For those that may be interested, an update on the project. Briefly, I
have a 74-1/2 GT, converted to CB & lowered, with a 215 Buick & T-5 with
about 32,000 miles on it. The engine developed a bad case of blow-by, &
I needed to pull it & take it back to the rebuilder to be put right. At
some point in trying to figure out the best way to do this, & not be
without the car for a long period of time, I bought a 4.2L Rover short
block with heads with about 50 miles on it, from Woody @ the Wedge shop.
I decided to finish the 4.2, put it in the car, & have the other engine
repaired without time constraints.
The new engine has been complete for several months now, & I finally got
a window to start the swap process. This weekend was time to pull the
old engine. Got a late start on Sat., didn't start turning wrenches
untill about noon.
When I swapped engines in the V8 roadster a few years ago, I figured out
a neat way to do it, but didn't know if I could repeat, since this car
has a larger T-5 trans in place of the Roadster's T-50. Decided to try,
& it worked out just fine.
Since both cars have A/C, the idea was to do the swap without removing
the radiator or A/C condenser. What I did:
Remove the driveshaft, shifter, rear tranny crossmember. Unhook
speedo, reverse light wires. Remove the lower tranny mounting bolts,
replacing them with a set from the first swap, that had the heads cut
off, & slots cut for a screwdriver. Drain the hydraulic throwout
bearing, remove the clips holding the Airquip lines. Put a jack under
the tranny, remove the upper bolts. The weight is now on the lower
headless bolts, not the input shaft, as I work the tranny clear of the
bellhousing, supported, precariously, on the floor jack. Wish I had
thought of a different saddle for the jack. 20/20 hindsight. Worked the
tranny back so the tailshaft was supported by the fixed chassies cross
brace, put a jackstand under the tranny. Stopped for coffee & a cig.
Up on top, I already had all the hoses off, carb off, lifting plate on,
wires undone, etc. Back underneath, I removed all the bellhousing bolts,
but could not get the bellhousing to drop out, so I just left it in the
tunnel. Time to call it a day.
Sun AM, 9:00, I finally got started again. Unbolted the A/C compressor &
bracket, layed them on the fender on top of a fender cover, used a
bungee cord to keep it from moving around. Removed the alternator, then
all the header bolts, bungeed the haeders out of the way, did not remove
them. Removed the hood supports (gas props from the drunken Scot), more
bungee cords to hold the hood (bonnet, if you are British) as upright as
possible, hooking the other end to the hatch opening. Removed the
electric fan, 3" gained in wiggle room, put a piece of 1/4" plywood in
front of the radiator, just in case. Unbolted the ears of the rubber
mounts from the engine adapter-mount plate.
Hooked up the engine hoist, lifted that sucker right out, including the
clutch & pressure plate. 2:30 PM, done.No damage, didn't even come close
to the plywood. Had I taken the clutch & pressure plate off before
pulling the engine, I would not have had to remove the fan- toss-up.
Could have been done in 1 day, abit a long one, if you want to bust-ass,
or had some help. As it was, I had no deadline, saw no point in working
that hard.
It is somewhat of a toss-up, doing the removal this way, as opposed to
pulling the engine/tranny as a unit. This way, the grill, radiator, A/C
condensor, other electric fan (to run when the A/C is on), all stayed in
place. You do not have to re-set the car on the stands to drop the
front, elevate the rear. The trans does not have to be drained. The
hydraulic throwout bearing does not have to be unhooked, & in
retrospect, did not have to be drained.
If you pull the whole as a unit, seperation of the tranny, bellhousing
is easier. No difference in the clutch, as it came out with the engine.
Next week, clean & re-paint the engine bay, only have 1 day to work on
cars, Sat devoted to demonstrating to the Club how to replace the
spacers in a B rear, to remove the dreaded clunk.
If this is interesting to the list, I will follow up later with the
install part. Let me know if this is a waste of bandwidth, as I will
only bore you once, that way.
Jim Stuart
2 V8's, no dollars or sense, somewhat tired.
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