Engine Removal

[johnrob]

How high to I have to raise my car off the floor of the garage to remove the engine complete with the four speed manual transmission? (I don't have a lift, just floor jack stands)

If I remove the transmission does it make a big difference?

Thx
John

 

[decoupe]

To pull or drop - that is the question

Hi John;

I just did this on my '02 but have the luxury of a company car stacker but some of the process are relevant to what you're asking. I'm guessing about 30" measured from the lowest point on the front valence. The tallest point will be the front shocks/struts so remove them first if you can.

Are you considering this in order to work on the suspension and the engine or just the engine? If just the engine I think pulling the engine and tranny up with a rental engine hoist would be less work if you include the process of putting it back in. If you want to drop it out the bottom - then pull the head first and remove the wheels to reduce how high you have the lift the car. The tranny doesn't factor into the decision I don't think.

The real problem about dropping the front subframe with the engine and tranny is now you will be faced with the temptation to redo the bushings and steering gear. Hell, drop the rear, too. Can you say no?

I'll send you some measurements and suggestions tomorrow.

 

[BonitaCS]

This high:

I hooked a comealong to the rafters in the garage and a strap around the nose of the coupe to raise it by the front end; didn't measure how high it was but there was plenty of clearance all around.

Scott

 

[decoupe]

Lifting the nose

Scott:

This is the smart way to do this assuming the roof structures can support the load which I'm guessing is about a ton. Easier and safer than jacking and blocking. Did you remove the rad first?

 

[dave v. in nc]

the motor?

I'm just trying to figure out what that bright, shiny thing is under the front of the BonitaCS? I have something similar in my engine bay, but it doesn't look quite like that. Sure is pretty!

 

[Malc]

Johnrob
I did the same thing with the engine out of the bucket. However do ensure you have a strong enough trolley to support the engine/subframe/gearbox combination

Scott,
The trigger wheel on your engine, where did it come from? Unfortunately my screen resolution isn't good enough to work out the teeth - gap thing, I assume its 60 with 2 missing?

TIA
Malc

 

[velocewest]

Looks like the wheel from an M30B35 engine.

 

[BonitaCS]

Pretty much everything was removed from the car at this point. The interior and the trunk were stripped; about the only thing in the car was the rear end. If you look in the first photo you can see a 4X4 post holding the rafters up, I put one on both sides of the car so I wouldn’t pull the roof down on top of my fresh paint.

Malc, the harmonic balancer was of a 90 735i (is that an M30B35?). I didn’t count to see if it has 60 teeth but it is missing two teeth; look at 3:00 o'clock in the photo.

Scott