Motor going in for the final time, or maybe not...

Just thought I'd write up the latest step in my conversion - installing the motor for the final time. It's been in-and-out probably 20 times so far, and I was hoping to put it back in today for the last time. Unfortunately, there was a problem and I've got more work ahead of me. Here's some experiences/observations that might be useful for others:

1. I had to drop the crossmember to get the engine in with the clutch and oil pan installed. I've not had to do this before, since I never had the clutch on, only the flywheel.

2. If you drop the motor and torque tube lower than the install height, it's much easier to tighten the lower 2 bolts of of the bellhousing. Then lift the whole thing up, and install the crossmember from below.

3. Have AS MANY tools as you can possibly afford around you. Long and stubby wrenches, crescent and box ends, crowfoot attachments, u-joint extensions, ratchets, multiple hydraulic jacks, multiple axle stands, pieces of 2x4 lumber, bricks, engine crane, engine stand, handheld work lights, a mirror, crowbar, hammers (regular and short sledge), extra long screwdrivers, impact wrench, short and long sockets, allen key set....I think I used each of these at least once. Probably missing 10 others.

And at the end of the day, it didn't go in. I'm running into some interference in the bellhousing. Not sure what it is yet, as I only got as far as pulling the motor back out and on to the floor stand. The bellhousing won't mate completely on the block, though it did when before the clutch was installed. Possible problems:

- pressure plate is hitting inside of bellhousing at the top (difficult to see)
- clutch disc is not lined up, and snout of driveshaft is not engaging in the pilot bearing
- thick washer at end of driveshaft snout is hitting clutch disc splines
- ???

I'll start to measure everything out again over the next couple of days to see if I can figure out what's going on. Frustrating though - I was really hoping to have this step done today.

Check the bellhousing in the area of the starter snout. I left the starter mounted to the engine. My bellhousing was hitting the top of the nose of the starter. I ground the area with a ball shaped rotary file in a drill.

After pulling my 944 motor this past weekend, I came to the same conclusion, that installing a motor would be most easily done by attaching it to the xmember prior to installation, then hoist from under...

Although I still hate to have any part of my body under anything supported by the hoist, I'm not sure there's another way to do it that wouldn't drive me crazy or risk bending something.

I do wish I had two floor jacks. Having one always seems to put me in the position of jacking one side of the car up, which "feels awkward" with regards to the pivoting of the car on the stationary side. So far, my solution to that has been to take things very slowly, lifting/lowering no more than ~1/2" at a time before I re-check every jacking point.

Thanks for this information. This stuff will come in veryhendy when I do my swap!

attaching the xmember ais absolutely the best way to go... I used the hoist to lift the front of the car via chains and the xmember bolts, once the car is way up get your jack stands under there, that way you avoid just lifting one side at a time. once you get the motor up in there get those xmember bolts in first, that way only your arm is sticking below the load, dont torque them down but put them in enough that they can support it if anything happens, its more a peace of mind step than anything else.

SUCCESS!!!

After measuring everything with the engine out and with the clutch installed, it turned out to be that little 5mm bushing over the snout of the driveshaft that was causing the problem. Eliminated that, and everything went together perfectly. I guess my driveshaft is a little more "forward" in the TT.

I highly recommend dropping the front suspension and crossmember before you install the motor. With those dropped, and the motor hanging on the crane, I was able to raise and lower the motor/TT assembly and easily tighten all of the bellhousing bolts (even the lower drivers side one, which can be particularly problematic). Once those bolts are tight, raise the motor, install the crossmember, install the motor mounts, then drop the motor down. Then re-attach the steering rack and suspension bits. A little bit of prep work at the beginning goes a long way.

Scratch another item off the list....

Motor in, guess what I'm working on next

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WOW! What did you do to that poor harness? You do realize that All you needed to cut or rework was the plug that originally went to the fire wall of the GM car? I did Kent's car with a small after market 5 place fuse box and 2 relays with sockets.

I don't know what that plug is, or what it looks like. I'm doing everything from scratch with the instructions , pinouts, diagrams, etc. It's a mess, but I'm getting there. I'm still missing a few connectors, and have some connectors that I don't know what they are used for.

If it started life as a factory harness, it would have had all the small plug for different sensor and there should has been one rectangular plug (about a 3"x5") black in color. It would have had about 15(give or take a few) pink wires and a few other colors (only about 19 or so). It is where the factory harness gets it's powers and gauge wires from. I don't have a picture of it. That is all base on which car that it came out of too.

From the mess-O-wires in the previous pic, to this in less than half a day. Stripped out everything that's not needed to the PCM, though I'm still tracking down some mysteries.

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Looking better