Removing the engine

Today I removed the engine from the Pontiac. 

I checked everything had been disconnected and then took out the two bolts holding the engine to the front engine mount.

I then put the engine crane into position and removed the broken head to reduce the overall weight and to enable a better connection of the engine crane chain to the block. Attached the chain on the diagonal. The weight of the engine so that the rear engine mount bulbs can be removed. Crawled under the car and removed the rear engine mount bolts.

It was then a matter of craning the engine up and it came away relatively easily however the exhaust pipe remained attached to the manifold. A few bangs with him are separated it again.

Listed the engine up and eased forward slightly. After coming forward I was able to worsted much higher and get the engine can answer and over the front engine mount and bring the whole thing forward. 

Once was completely free I loaded down onto a wheel Dolly while I unhooked the engine crane and swiveled it around to get a better angle.

I raised the engine again and then moved it around and loaded onto the frame I had made to hold the engine on top of a wheel Dolly.

A job well completed.

Engine removal tasks -unhooking everything

After a lengthy period of inactivity I have now got back into working on the Pontiac. The main objective at the moment is removing the engine and taking it to a machine shop to have work completed on it. I have contacted a machine shop in Rotorua and they advised that I should remove the engine and strip off the components and then take the engine to be assessed. The strip and assessment part of the job will cost $350. After that it is a matter of determining what parts are needed and what machine work is needed on the engine to make it good again.

I had previously taken off the dog box removed the radiator, removed the generator, and a few other bits and pieces. So over that last day or so I have now done the following.

The speedo cable has been disconnected. This is a simple matter of matter of unscrewing it from the gearbox housing as pictured.

Speedo cable disconnected

Disconnecting the gear selector is was the next task. First it was a matter of unscrewing the gear selector cable and removing the spring and club that hold it in place.

Gear selection cable after disconnection

The gear selector lever also needs to be disconnected by removing the split pin and pulling the lever out of the connection.

 




Next is the clutch connection to the clutch throw out fork. This is very simple to remove by removing the split pin and pulling it away from the assembly. The adjuster arm simply pulls away from the clutch throw out fork. It took the opportunity of cleaning this up and giving it a quick lack of red paint.

Clutch push lever and spring sprorting some new paint

There is another part to the clutch assembly that needs to be disconnected as shown

I then removed the oil line that is connected to the side of the engine near the fuel pump. On my car this line is now redundant because the top of it has been salted over and it has been tied Orff against the intake manifold. I will will research what this line was originally used for. I may make a pace shorter connection to plug this whole after the engine has been repaired.

There is a second oil line connecting to the engine block at the rear. This one hits straight up all of the Cal bulkhead and presumably as the oil return part of the oil filter reticulation system. Disconnected this and labelled it.

 


I then removed the propeller shaft by disconnecting the four bolts at the rear of the shaft. It was quite difficult to get under the car and reach them however did so at a stretch. After the bolts were completely removed the shaft did not drop down as expected so I needed to give it a few light taps with a hammer for it to fall away. Once it falls away you can then slide backwards and it drops out of the rear of the gearbox assembly. Because of its duty in rusty condition have been said about two clean it up and will painted before reassembly.

Propeller shaft

 The starter motor is disconnected. To make this easy I have painted some of the connections read so I know which side they go on at time of reassembly.

Disconnected the throttle linkage

I then disconnected the oil breather pipe that comes out of the side of the engine block. I'm not sure what the purpose of this is however when the engine is running seems to throw out a bit of steam and hot oil.

Behind the oil breather pipe is a line running alongside the engine presumably the oil pressure gauge. Disconnected this at the front of the engine as well as the retainer bolt at the rear of the engine.

 

I then drained the oil out of the engine.

This is a rather cool frame I made to sit the engine on which luckily fits perfectly onto one of the wheel dollies I have. This will make it easier to transport the engine to the machine shop and to wheel it around in the garage and to remove all the peripheral parts. This picture shows the frame with a spear engine sitting on it.

Tomorrows job is the disconnection of the front engine mount bolts.This can be done before attaching the engine hoist to the engine. After that i will undo the rear engine mount bolts and lift the engine.