Engine Hoisting Proceedure

[cowboydren@b15sentra.net]

I thought it would be appropriate to document, or at least reiterate a
few things I learned this weekend whilst doing an engine swap in a '91
G20 (I should say "helping to do," rather than "doing").

We used two M8 1.25 bolts, about 1.5" long, picked up at a hardware
store.  We found an assortment of suitable bolts at Lowe's, for not much
money at all.  Funny thing about buying hardware at Lowe's, the bolts
have metric threads, but Imperial heads.  Weird.  We also got some
M8/1.25 nuts (non-locking), and some 3/8" "Fender Washers" which are
about 1.25" in diameter.  We also got 10' of medium galvanized steel
chain, I forget the gauge, but it's rated at 1300#, so we figured it
would be fine.  Maybe we should have picked up 6' instead, but it's good
to have more than you need, right?

The washer goes on the bolt, the nut holds the washer to the head of the
bolt, the bolt is driven through the hoisting chain, and into the head.
We found two suitable tapped holes in the head, neither of which were
used for holding a manifold on, so we were pretty confident that we
wouldn't hurt anything by holding the engine up.  One hole was at the
passenger front side of the head, the other was on the driver rear.
Please don't ask me what the holes were *actually* for, I don't
remember (wrenching after-hours does that to ya').

We used a standard 3000# engine hoist, and it did the job just fine.
After all of the electrical and vacuum connections were off of the
engine, the axles were out, and we were just ready to pull the motor
mounts, the chain and bolts were assembled, the chain put on the hoist,
and bolts driven through the cylinder head.  I think it's important not
to drive the bolts more than finger-tight; the bolts are quite long, and
will bottom with plenty of room for the chain between the cylinder head
and washer.  Tightening the bolts doesn't do any good except to strain
the threads in the block, which could be very bad.  The engine was
hoisted just to the point where the chain had full tension, so as not to
load the motor mounts in the *opposite* vertical direction.

Once all of the mounts were disconnected and the engine was
pan-on-gravel in the driveway, we discovered that we hadn't lifted the
front end enough.  The engine crossmember was out, and we scratched our
heads about what to do with the engine in Limbo under the car, but
unable to escape.  Monkeyness ensued, and we put the bolts back into the
passenger/driver brackets on the body, ran the chain through them, and
used the hoist to pick up the body about 10" more.  Put the jack stands
on cinder blocks, set the body back down on the stands; problem solved.
It didn't *look* like the fenders got pulled in, so we didn't worry
about it.  We didn't leave the body suspended, either. :p

There's still a lot to be done before the swap is complete, but I
thought I'd write this down while I still remembered most of it. :)

--
-=|JP|=-        "Stew my foot and call me Susan!"

'01 B15 SE/PP  |   http://members.cardomain.com/cowboydren/   |  <//><
'95 SL2 Auto   |         cowboydren @ b15sentra . net         |