Puling the motor

[Joe R.]

Re: Pulling the motor

Once the motor is on the stand should I have it wrapped in a motor bag?

Todd,

I think that's an excellent idea. I have my BB on a stand wrapped in plastic with duct tape holding it together. But I think I will buy motor bags before I go much further with it. In any case, you want to keep the engine sealed off any time you're not working on it. My machinist told me a horror story about how a water bug had crawled into one of the oil passages. It wasn't caught until too late, causing the engine to be rebuilt.

Joe

[Todd L.]

Re: Puling the motor

OK, I have my grade 8, 3/8-16 bolts 3" long which with my grade 8 washers will give my the required 3/4" bite into the block when I mount the motor on the stand.
Next question:

I will use an engine leveler when pulling the motor, it looks like there are 4 chains I will need to attach to the motor. Where do I connect them and what hardware do I use for this?

Thanks

Todd

[Jack P.]

Re: Puling the motor

OK, I have my grade 8, 3/8-16 bolts 3" long which with my grade 8 washers will give my the required 3/4" bite into the block when I mount the motor on the stand.
Next question:

I will use an engine leveler when pulling the motor, it looks like there are 4 chains I will need to attach to the motor. Where do I connect them and what hardware do I use for this?

Thanks

Todd

Hi Todd,


here are some pictures of how I did it . I only used two chains. One attaches to right rear exhaust manifold bolt hole and one to front left manifold bolt hole. Some use the water pump holes in front and bell housing holes in rear. Using the rear bell housing makes it hard to put on stand. You can use all four chains for the BB . Front left and right manifold holes and rear manifold holes. For the extra weight of BB , Make sure you take off Carb. In the picture you see a carb lift block . My builder use that method to lift motor into his truck to bring to me. Not good to use if you are tilting motor. Also take off valve covers. In my case , I did not have too, but for your situation, take them off.

Jack

[Todd L.]

Re: Puling the motor

Jack,

Is it ok to just use my manifold bolts?

[Jack P.]

Re: Puling the motor

Jack,

Is it ok to just use my manifold bolts?

Yes, but buy a some just for the motor lift, don't use your actual manifold bolts. Just screw in , but don't bottom them out.

Jack

[Dennis S.]

Re: Puling the motor

Todd
This is how mine came out. This was a very clever lifting bracket that I borrowed, good for just taking the engine/bellhousing out. Notice the radiator core support was still in the car.

I showed you where to attach the engine leveler on your previous thread. I would use the bolt holes in the front and rear of the heads. You definitely need all 4 chains on the leveler, and hopefully you got a good one. A guy on the CF had his leveler break when installing the engine/tranny together, but thankfully didn't hurt himself or anything else.
Have fun
Dennis

[John H.]

Re: Puling the motor

I will use an engine leveler when pulling the motor, it looks like there are 4 chains I will need to attach to the motor. Where do I connect them and what hardware do I use for this?

Thanks

Todd

Todd -

I use 3/8"-16 x 1-3/4" Grade 8 bolts and hardened flat washers to attach the tilter chains at the four extreme corner intake bolt locations.

[Todd L.]

Re: Puling the motor

I was only able to find 2" bolts is that too long? Do I put the washer against the head, sandwich the chain between two washers or any other way? Still waiting for a cherry picker. Will post pictures as it progresses.

[Steven B.]

Re: Puling the motor

Todd, when I pulled my SB I used a washer on each side, on the cylinder head side to protect original paint and on the bolt head side to assure the chain would not come off.

Steve

[Todd L.]

Re: Puling the motor

I'll do the same, although I am not worried about the paint the motor is 3 different colors; silver, black and orange.
Thanks

[Todd L.]

Re: Puling the motor

I learned a lesson when pulling the motor. I borrowed a cherry picker from my neighbor, it was a 1.5 ton. What I learned is, a 1.5 ton cherry picker does not have the reach needed with the long nose of a C3. Or at least the one I borrowed. I used an engine leveler and pulled both the motor and tranny together. With a 2 ton cherry picker and the engine leveler I was able to pull both by myself. The engine is now mounted on the engine stand, and I have started to pull it apart.
I was going to label and document the hardware as I removed it, but the owner before me "rebuilt" the motor using studs for everything. I want to go back to stock hardware, at least externally.
Also when I forst purchased the car, there were three cylinders with 0 compression. What I found was a missing push rod, a bent push rod and a broken push rod; I replaced all three and found the valves were stuck which caused the problem in the first place. I got them freed up, and the motor ran, seemingly fine. I never put it on the road before starting to tear it apart. When I removed the intake manifold, I found two broken pieces of push rods in the valley. How they did not get in with the cam I don't know.

I am continuing to pull the motor apart, I want to see what I have to work with, hopefully nothing which can not be fixed.

More to come.

[Dan M.]

Re: Puling the motor

What was the manufacturer of the leveler you used?

[Joe L.]

Re: Puling the motor

I learned a lesson when pulling the motor. I borrowed a cherry picker from my neighbor, it was a 1.5 ton. What I learned is, a 1.5 ton cherry picker does not have the reach needed with the long nose of a C3. Or at least the one I borrowed. I used an engine leveler and pulled both the motor and tranny together. With a 2 ton cherry picker and the engine leveler I was able to pull both by myself. The engine is now mounted on the engine stand, and I have started to pull it apart.
I was going to label and document the hardware as I removed it, but the owner before me "rebuilt" the motor using studs for everything. I want to go back to stock hardware, at least externally.
Also when I forst purchased the car, there were three cylinders with 0 compression. What I found was a missing push rod, a bent push rod and a broken push rod; I replaced all three and found the valves were stuck which caused the problem in the first place. I got them freed up, and the motor ran, seemingly fine. I never put it on the road before starting to tear it apart. When I removed the intake manifold, I found two broken pieces of push rods in the valley. How they did not get in with the cam I don't know.

I am continuing to pull the motor apart, I want to see what I have to work with, hopefully nothing which can not be fixed.

More to come.

Todd------


I'm EXTREMELY surprised that you had enough reach with even a 2 ton engine hoist (cherry picker). I have a 2 ton hoist and it does not have nearly enough reach to remove the engine on my 1969. In fact, I've never seen a hoist that does have enough reach to pluck the engine out or in FROM THE FRONT for a C3 Corvette. Usually, you have to do it from the side. I even tried to modify my 2 ton lift with a longer boom but it became unstable. In order to do it properly I'd have to also extend the legs by another 3 feet or more.

There may be some huge, designed-for-heavy truck-type hoists that could do the job from the front but they would be impractical.

[Dan D.]

Re: Puling the motor

For my 57, I bought a cheap-ee engine hoist from Harbor Freight. This is a good hoist, but even so it did not have the reach to get it from the front. Going in from the side worked, but I had to remove the front tire to get the legs of the hoist far enough in. -Dan-

[Todd L.]

Re: Puling the motor

I returned the cherry picker the other day, I will ask what the manufacturer was and maybe get a model number. But I did pull it from the from the front. I do have the urethane bumper removed but the frame work is there. The leveler was a Big Red TR2750. John recommended I attach the chains to the forward and rear heads on the outside, but the chain was not long enough so I used the inside holes, the right head with the 3/8" but the left head was 7/16".
If I am not going to reuse the push rods, valves and cam, should I worry about labeling them?
Are there rebuild kits for water pumps, if mine is original, I would just as well rebuild it while it is off the motor.