engine swap need help

Im New at this motor swapping thing and right now im kinda stuck. i was wondering if any one can give me some tips on how to get to those bolts holding my tranny to my engine. there in a really diificult spot to get to. i was wondering if anyone knows of a certain tool i can use or a diffirent way to get to them besides under the car. if tried almost everyway there is. or if it is easiest to pull the tranny out with the motor. Thanks

are you doing the v6-v8 swap.....pull the engine out with the tranny..you cant use the tranny anyway..........if its not the v6-v8 swap.....alot of people will suggest that you do....i didnt...pull the distributor... that will help.......then get some extensions..big ones..and a flex socket....thats what i did....and get a dictionary of swear words...you will need it

we put a 350 in this weekend and we were having that problem. what we did was put the engine on a engine hoist and jack the tranny up as much as it will go. Have 1 person on the top of the car slowley put the engine down and have two ppl underneath on each side guiding it in...get the bottom bolts of the bellhousing to the engine first and work up from there...dont know if this will help you but it helped us

Jcrane88 must have read the book I never wrote. :)

Yes, you will need to remove the distributor, not just the cap but the whole thing. Make sure you mark the positions of the distributor to the block, and the rotor to the distributor body and remove that sucker. Be careful when reinstalling it that the marks you made line up and that the distributor does not "stop going into the engine" with about 1/4" left before flush mounting (this is an indication that the oil pump driveshaft is not indexed if this happens). Keep in mind that you will need a jack under the transmission. A floor jack with a 2x4 on the business end will work if you don't have access to a transmission jack.

Allow the engine to tilt backward and use the 9/16" socket on a universal joint (swivel joint) and then use an extension that's long enough for you to reach the bolts from behind and above the transmission (from underneath the car - you will be getting to all 6 bolts from under the car). Make sure the torque converter is fully indexed with the transmission front pump. Using the jack under the transmission, work it and the transmission as close to the engine as you can, minding the alignment lugs that are on the back of the engine toward the center (between the two side bolts on each side of the transmission flange). Stick the top two bolts in a few threads but do not tighten them now. Making sure there are no wires or anything else pinched between the bellhousing and the engine block, install the 4 remaining bolts (two on each side of the engine, alignment lugs are between these bolts). Once all bolts are in and snugged up, you can tighten them down (torque to 35 ft. lbs.) and your transmission is attached to the engine. Jack the transmission up in order to install the crossmember. Make sure you use a new mount here - they're cheap. Once the crossmember is in place, you can reinstall the distributor in the engine. .... or if you ignored the request to remove the distributor, you will now have to remove it and replace it with one that's not crushed.

I use open end wrench on those with a jack handle on the hand for leverage. Its a tight squeeze so on some cars there is a bit too little space to get a socket in let alone the joint. Welcome to AF camaro84

Actually i never removed the distributor...but i got the bright idea to (duh!) when putting the engine back in...that way it was much easier...i didnt have to use the dictionary that time.....actually 88camaroproject told me that....works much better with the distributor removed though...

i dropped my engine in with the distributor already in place... and I would highly recommend having it in place. Also, it's much easier to set it correctly outside of the engine bay. as long as you are careful ( as you should be anyway) when puttin the engine in, it will be fine.

if you put int the engine in first you might run into clearance problems with the lip of the firewall... it looked like i would have had to cut part of the firewall to get the distr. in, due to how the distr. would have to be angled.

anyway... i would prefer to take the tranny out along with the engine becauase it's a hell of a lot easier.... just a few bolts on the crossmember, torque arm, and that's it. tranny fluid does get messy though. hey, add a shift kit or something while you got it out.

you are aware that you can't use a 6cylinder tranny on a v8 right?

anymore questions let us know.

thanks everybody i will try everyones suggestion and see what one works best i am putting a 350 in place of a 305 i blew the 305 a few weeks ago.

i'm also doing the swap.i just got the motor mounts and i have the motor im putting in, just waiting for a good deal on a th350 or a th400. then it will be ready to go basically. but right now, im where you are. i got bored one night and took the engine completely apart out in the parking lot except for the block which is still attached to the tranny. speaking of which if anybody has any parts that would be helpful such as a cowl hood, wheels/tires, TRANNY, etc. let me know that would be awesome haha

just pull the tranny out with the engine, it's a hell of a lot easier.

Greesemunkee7, if you're ever in Ohio, I can get set you up with a th350 for next to nothing.

One more suggestion--although I also prefer to put them both back in together--go buy (2) two foot long extensions, put 'em together w/ your socket on the end. Next get that before mentioned dictionary, put a bolt in the socket, and get it to the hole (a buddy really helps) and start it by HAND using the extensions. Obviously you'd be laying near the tailshaft of the tranny when your doin this. Good Luck.

ah man im in texas. wander if that good of a deal could happen around here haha. i wander how much it would cost to ship a tranny?

I don't know, it would hafta be truck freight tho, and I don't think my father would wanna go thru that.

yeah i hear that. that would be a bitch. ill find something

what part of texas are you from...Im from austin...i see th 350's and 400's for sale pretty often here in texas....try texasracingscene.com, afbforums.com, nttga.net(or .org) dont remember, austinthirdgen.org

If I was to take out the transmission with the motor what all will i have to disconeect from the tranny to get it to slide right out. and will i have enough room in mmy engine compartment hoist both the engine and tranny out at the same time.

disconnect the shift linkage on the left side of the tranny... everythin else will be obvious... the torque arm (coming from the differential housing), exhaust hanger, crossmember, tranny mount (right under the tranny, on the rear section, between the tranny and crossmember). that's it... might sound like a lot but there are only a couple of bolts on each one.

yes you have enough room to get them both out at same time. but you need to take the radiator and shroud out too. but that's simple too.

well guys still no luck i just cant seem to get my extensins to get on the bolt just right. Is there any way i could unbolt the tranny and almost pull it out and then get to those hard to get bolts that connect the tranny and engine. and then pull engine by itself. im gettin frustrated

Please i need all the help i can get

im actually from austin too, but going to school in waco rightnow, my friend is brining up a th350 from corpus for 100 bucks and its still good. so we'll see how that one works out.

the only way you're going to get that tranny to move even a little bit, is to unbolt everything... in which case you might as well take the tranny out. cause it's still easier. lifting an engine and tranny is just as easy as lifting an engine out (assuming everything is disconnected).

The only other thing you might want to try before you do all that is getting the extensions AND the swivel adapter, that allow the socket to be held at different angles... if you don't already have it. but also consider that, even if the socket and adapter works.... it's gonna be just as hard to get the engine back in.

just take the tranny out.

i hope all of u guys are having fun with the swap thing, because i just finished my friend with his 3800 to ls1 swap a week ago, and man am i gonna have a time when mines is ready to go in....this shit is crazy!