I’ve decided to pull the engine out of my 93 N/A (155K)because it seems that some of the components are starting to fail. The block has good compression, but things like the water pump and miscellaneous gaskets are starting to go south. My alternator is covered in so much oil it’s ridiculous. I’ve done engine swaps back in my Honda days, and I’ve done a 240 swap as well. So I would say that I’m fairly knowledgeable when it comes to that kind of stuff. I got most of the wiring harness removed, and all the other stuff that ties the engine down.

However I noticed a wiring harness that comes from the back of the tranny, and snakes behind my exhaust manifold and continues to my alternator and stops somewhere near the passenger headlight. Any tips on removing this would be great. It looks to me like the only way I can disconnect the alternator is if I un-bolt it and carefully support it up while getting access to all the wiring connections.

Also how do I free the engine block from the motor mounts. I think I can access the driver side mount just fine, but the passenger side has the power steering pump in its way, if I was attempting to get to it from the front of the car.

Finally where is the best place to fasten the engine when it comes time to hoist it out.

Any help with these question would greatly help me thanks.

Having done my 2nd pull in two weeks this is the way I did it:

-I removed the alternator off the engine and allowed it to hang supported by bunge-cords. This way you do not have to unplug any harness attached to the alternator, it stays with the car. The transmission harness stays with the car, nothing is attached to the engine but one 10mm bracket.

The motormount nuts are accessible with a 14mm long extension and or swivel joint. Do not try to free the motor mounts from the engine block, remove the two nuts from the bottom of the rubber mounts that sit onto the crossmember.

I used a chain connected to the two plenum support brackets on either side of the intake plenum. The bracket goes between the engine block and plenum and it seems to be a commonly used choice. Then I hooked the engine picker onto the middle of the chain spanning between the two sides.

Hopefully this will help!

Did you remove the tranny attached to the engine? I think I read somewhere that you have to be cautious about where you bolt your chains to when pulling them together. I think some locations are not a good choice because of the weight and balance. I’m going to be removing both the engine and tranny to avoid lining them up later.

No, the tranny cant come out with the engine unless you go through dropping the crossmember and ive heard it still wont clear properly. Remove the tranny first. The location where I use to lift the engine only cannot support the transmission also, its too heavy and the balance will be off. Trust me, much easier to line up transmission than fight trying to lift them both out at the same time.

any opinons on removing the oil pan to avoid having to drop the cross member?

robomatic12 wrote:No, the tranny cant come out with the engine unless you go through dropping the crossmember and ive heard it still wont clear properly.

wrong. I pulled my engine and tranny out, without even touching the crossmember, you just gotta work with the engine oil pan, and getting it over the steering rack.

I have a 90 tt and we were able to pull the motor, tranny, and turbos without having to remove any of it. You just have to work with it a little bit. Its a tight squeeze, but it will work. You also will have to raise the front of the car off the ground a little to allow for the tranny's back end to drop down. We raised the motor out of the car by putting 4 600lbs straps around some of the intake plenum and it worked perfectly and didnt break anything. Having to drop the crossmember is way too much work.

loosen off the front bolts and remove the rear bolts of the crossmember and it'll sit down enough to get it out

You need a shoehorn but it'll come out. I found that with my chassis anyways, it was impossible to drop the engine down as it kept hanging on the frame, we just took it out the top as it was easier.

M

nastys13 wrote:I’ve decided to pull the engine out of my 93 N/A (155K)because it seems that some of the components are starting to fail. The block has good compression, but things like the water pump and miscellaneous gaskets are starting to go south. My alternator is covered in so much oil it’s ridiculous. I’ve done engine swaps back in my Honda days, and I’ve done a 240 swap as well. So I would say that I’m fairly knowledgeable when it comes to that kind of stuff. I got most of the wiring harness removed, and all the other stuff that ties the engine down.

However I noticed a wiring harness that comes from the back of the tranny, and snakes behind my exhaust manifold and continues to my alternator and stops somewhere near the passenger headlight. Any tips on removing this would be great. It looks to me like the only way I can disconnect the alternator is if I un-bolt it and carefully support it up while getting access to all the wiring connections.

Also how do I free the engine block from the motor mounts. I think I can access the driver side mount just fine, but the passenger side has the power steering pump in its way, if I was attempting to get to it from the front of the car.

Finally where is the best place to fasten the engine when it comes time to hoist it out.

Any help with these question would greatly help me thanks.

make sure not to cut the engine harness because they are valueable and it really helps if you have a lift because the engine bolts in the back are very hard to go to.