Pulling the motor....

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Anyone have any tips or any good sites that have step by step instructions for pulling out a motor? This will be my first pull of my 5.0 in my '91 coupe. I am going to do a cam, heads and clean the hell out of the engine bay.

I want to do it right and not break anything.

The car is a AOD car so i assume that makes things a bit more tricky.


Anyone have any advice?

My ultimate plans for the car are to use it or keep it usable as a daily driver / hobby car. I dont want to get too extreme with the cam.....just enough to push it a bit faster and give it that cool idle

The car currently has unequal headers, xpipe, mac cat back, cold air, 3.73s and thats about it......87000 original miles.

I assume before i do too much more ill have to do subframes and also put in a shift kit so i dont cook my AOD as well.

what do you guys recommend?

[Ieatcamaros]

Things not to forget to take off: Body ground strap, starter cable, Oil pressure gauge line, water temperature gauge line, throttle cable. I know there's more, but those are commonly overlooked. Especially the first two. Since your car is fuel injected, double and triple check to make sure you disconnect every electrical connection that is required to be disconnected. I would also recommend you label your connections with masking tape and a marker. And make a list on paper just so you don't end up with two 12's or two U's, depending on the system you use. Obviously, you will be taking the h pipe loose from the headers and depending on you headers and car, you may have to take them off too. I always take the headers off in the car no matter the situation. If you are going to do this in a shop, drain the water outside and then push the car inside. I just hate laying in antifreeze. Nothing else bothers me, but antifreeze does for some unknown reason. If you do this and can't push the car inside, it will be ok to drive it in with some of the water out. There is more, I just can't think of every little detail right this minute. While the engine is out, I'd replace the rear main seal. Since you have an AOD, check and make sure the torque converter is seated in the front pump all the way before you go to put the motor back in. Sometimes the converter hangs on the flywheel and it can pull the converter out of the pump a little bit. If you get the motor in and you can get the converter bolted to the flywheel, but the motor won't seat with the transmission, then you know the converter has been pulled out of the pump. DO NOT try to pull it together with the bellhousing bolts.

The shift kit and subframes should definitely be your next mods. And then a converter to match the top end package you are going to put in. Ideally, you'd like to change the converter while you got it apart. Otherwise, you'll be pulling the transmission when you get ready.

Have fun and good luck. After you do this a couple of times, you can do it in your sleep.

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great! Thanks for the advice! I probably wont start for a couple more weeks yet but im trying to gather as much information as i can before i start. My plan is to use a digital camera and take pics of most of the process so i can use those for re-assembly

[rwhite65]

I would replace the front seal on the AOD while you have it apart. Always a good idea, I hate oil leaks.
Ryan

[82 GT]

Since it's your first time, I would snap a few quick pictures of under the hood in case you don't remember where wires or vacuum hoses go.
Pull the engine and tranny together as a unit.
When you take bolts out of something, put them in a plactic bag and label it. This way you know for sure where they go.
I did that the first time I rebuilt my own engine and I'm glad I did!
Also, this goes without saying, but have a buddy there to help you when you pull it and take your time. It's not really hard at all.
I can pull my engine in about an hour and a half now.

[~The Jester~]

Originally Posted by rwhite65

I would replace the front seal on the AOD while you have it apart. Always a good idea, I hate oil leaks.
Ryan

Rear tranny seal too! And since you have it all apart, don't forget about the front and rear engine seals!!!

Reminds me of a joke about a Penguin eating Ice Cream..... hehhehehehehe

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is it easier to pull the tranny with the motor? If i do pull the tranny with the motor would this be a good time to put in the shiftkit? or will i want to do that with the transmission in the car?

[Ieatcamaros]

It is easier to pull them together as a unit. You can put it all together while it is out in the open, which saves a headache. The downside to that is you have to pull all the stuff loose from underneath the car. I.E. exhaust, driveshaft, crossmember, speedometer cable, etc. And you will lose trans fluid when you do this too. With an auto car, I don't pull them as a unit. All in all, I'd say that things go smoother when you pull them together, but there is more work involved. Putting a shift kit in is easy enough with the transmission still in the car. You can do it when it's out, if you want too. I'd prefer to do it with the trans still in the car.

**Be sure you got a good chain and you hook it good if you do decide to pull them together. That's a shitload of weight you are pulling out.

[Mustang_289]

Also make sure you've got the trans plugged so trans fluid doesn't leak everywhere. We pulled our engine and T-5 together this summer, plugged where the driveshaft goes, but did not plug the top of trans where the shifter was, had a bunch of red fluid to clean up on the floor...

[silver_pilate]

I always pull the motor seperate from the tranny. Really depends on how much of a mess you want to make. Usually less mess with the tranny left in the car, though putting the motor back in usually takes some "finess" to line up the bell housing to the block.

A suggestion I would make would be to get a couple of large pieces of cardboard. As you remove bolts, just poke them through the cardboard, putting bolts from the same area/part together. You can lable them with a marker right on the cardboard.

Definately use some masking tape the first time around to lable both ends of the connectors you unplug.

Also, take a couple of close up digital pictures of the vacuum tree on the passanger side of the motor and the accessory brackets while they are still hooked up. The accessory brackets can be a puzzle to go back together.

Basically, just go slow. Disconnect anything holding the engine to the car. Putting it back in the first time always takes longer than taking it out. If you run into any snags, just ask us.

--nathan