BP swap driving me nuts!

mx3TT · Post by **mx3TT** » February 9th, 2005, 9:37 pm

Correct me if im wrong guys, 32mm

Typhoonk · Post by **Typhoonk** » February 9th, 2005, 9:39 pm

LOL LOL

Ah, man...............

Don't remove the tranny yet.

Remove : alternator, accessory belts, water pump pulley, crank pulley, and power steering pump(just remove three bolts on front of engine).

Try angling the engine out. If that doesn't work. Then remove the oil pan, and it will give you another two inches of play. You can also remove the whole passenger mount to get some room too.

after the engine is out. REMOVE THE TRANNY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You don't want to go through what I did to make it work. Not fun going back in.

matt_fulghum · Post by **matt_fulghum** » February 9th, 2005, 10:39 pm

I HAVE removed the belts, pulleys, accesories, mounts (except the passenger side mount), etc... no workie

On top of that, I can't shuffle the engine back onto the tranny... so I'm just gonna see if I can't strap the tranny to my friend's giant jack, and pull that out separate from the engine

and on top of THAT, on the way back from said friend's house with my dad in our Dodge Caravan, despite the fact that we had the engine fixed just a month or so ago for seemingly the same problem, it's once again DIED.... screwed... pretty much gone... we limped home on 3 or 4 cylinders making a hellish racket on the way back too

so.... I'm having a lousy day. Hope you guys are better off....

matt_fulghum · Post by **matt_fulghum** » February 10th, 2005, 5:07 pm

alright.... I guess since I can't seem to get the engine back onto the tranny, I'll just umount the tranny and axles, and slide it to the right and down off the engine.

That really seems to be the only way to really do this right.

So.... that brings me to actually getting the axles off (the hard bit)

I figure that if I have someone hold down the brakes, while I throw my weight on a 6 foot cheater bar or something like Perry recommended (I don't know ANYONE with a pneumatic ratchet) that'll get the axle nuts off, but do I need to get them off?

Reading the shop manual, it just says to take off the cotter pin holding the tie down bar in place, and release the shoulder thingy, and that'll let the wheel rotor thing drop down, allowing me to just pull the axles out with a pry bar (can I use a big screwdriver for that? or does it need to be really thin to fit in there?)

Any recommendations? I want this thing OUTTA MY CAR damnit

mx3TT · Post by **mx3TT** » February 10th, 2005, 7:12 pm

I think you will be better off getting the nuts off but thats up to you. You dont want to rip your boots on your axels. Also I had trouble getting out the drivers side axel for some reason. I tried got pissed went inside. Tried again got pissed and went inside. Came out the third time, hit it once and it came out. I think it has to come out as straight as possible but a screw driver might work.

matt_fulghum · Post by **matt_fulghum** » February 10th, 2005, 7:21 pm

alright... I bought a 32mm axle nut ratchet end thingy in case I needed to, I'm just saying that the shop manual didn't say anything about it. whatev

removing the axle nuts sounds easier anyway, because getting the suspension mechanism thing or whatever I need to get off sounds nasty.

went out and bought a jack from autozone.... bought a universal mount adapter for it too, so it'll bolt up to the motor mounts. I'm gonna get this thing out!

I've been driving on a slippy clutch since I bought it, about 1500 miles ago

I planned to do the swap when I bought the car, since I have to remove the engine anyway to get at the clutch. I WILL triumph over this thing, and I WILL get this swap DONE!

It's gonna be schweet with the extra power from the BP... now that I've got this thing (I think) figured out, I'm so stoked about finally getting this new engine and clutch in.

Oh, and I still wanna beat TyphoonK silly

Whatev.... thanks for your responses, guys. I'll keep you updated.

matt_fulghum · Post by **matt_fulghum** » February 12th, 2005, 3:12 pm

wow.... just tried to take off one of the axle nuts.... my dad was on the breaker bar with a 4 foot long cheater bar, and I was on the brakes.....

well...... the breaker bar broke

it was a really sickening snap.

Craftsman sucks

Anyway.... on another note, I'm thinking about how I'm gonna drop the tranny out.... here are my current thoughts.

Rather than unbolt the transmission from the crossmember and drop the tranny by itself, what I'm thinking I could do is unbolt the crossmember from the chassis, leaving the tranny mounted to the crossmember, and attach my jack to the crossmember with some hooks (I got a mounting adapter for the jack to do this)

That way, I could get a nice flat surface to pull the tranny away with, rather than have it shift around on the jack, wobbling and potentially falling.

Any thoughts on that?

Another few questions:
1. What do I need to pull out of the tranny to free it, and how? (I've got the speedo gear off, not sure how to remove the clutch release cylinder, and what do I do with the shifter bar?)
2. How do I remove the axles without breaking ANOTHER breaker bar? (there's gotta be some technique to this.... no I don't have access to an air gun, so stop suggesting that

) I've got a shop manual that says to leave the axle nuts along, but rather take off the tie rod bar and shoulder and such, to lower the wheel to allow the axles to come out.

matt_fulghum · Post by **matt_fulghum** » February 12th, 2005, 3:59 pm

omg finally yes!!!!

The ENGINE IS FINALLY OUT!

I went kamikaze on the thing, repositioning the hoist to pull it in different directions and such, and finally got the input shaft ot the tranny to pull off the clutch, and I got the damn thing off! Yes! I then swung it around until it'd come off, and moved the hoist another 20 times or so, and managed to pull it out! w00t!

Although, I must admit, I woulda had this swap done several days ago if I pulled the tranny with the engine.... note to self.... less steps != less work

Alright... w00t! now to figure out how to get the tranny out, and move my flywheel to the BP and such

Ateana · Post by **Ateana** » February 20th, 2005, 2:08 am

dude keep writing what you do on your swap. your little journal here is quite helpful believe it or not

matt_fulghum · Post by **matt_fulghum** » February 20th, 2005, 9:08 am

I'm glad to hear that..... it's mainly moved to BP Swap: Pulling tranny w/ engine out.

I think I'm gonna put together a cardomain site and post my pictures up on that.

Ateana · Post by **Ateana** » February 20th, 2005, 1:24 pm

sweet

matt_fulghum · Post by **matt_fulghum** » February 20th, 2005, 3:12 pm

hell yeah! 600 ft/lbs baby! those $!@#ing nuts came right off after about 45 seconds of whacking each... god I love that impact wrench

W00t! next stage of my swap here I come!