Advice on lifting engine?

[mdbrandy]

OK, I'm about to the point of lifting the engine out of my car. Got the hood and entire front body off (grill, headlight buckets, etc.). I decided to "lighten" the engine as much as I could before lifting it by removing anything I could. Figured I'd lift as little weight as possible. So, when I took off the intake manifold and header, I discovered that the rear engine lifting ring is attached to the rear header stud. So, I have to put that stud and the ring back on. I intend to put a stack of washers between the head and the lifting ring of the same thickness as the header flange. Questions:

Anybody done it this way?

I hadn't considered earlier, but now wonder if the balance of the engine assembly might be adversely changed and make it more difficult to get it out. Any thoughts?

Anything that I REALLY shouldn't take off before lifting it? I'm leaving the transmission attached, but taking off the starter, alternator, manifolds, distributor, etc. Leaving the head and valve cover.

Thanks for any discussion.

[phi22b@ck]

My hook at the rear popped off so I what I did was to take a piece of heavy chain and weld it to a piece of 5/16" steel with a hile drilled in it. You can then bolt it in to the bell housing and use that as the rear hook.

I will always lift them that way now.

If you dont have access to a welder, you have a couple of choices, you can see your local fab shop and they should be able to whip one up for a couple of bucks, or you can PM me and I can set you up with a rig.

d

[Ed]

I pulled my engine & tranny last month. I stripped it down about the same as you. I bolted the front of my chain to the holes up by the # 1 spark plug used a grade 8 bolt. The rear of my chain I used one of the exhaust manifold bolts. Engine and tranny no problem. Set the balance so the rear hangs about lower than the front. Should come out with out any problems.

[mdbrandy]

Originally posted by phi22b@ck

My hook at the rear popped off

You can then bolt it in to the bell housing and use that as the rear hook.

d

I guess I need to ask what you mean by 'popped off'? Do you mean that the stud that it was attached to stripped and the stud and lifting ring came out while you were lifing it? That seems kind of ugly! I like your idea of attaching it to the bellhousing bolt. The rear lifting ring on mine is nothing more than a flat piece of steel with a hole for the bolt and the ring for attaching the chain/hook. The left top bellhousing bolt is only a couple inches from the rear exhaust header stud, so it won't change the geometry much, and is probably a lot stronger. Barring other good suggestions, I'll try that.

Anyone else have problems with the lifting ring(s) "popping off"?

Thanks.

[mdbrandy]

Originally posted by Ed

I bolted the front of my chain to the holes up by the # 1 spark plug used a grade 8 bolt.

You still used a hole in the head? The front lifting ring is just above where you said you attached your front chain. Makes me wonder if attaching to the steel block would be better than the alumunum head, but that'd probably make the attachment points too low, and make the assembly unstable to lift. I'd think that the grade of bolt for this wouldn't be that important, since it seems to me that the aluminum threads in the head would give long before even a grade 5 steel bolt. Why did you decide not to use the lifting ring right above where you attached your front chain?

Thanks for the discussion!

[MikeW]

If you don't already have it, Wick Humble's "How to Restore your Datsun Z-Car" is quite useful. The second chapter explains how to remove the engine and transmission and has lots of tips and tricks. He mentions things like cleaning everything up good first, storing all small items in baggies with proper labels, using fender protectors, not to let the whole things swing towards the windshield, etc.

While I didn't pull my engine myself, I've read enough of the book to know that it would probably come in handy in your situation.

[Z Kid]

Neither of my engines had the rings for lifting on them. I just used a rople sling, round the engine, and round the gearbox, this allowed for plenty of simple adjustment, as well as being easy and cheaper than chain (before you flame me about rope not being strong enough, remember that modern 1mm spectra has a SWL of 100kg's.) If you are worried about stripping studs etc out of the head, this may be the way to go, and providing you can tie a knot well, its not going to move. When I pulled the motors, they were motor gearbox carbs etc all in one, and had no problems, except the tree which I had the block and tackle tied to kept moving, making it a bit of a pain in the arse . Good luck

[mdbrandy]

Originally posted by MikeW

Wick Humble's "How to Restore your Datsun Z-Car" is quite useful. The second chapter explains how to remove the engine and transmission and has lots of tips and tricks.

I do have the book, and I've read about the first half of it so far. It has an amazing amount of good information. However, it doesn't have every detail about every thing you might want to know. All it says about the engine lifting points is to use the two lifting rings. Since I still want to minimize the amount of slung weight, he didn't answer my specific question, which is why I asked it here. I knew someone would have had some similar experience that I could learn from :classic: .

I spent 15 years doing risk and safety engineering work, so I try to minimize my risks wherever I can (like by lifting the least amount of weight, and understanding what can fail). I'll undoubtedly increase my risk when I get the car back on the road and up to speed around some tight corners :devious:

Thanks.

[JEFF]

When I lifted my engine out I removed the cylinder head 1st.

It was coming of the block after it was out anyway. I lifted the head,intake & exhaust header as one piece. I took the trans out the bottom(four bolts on the bell housing, 2 bolts for the slave cylinder, 3 bolts for the crossmember, 4 bolts for the drive shaft)

To hold up the back of the engine when removing the trans I used a length of 2x4 accross the fenders with a thick padding of towels then used a tiedown strap under the oil pan to support the engine. When just the block is sitting there with the strap and the 4 motor mount bolts off it is free to lift. I lifted it with 3 tiedown straps - 1 around each motor mount and 1 under the oilpan next to the one holding up the back of the engine. By lifting the block out like this it allowed me to shorten and lengthen the straps to change the angle of the engine as needed to guide it out easily. I think it was an exelent way to pull the engine out. No lifting holes to worry about , and able to change the position at any time I needed.

- Jeff

[hmsports]

I've always simply run a long bolt through a large diameter flat washer then through one of the end links of the lifting chain and lastly into the rear-most header hole in the head -- and at the other end, replaced one of the fuel pump bolts with a similar set-up. Done this at least a dozen times without ever hurting the head or threads.

[Mike]

Don't always trust those little eye hooks on the L-series engines. I learnt the hard way.

Fortunately, if it's going to drop... it will do so in the first few inches. I would HATE to see an engine drop while it's hanging over the front support bar. Wouldn't that just be a total shame!?!

Anyway, the bolts holding the eye hooks are usually rusted and old. If you lift an engine, at least replace these bolts!! I had one shoot into my ceiling and the engine dropped a few inches back to the mounts.

I now check the lift system for any kind of failure before I raise everything up in the air. My 'check' is simply pushing, pulling, and bouncing the engine while it's only an inch or so off the mounts.

Seriously, do this.

[mdbrandy]

Wow, some interesting anecdotes here. I'm going to use the bellhousing bolt in back - at least that goes into the block, and the bolt is in really good shape - still has the yellow zinc plating. I'll look into what I want to do in front. I'll at the very least remove the front mounting eye and inspect the bolt very closely. Maybe I can use one of the alternator bolts on the block just below the front lifting eye. Nice big bolts there!

Thanks for all the results of your experience - that's what makes this forum so valuble!