First Engine Drop & a Few Related Questions

With a friend I dropped my engine yesterday In order to replace a (very!) cracked airbox. While I'm at it I'm replacing the oil pressure sender (broken), oil pressure switch (leaking? -probably, it unscrewed by hand!), oil thermostat O-ring (leaking?), crankcase breather hose gasket (leaking?), removing & storing the A/C, adjusting the valves, replacing rear shocks etc.

The operation generally went well in a pretty small garage- mainly due to information from this board. Had to run out a get a bit of steel pipe to coax the hard oil line connection nut off (ended up using 2 $6 12 inch long adjustable wrenches with a jack supporting the line- the special Pelican 36mm oil line wrench was useless- it seemed about 2mm too large & slipped & deformed immediately). All CV bolts came off fine (does anyone know the torx bit size for the CV bolts in an '82? I removed the bolts with an 6mm allen (it fit snugly) but would like to get the proper bit for the future- torx bits don't seem to have a mm designation?)

While torquing on the engine mount nut to remove it the engine support cross member snapped at one threaded barrel to sheet metal weld . I don't think I want to get the support rewelded & will probably try & find a good used one. If I can't extract the engine mount nut from the broken piece I'll need to look at new mounts (the current ones are ~30000 miles old). The transmission mounts look old (although not cracked or anything) so I'm pondering sport motor mounts all 'round in the hope of improving shifting performance a little more. Would these make a noticeable improvement over OEM mounts? Are they any noisier?

Anyway I now have the CIS system dissasembled ready to attach the new airbox (I'm in agreement with what has been said already- I couldn't imagine doing this with even a partial engine drop- it would be very very difficult.) While I'm at it I think I'll plug the AAV & check operation of the AAR (I've never had fast the cold idle.)

Took a few photos (think I'll probably need them for the reassembly somehow) which I might post later. Its pretty cool seeing the thing just sitting there on the garage floor (will it be OK resting on the heat exchangers for a week or so?)

cheers,

[VincentVega]

Nice work. The best part will be getting things back together and driving it again! Rather than a torx I believe you need a 12 pt allen. Pelican sells one here: http://www.pelicanparts.com/catalog/shopcart/ptoo/por_ptoo_miscel_main.htm

[Rick Lee]

One of my CV's had the 12 pt. bolts. I think they were 6mm. You might as well buy the 4 piece 12 point. kit. You can get it from Lisle Tools and it includes the 12mm bit you need for the flywheel bolts too. The whole thing cost about $9. You can find those engine cross members one eBay all the time. I've bought two. You don't have to get one specific to your car either. If you get one without the threaded holes, you can just buy washers and nuts. I did that for my first engine drop when mine broke and someone sent me the wrong one for my car. It fit fine, but I had to buy washers and nuts. The last one I got (for my new engine) came with threaded holes. As for the hard oil line wrench, you did exactly what we did with mine. But the best tool for the job is made by Paul Wilding (www.wildingeng.com). I don't know how anyone did it before this tool came out.

[jmohn]

If your CV bolts aren't true allen's then they're "triple square" (not Torx), you can use the Lisle tool (I have with good luck) but I think this is a higher quality tool:
[URL=http://www.pelicanparts.com/catalog/shopcart/ptoo/por_ptoo_miscel_main.htm]

Jerry M
'78 SC

[Gunter]

I noticed that the stock OEM motor mounts do compress over the years. I ended up grinding the center bushing in each mount a good 3/16 " to reduce the clearance. The solid mounts are o.k. and many people like them. Resting on the heater boxes should be alright, I presume that you put some support under the center of the casing where the oil strainer is? If you have the Bentley manual, this may be a good time to check all the settings for throttle plate and airflow sensor plate, etc. and all the hoses to prevent vacuum leaks. Good luck.

[john walker's workshop]

the broken cross bar end is fairly common, unfortunately. there's just no way to hold it from twisting as you loosen the bolt. a welding shop can reattach the end properly. after all, they were welded on originally.
make sure that no washers slipped into an intake port an/or got into a combustion chamber. rotate the engine a few times to check for binding before and after installing the intake.

That Wilding Engineering wrench looks like the one I got through Pelican (http://www.pelicanparts.com/catalog/shopcart/ptoo/por_ptoo_miscel_main.htm)? It slipped on the nut first try with moderate force- like it was too big. I was surprised by how easy it was to get the thing undone with a couple adjustable spanners & short pipe- thought the engine was last out only 30000 miles ago. I'll start scouring Ebay for a engine cross member

[Don Plumley]

I thought I read someplace that you should change out your CV joint bolts when you drop the CV's. If true, this means you can get standard hex bolts from Pelican (N-014-751-3) instead of a special tool. When I re-lubed my CV's I put in all new bolts. Curious if anyone can confirm this.

[Jim Sims]

The Schnorr lockwashers (if used on the CV joints) should only be used once. The CV joint screws can be reused as long as their wrenching features are in good condition, they're not corroded, and they're not stretched or "necked".