She's dead....[paranoid.RIP]

[paranoidjack]

Thanks guys, good input.

Can anyone confirm if the engine can be pulled with transmission attached?

I'd really prefer it that way.

FSM says transmission first as step 1 of engine removal process.

[maxnix]

Dropped, yes. Pulled, very difficult and much more trouble.

[paranoidjack]

OK so Brian, you recommend then pulling the transmission. I don't have the luxury of the lift, so I have to do it in the gravel driveway. I'll separate the transmission - it'll have to be done anyway, so what's the difference.

Driveshaft, exhaust - this will be fun...

[Q451990]

Wow, gravel will be even less fun. I hate pulling stuff from under cars at the pull-a-part on gravel partially because it's hard on the knees, and if you drop a bolt it tends to disappear. If it were me I think I'd go buy a few $7 sheets of 1/2" OSB or Plywood from Home Depot to lay down in the driveway just to have a smooth semi-clean surface to crawl and roll around on. I was able to drop my drive shaft in the driveway by myself using a creeper to roll it out on, so it's not ideal, but not impossible either.

Heath

[maxnix]

OK so Brian, you recommend then pulling the transmission. I don't have the luxury of the lift, so I have to do it in the gravel driveway. I'll separate the transmission - it'll have to be done anyway, so what's the difference.

Driveshaft, exhaust - this will be fun...

What happened to the bus depot guys? To drop the transmission, you need a 30" or 36" extension to get to the bolt on top when the combination is installed in the car.

Dropping on gravel is not a good idea. Hopefully you can find a better alternative.

[paranoidjack]

Yeah - I'll rake the gravel up and drop on dirt

As far as the garage, I'd be out 2.5 more weeks. I got a loaner Audi from a friend (god, what a nightmare, 1998 Audi A4, glad I have it but what a piece of crap). I need to get this DONE.

Just had the new motor dropped off. Finishing remodeling a room upstairs tonight and tomorrow then starting the pull.

[Lokim]

I got a loaner Audi from a friend (god, what a nightmare, 1998 Audi A4, glad I have it but what a piece of crap).

AMEN!

[maxnix]

Personally, I would concentrate on remodeling, job, bus schedules for 2.5 weeks as their facilities will save you days in frustration and labor. Just rehabilitate the engine you have and be prepared and it will go quickly when the time comes.

[paranoidjack]

I have thought of doing that, however:

1) The cost of his assistance and the garage, combined with opportunity cost of missing work, is the cost of the engine again. Significant savings in my driveway, my time is not that valuable, sadly. I am newly divorced and bored.

2) Ego says I can do it.

[maxnix]

I feel your pain, but I would not try to displace it by causing more. Let us know.

In my opinion, it can be done in the driveway, but then one can make ice cream in hell. The question is why try? The cost is minimal for the problems it solves, trust me.

With your buddies' help, you can probably drop the old one and install the new one in the same day. You cannot do this job by your self, even if you are Steve Reeves.

[BCC93QT]

Meh, you putting that driveshaft back in by yourself would be an awesome sight. Let alone bolting the exhaust back up. Those are the only two things I needed a second pair of hands for in my swap, even with a lift.... Spend some time at the gym before the swap. Atleast theres no snow on the cape right now.

[Brody77]

That's really strange. Specifically, what happened? Cracked Head, thrown rod, etc.? Or do you even know for sure yet?

[paranoidjack]

Got under the car last night. Pulled the whole exhaust system in an hour (I love how well-engineered Infinitis are, what a dream). I swear Dodge engineers have fun hiding bolts behind unrelated components.

Anyway, I found a chunk of my oil pan in the plastic under engine shroud. I found the related hole and stuck my finger in, felt all types of broken metal, and what felt like a piston. Argh.

I'm considering pulling the front bumper, and trying to pull the whole assembly FORWARD and up instead of dropping transmission and pulling motor. Going to go look at it now.

My transmission is sluggish but OK. Now, I find myself looking at car-part.com and seeing trannies there for $300. Maybe I'll throw a transmission in there too, some of these have 85k on them...any thoughts?

I don't have the transmission experience to rebuild mine, although that would be preferably, no idea where to begin.

[Q451990]

I think it's a crap-shoot on the transmission... You don't really know what you're getting. But it yours is showing signs of going, then... wow, that's a tough one. I guess it depends on your tolerance for doing it again if it doesn't work out. I assume the junkyard transmission would come with some sort of short warranty for the part?

Heath

[Infinitiguy19]

Jack, From what I read from Dennis seems to suggest that the seals in the transmission can only last a year without ATF moving around them.

Where in MA are you?

