Thoughts on engine removal

e9Leveque

e9Leveque

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In more of the classic "while we are there", I'm wondering about thoughts on removing my engine to refresh the engine bay. Here's my thinking:

1. Since I have removed essentially everything from the engine to do replacement of pumps and hoses (PS pump, water pump, radiator, alternator, clutch cylinders, fuel hoses, cooling hoses, etc) this may not be a lot of additional work
2. I have a hoist and a leveler sitting in a side corner of my front yard from doing this work on my MG
3. I have removed the insulation on the firewall and was planning to replace it, which would be a lot easier without an engine in the way
4. The car is going in 2 weeks for dry ice cleaning of underside and wheel wells. For a few hundred dollars he can do the engine bay, which may be worth it if there's no engine since it will remove all of the accumulated grime and adhesive remaining from the insulation
5. My Polaris silver has discolored to a slightly champagne color. I can't afford a full repaint, but figure that masking off all wiring would allow me to do a fairly reasonable rattle can repainting. The car has clearly had its exterior repainted in the past but not the engine bay, so I currently have a two-tone outside/inside. I have the color correct paint and clear coat so hopefully it would look a little more unified. It would also allow me to do some rust-proofing
6. If I do this, is it worth replacing the motor mounts? Anything else that should get done while it's out? I was planning to do some fluid film work which would also be easier with engine out.

Is there anything special about this engine that will make this process difficult? Don had the following steps on a previous thread - any other tips/tricks?

Leave the hood on.
No accessories
Left front wheel off. It's important
Jack midway down frame rail
Come from the Drivers side with the cherry picker
Don't install the flywheel or clutch.
Water pump ok- no damper or pulleys
No leveler.
Rubber motor mounts are attached very loosely to engine mounts on block.
Chain attached to front shackle by water pump and bolt hole for starter

Thanks in advance
 
The steps you outline all work to make the job easy. As you have all the peripherals out of the way anyway, the job will not be tough at all. You didn't mention the present state of the transmission, but as you noted in the steps at the bottom, transmission and bell-housing out. If you also have the transmission out already this is literally an hour job for removal, removing the transmission if you still need to do so will add a little time.

I would replace the engine mounts as there is no telling how old they are, and the same with the transmission mounts.

This also gives you a chance to deep clean the engine and components. A fresh coat of paint and vapor hone the aluminum parts that are safe to do (intake manifolds) will refresh the engine bay nicely.
 
I have removed a motor from my Malaga coupe using this method. I did it on the passenger side, with wheel off you lower car as low as possible. One person can do it, installing it helps to have someone steady the motor as you position it. And I have used rattle can to paint engine bay even with motor in place, everything masked including using aluminum foil on wiring.
 
Here's my experience:

Stevehose

Thread 'Engine rebuild and engine bay resto thread - 2240284 '72 CS'

I'm starting a thread documenting my engine rebuild after sucking a piece of metal down carb throat #2 and the mayhem inside the cylinder that ensued. I'll start with the pics of the head and piston damage as posted in the prior thread which documents finding what happened to cause the disconcerting loud knock:

Solved - bad engine noise!!

Took the car out for a carb tuning run this am, on the way back close to the house all of a sudden my engine starts to make noise - the kind of noise that makes the hair on your neck stand up. First I thought it was something hitting the fan because I had taken all the carb induction stuff off...
e9coupe.com e9coupe.com

Head damage:

img_3026-jpg.161316



Piston damage:

img_3048-jpg.161314



The head is off and shipping out to Don's...
  • Wow
 
e9Leveque said:
My Polaris silver has discolored to a slightly champagne color. I can't afford a full repaint, but figure that masking off all wiring would allow me to do a fairly reasonable rattle can repainting. ... I have the color correct paint and clear coat
Click to expand...
The rattle can paint that you propose to use: is that something that you had custom mixed, using the same paint that was applied to the exterior? Or did you determine that Duplicolor 123 (say) is an acceptable match for BMW 060 Polaris?

Thanks and good luck with your project. I too will vote "go for it"; otherwise the faded paint and grubby engine will bug you.
 
In more of the classic "while we are there", I'm wondering about thoughts on removing my engine to refresh the engine bay. Here's my thinking:


Off to Costco you go for the cheap big roll of Aluminum foil…
 

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Thanks guys - and should have mentioned that the transmission including bell housing is already out. Sounds like I’m going for it. For the paint; I had this mixed by paint color code by Automotive Touchup. I told them make/model/year color and then they make it to that. I unfortunately do not have access to the info on the paint used for the prior painting. I guess another option would be to go to a paint shop and ask them to determine the blend necessary? Is that possible - haven’t done that before but I guess paint shops do it every day for panel repair.
 
