the car up in the air long enough to pull the engine out from under and then it went back down to the ground immediately. Totally safe and never under the car except when it was about a foot off the ground.

I found some broken head studs .....basically one per soda drank.













All pretty and dolled up with new steel studs ready to go back in.

[Tippy]

I jack my C3.2 up high enough until the nose touches the ground.

No need to remove bumper at this height for me.

[universeman]

Reviving old thread...does it make sense to drive the car up on ramps in front, then disconnect engine, use tilt of car to help slide engine backward, then raise car off the engine?

Or does having the front higher off the ground make the job harder?