[paranoidjack]

I'm in Brewster, MA on the Cape. Maybe I'll call Joe and see if there's a rebuild kit I can buy, I'm a pretty smart guy, how hard can it be? Famous last words...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hCsLI69Asw

[Infinitiguy19]

Actually I think I found a guy on Craigslist that has parts from a 1992 Q45 with TWO THOUSAND MILES ON THEM!!! He has the VIN number so I will run a Car Fax. If so the transmission is mine at $500.

He claims the car was a dealer show room/test driver car. This will be fun!

[Q451990]

Sounds scamtastic!

[YELLOW S13]

Didnt you replace most under plenum issues on the blown motor? I assume you havent put more than 20k on that motor since that was done to save cost maybe transfer most parts that can be?

[paranoidjack]

Not most, but alot. Many hoses, fuel lines, and rebuilt Deutschewerks Injectors....only 5k on the new injectors...weird.....

[qship96]

Not most, but alot. Many hoses, fuel lines, and rebuilt Deutschewerks Injectors....only 5k on the new injectors...weird.....

"5K on rebuilt Deutscewerkes injectors" and then the engine blows......pm maxnix

[paranoidjack]

Progress report...

I got the diff out (someone said that would be hard, that was really easy, I was surprised, AND how light it was), 6 of the 8 transmission bolts. The two nasty 19mm mean bastards up top are holding tight, snapped my cheap 3/8" flex.

I'm off to Sears to replace my broken 3/8" ratchet and 3/8" ratchet. While there I'll grab another 1/2" 12" extension to make 36" of extension. Brian, you mentioned I would need 3 of them - unfortunately I had two 1/2", and had to convert down to 3/8" 12" for one of them. While it held, I think it allowed excessive bend. I'm grabbing a 1/2" flex, and another 12" 1/2" extension to take care of the last two.

Wow, lots of electronics on our trannies! Also the two hard lines (oil cooler and return) are a PITA. There are a ton of rusted brackets I need to replace, broken 10mm rusted screws, and nasty to route through the car. Also the 4 14mm bolts holding the TC were not fun - ultimately accomplished with a breaker bar, and a friend holding the crankshaft with a close SAE equivalent. MAN - how would you separate the transmission if the motor was seized??? Would you have to pull the rack and drop the whole thing down, and even then, how would you turn it to get to those 4 14mm bolts???

Glad I wasn't seized anyway.....

So transmission out tomorrow morning. I soaked the mount bolts with PB tonight so hopefully they'll loosen up for tomorrow. What's left? My times are all heavy to account for all aspect, tool setup/cleanup, GRAVEL, bolt discovery, etc....

[1-5 hours] Remove last 2 bolts and remove transmission. This will be very easy or very hard.
[1 HR] Remove transmission mount
[1 HR] Disconnect A/C from block, keep system intact.
[1 HR] Disconnect PS from block, keep system intact.
[30 MINS] Heater core lines.
[20 MINS] Harness, from master clip to chassis side, keeping harness on engine.
[30 MINS] Engine mount bolts
[1 HR] Pull motor

[5-10 hours] swap parts from old to new, and install new parts
-New coolant lines for heater core
-idler pulleys
-all new nuts and bolts
-water pump (maybe)
-knock sensors (maybe)
-swap my new DW injectors (maybe...mine were good to 160, might just leave engine intact. But I know KS's will go within 30-45k miles, soooo....or are bad already!
-clean EGR system
-clean TB
-replace coolant rubber ($$$ OEM, damn, custom shapes)
-transmission pan replacement

hmmmm....lots of work, but in the end, much improved. Can't wait. Silver lining in every cloud people!

[goody90q45]

If 1/2" drive tools ( i.e. ratchet wrench, breaker bar and socket set) fit into your budget it will make removing the larger bolts much easier. My 1/2" set has come in handy on other repairs on my Q's (lug nuts, struts, brakes) but in truth you can disassemble 90% of the car with a 1/4" drive set.

So you're pulling just the engine out the top and sliding the transmission off from below? How high is she jacked up? Using an engine puller or a wood gantry?

I'm anxious to hear how it goes for you tomorrow. Good luck.

[oldmako]

Master Jack.....

Might you be interested in selling some parts from whichever engine you don't use??
Looking for a few goodies.....

Plz contact me if so....

[email protected]

[paranoidjack]

If 1/2" drive tools ( i.e. ratchet wrench, breaker bar and socket set) fit into your budget it will make removing the larger bolts much easier. My 1/2" set has come in handy on other repairs on my Q's (lug nuts, struts, brakes) but in truth you can disassemble 90% of the car with a 1/4" drive set.

So you're pulling just the engine out the top and sliding the transmission off from below? How high is she jacked up? Using an engine puller or a wood gantry?

I'm anxious to hear how it goes for you tomorrow. Good luck.

Mako, you might want to remove that link to your email, webcrawlers will pick that up and you'll get tons of junkmail. Use a space, like paranoiddotjack @ gmail.com.