It is possible to have a custom blend done. The shop (or their paint supplier) can scan the paint to determine the match. You could take a painted part, such as the fuel filler door, to have a match. The other option is to wait until you are close to ready and then spray a sample to see how close it is to your current paint before you go to that effort.
 
Thanks, I may explore that option. I had painted a portion of one of the side walls where it was looking especially worn and it looks similar but not by any means exact. It's more of a true silver appearance whereas my current paint has a bit more tint to the silver. For an engine bay it's probably close enough, but I would likely need to order more cans anyways so perhaps best to try to get it as close as possible. Anyone have some photos of a rattle-can engine bay? I feel like most of the pictures I see on here are those of you that pulled everything out of the car for a complete repaint.
 
e9Leveque said:
Anyone have some photos of a rattle-can engine bay?
Click to expand...
My thread above shows many pics of my rattle can job. I highly recommend getting a 2 part paint mixed locally. You'll need more than you think. The formula I used was an exact match to my Polaris.
 
Stevehose said:
My thread above shows many pics of my rattle can job. I highly recommend getting a 2 part paint mixed locally. You'll need more than you think. The formula I used was an exact match to my Polaris.
Click to expand...
Thanks Steve, I looked over your thread and it is amazing - lots of great photos which will help quite a bit. Debating doing the true rattle can vs picking up a cheap paint sprayer, and yes, either way I think that getting the paint mixed to match exactly makes the most sense. If I'm doing it, let's do it right.
I told Don the other day that he is a dangerous man to know, since every conversation I have with him leads me down another rabbit hole, but this one I think I found on my own.
 
If you go for a sprayer (recommended) instead of rattle cans (hard to get a good even spray over a large area), remember you will need a pretty good compressor. An engine bay is fairly confined, but it is still larger than most things you paint with a spray can. You will want to use a compressor that can deliver at least about 10 CFM at 90 PSI. When I painted my various cars 20 tears ago I used an 18 CFM compressor. This is probably more critical on the outside paint, since the surfaces are MUCH larger. The issue is you do not want the pressure to be changing a lot as you paint, son big compressor will deliver a lot of air before the pressure drops. Ideally you want the compressor to stay well ahead of the gun. If you use a small compressor, then section off areas inthe engine bay so you can paint one area, wait for the compressor to catch up and then paint another. I did my 635 engine by 20 odd years ago, and it worked out great! Painted the rest of the car a couple of years later.

Engine Bay1 copy.jpg
Rosanante Engine copy.jpg
 
Yes, I knew that the compressor was going to be my limiting factor, but it may be the final thing that pushes me to get a larger one. I have a small ultra quiet one that is great for regular garage things, but hasn’t been able to keep up with any sandblasting I’ve tried and I know it’s not enough for paint. Scouting out some good used ones on marketplace that I can pick up and use for the next few years before moving it along.
And that engine bay looks great. That’s what I’m going for
 
e9Leveque said:
Yes, I knew that the compressor was going to be my limiting factor, but it may be the final thing that pushes me to get a larger one. I have a small ultra quiet one that is great for regular garage things, but hasn’t been able to keep up with any sandblasting I’ve tried and I know it’s not enough for paint. Scouting out some good used ones on marketplace that I can pick up and use for the next few years before moving it along.
And that engine bay looks great. That’s what I’m going for
Click to expand...
For painting an engine bay, you can probably get away with a 60 gallon 10 cfm unit. That would generally also work for blasting, especially bead blasting in a cabinet. For blasting large things like a body, you probably need a giant compressor, like the ones on a trailer. I spent hours and hours soda blasting my vintage Bronco body. Never again!! You might find one used somewhere. I recently was on the hunt and found the used ones on Craigslist were almost as expensive as new ones...o_O Lowes has new 11-18 CFM units for between $900 and $1300. Very useful over the long term. Now that I am thinking about it, I think I may have painted one or two cars using a 30 gallon unit. Took forever...
 
That was my exact plan - found a 60 gallon 11 cfm one in good condition for $300 that I’m going to get this weekend. I love my small ultra quiet one for general work in the garage because it doesn’t send me leaping into the air every time it goes off but it’s underpowered for these two uses.
 
Whichever route you decide to go rattle can or compressor with the paint gun keep in mind that you need to clean meticulously, you need to surface prep, you need to primer, paint and clearcoat.
Metallic paints will always be more difficult.
We only clean Engine bays with simple green because most other cleaners will burn the paint on your outer fenders if you get it on them.
 
e9Leveque said:
That was my exact plan - found a 60 gallon 11 cfm one in good condition for $300 that I’m going to get this weekend. I love my small ultra quiet one for general work in the garage because it doesn’t send me leaping into the air every time it goes off but it’s underpowered for these two uses.
Click to expand...

I hate that noise- all the tools in our shop are battery powered.
No noises no hoses….
 
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