Goody...I'm NOT using 3/8" for the job, those transmission bolts would be the death of me, among others! I needed only a new 1/2" flex because mine exploded on one of the 19's last night, and one of the bolts requires 3 feet of extensions, and I only had two 1/2 12" extensions. 1/4"? You're insane. Unless you're using Snap-On! Craftsman here.

PROGRESS REPORT:

transmission is out. The two upper 17mm bolts on the bell housing were a ROYAL PITA. I was sure it was going to snap, specifically the driver's side bolt. It appears OK but I will be replacing it. I'm not sure why it was so hard, but it was one of the final bolts we removed. I didn't see the joint shift, but it's possible some transmission weight went on it. Even under support and lift from a jack it didn't get easier. Heads up to anyone else reading this, remove those 2 bolts FIRST as they will be the most difficult.

transmission removal? Cake with a little brainpower. We used two jacks and several 2x4 across jackstands creating bridges to stabilize and lower it. It's about 200lbs. Really easy to remove with the two of us, we owned that.

As far as the driveshaft- LOL it will be a piece of cake to get that back in, as well as the exhaust. The driveshaft surprisingly is about 40 pounds.

This car is so brilliantly designed from a service perspective, the most difficult jobs on other cars are much easier on this. I love working on this car.

Goody, The car is about 2' off of the ground. I have large 12x12 timbers from large trees, and many pieces of pine holding her up with 2 jacks a a few moving jackstands. This thing is solid.

Yeah mako we'll chat on parts, when I'm done I'm obviously taking all of the best needed parts to make my new engine, but will offer up other things for sale that I find to NICO members. You're first on the list. Anyone else? Feel free to post what you might want in this thread, I'm using it for project reference.

Beautiful weather, all going so well - going to try to get the motor out today - 5 hrs of sunlight left....YEHAWWWWWWW let's go!

[bullittandy]

I'd rec that you swap a transmission in while you're there.

I know this is an Infiniti but it would be real easy to cut the the top of the radiator support out and slide the engine and transmission in from the top.

I did this on a bread truck (Chevy P20 stepvan) to install an engine. The manual called for the engine to be dropped with the front suspension and the truck lifted off the engine. Yeah right, 30 year old suspension bolts and lifting a 7000lb truck into the air.

Cutting the radiator support out? 5 minutes.

[paranoidjack]

I'd rec that you swap a transmission in while you're there.

I know this is an Infiniti but it would be real easy to cut the the top of the radiator support out and slide the engine and transmission in from the top.

I did this on a bread truck (Chevy P20 stepvan) to install an engine. The manual called for the engine to be dropped with the front suspension and the truck lifted off the engine. Yeah right, 30 year old suspension bolts and lifting a 7000lb truck into the air.

Cutting the radiator support out? 5 minutes.

Never!

I'll do it the right way, despite the pain involved. I can see why you would have done it, I would have done the same.

PROGRESS REPORT:

Success! In 8 hours today we removed the transmission and engine. Beautiful. All went smoothly and nothing was damaged. A/C compressor was a bit of a pain, and of course the hassle of towing the car to have the refrigerant legally and properly drained and back (*), and the PS wasn't that bad.

So, you guys want to see the damage? Holy moly...I'm in yellow, my friend is in gray. We pulled and changed his engine in his 97 prelude last year in bitter January, for 30 hours under a tarp. Miserable...this was much nicer with a beautiful afternoon, coffee, pastrami, and beer! Now I'll clean out the engine bay, find out what I need to replace, swap parts, order parts, and put her back together. She'll end up stronger than ever.

I can't help but think a junkyard transmission with warranty for $300 is a bad idea right now. How can it be worse than mine with 195k? Mine was taken care of, but still.....





Holding the broken pieces we found in the oil pan

[oldmako]

Well for starters, I would be interested in some coils. After that, I'll have to give it some thought.

My car now has 185K and the ONLY complaint that I have is the dreaded "stumble". The car amazes me in most other respects. It's intermittent, and usually goes away after several pints of super gas juice. So, perhaps not the coils.....but they seem to be the boogeyman on the Q2 and are $$$ so why not?

Really, to my mind the only weak link is the suspension. The GD parts are outrageous, but since I paid 4 grand for a 45K car with only 100K and 9 years on it, what the hell.

BEST OF LUCK to you and the task at hand. All the best.

[RustyBucket]

Nice work!

This thread is giving me bad ideas though... I see your pics of the engine swap and it's making me think that a parking lot 5-speed swap on my '94 might actually be feasible.

[maxnix]

Good going! I would have left the AC compressor intact if possible. Let's see some close ups of the failed bits.

Oldmako, coil packs seem to be wear items. I have found replacing them individually as they fail is generally a waste of time as the failure rate proceeds relentlessly.