I have a rental engine lift, and I have it for 24 hr. I cant find where to lift my egnine from. Cant find any hooks to use... It has the upper and lower intake manifolds off, that cant be why right? I have 90% of the acc off I just need to put the engine on the lift and take off the mounts. Thank you!!

~Alex

 

Just wrap some chains or straps around each exhaust manifold. That's the easiest. Or you can use most any decently sized bolt/nuts to attach the chains to. Use your common sense and your head and you will be okay

 

ok well they only gave me 1 short chain ><

~Alex

 

You see Alex, this is where the common sense comes in. Just because they gave you 1 short chain, doesn't mean you have to use that chain or you can't use another chain to make it work.

 

 

go to home depot...get more chain...don't get cheap either because it'll cost a lot more to fix your broken foot than the chain.

 

Or a new engine!!

 

ouch... just to think of it...

 

Steel toes > motor on toes or whole car (been there done that)

 

or this

Link to Pic

 

I was just in a rush earlier. A guy that was coming to get parts called and said he was at my old house waiting for me. (Im moving) I Didnt know if the exaust manifolds were strong egnough to hold the engine and tranny.

I used a haynes that had the 2ed gen (says can use for 3rd gen too) pics, and it had the chain bolted to the rear tranny mount and, mentioned some braket up front, which i thought was the AC braket, and since the compressor was off I wraped the chain behind it. That worked great after I removed all the little stuff blocking the way and it was pretty easy. I wanted to put the engine on the ground but the lift wasnt low egnough, so i put it on a rim while I got the chain more slack, and now its off the lift and on the ground! Im going to take the lift back in the morning, rented it from nations rent.

It went pretty good! I didnt want to buy more chain and I didnt have any laying around, but it was just egnough for the way the haynes said to do it.

Feels great to get done with it! now I can get the interior parts i need and get rid of the car in the next few days, and then I can start my 5 speed swap! And on that note, I thought my 5 speed had a blown head gasket, it just had wayy too much oil, I took alot out and it only burns what leaks out of the valve covers LOL. It has way too many noises to drive but at least I can move it w/o worry.

~Alex

 

yeah same here hehe... I 'stole' a pair of very fine steel toe work shoes from my previous job, they're the best, I wouldn't even dream of doing any work on the car without them. they've saved my toes more than once.

 

1) I always wear steel-toed boots when working on the car/mowing the lawn/engaging in any activity in which toelessness can ensue.

2) I NEVER would have guessed, given the weak exhaust manifold stud issue on these cars, that the exhaust manifolds would have been a preferred lifting point.

3) If time and space aren't pressing issues, you may want to wait to get rid of the donor car until youve finished the swap for referral purposes. I haven't done a swap, but I'm sure it would be handy to be able to walk over to the donor to find out how something is supposed to bolt on, where a hole should be drilled, or to get that little part that you forgot to remove.

Best of luck!

 

Im talking about my 1st of 3 max's. Its an auto VG. Keeping the engine and selling the tranny. My 2ed is an auto VG in awsome shape that is getting the 5 speed, and the last one is the 5speed donor car. I have a 2 car garage I can put them both in so im set. Im getting rid of the 1st max tomorrow so i can start on the 5 speed swap and be done within a week or so.

Geerhead- I agree with #2 also, didnt think 12 small studs could support the engine and tranny. I had also taken off all but one stud off the front manifold as well.

The funny thing is I usually wear my boots but I forgot today and wore sandalls. never droped a thing! My hands got plenty of abuse though.

~Alex

 

Quick question, besides obtaining the knowledge from members on here, how did most of you guys get all of this knowledge on putting in engines, swapping Trans etc......Are some of you guys certified mechanics??????

 

i know for me i just started to fix things and learned as i went, of course i still have much to learn. But research and then just going at it

 

not me, I don't want to spend $500 to get certified.
I already know more than most master techs anyhow

 

Yeah that's how I am anticipating on learning! I'll be trying to put in a trans on a 92 SE in a couple of weeks. I know one thing though, I will be listening to the fellaz in here about Steel Toe Boots!!!! lol

 

Me, my college degree is in Music Education! I spend a lot of spare time working on my cars, and reading about them (and the common problems) on the various sites: www.allpar.com for mopar (Chrysler products, when I used to have a minivan in the fleet), the Full Sized Chevy Truck site (www.fullsizechevy.com) for my Tahoe, and, of course, here on the 'Org for my Maxima.

Spend enough time reading and you'll begin to see common themes popping up and the various ways the ingenious guys (and gals) here have come up with for dealing with them. In many cases the advice you'll get here is better than the FSM (Factory Service Manual), Chilton's, Haynes, etc. Do read all the stickies, however. There is a wealth of knowledge in there.

 

Agreed. Ive never done anything like this before, but after years of tinkering with stuff, and reading and reading and being confident in my skills It was easy. Any one with a brain can do tranny and engine swaps (same engine tranny, not as in custom ones) pretty easily.

I do have big plans for performance, and not just bolting and unbolting parts

~Alex

 

I've been working in an Autowreckers for 8 years. I have friends that have gone to school and such and I learned way more in 1.5 years than they had in 3. But I guess it's all about your passion for vehicles and where you want to go with your knowledge that determine how fast and how much knowledge you obtain.

 

The first time I replaced an engine I had no expierience before hand. I used a repair manual and common sense. If you are mechanically inclined, handy and have the right tools you should be able to do most stuff. Its usually looking and figuring out what is holding it in; disconnecting that; then removing it. Putting it back in is just the reverse.

I find that what is diffucult when it comes to mechanics and working on cars is when you have a problem, finding what is the cause of the problem, and fixing it ONCE and CORRECTLY. Once you know what needs to be changed, swapping it out is easy. That is essentially what will deferenciate a good mechanic from a bad one (parts chnager).

Of course you will learn tricks and short cuts and skill as you go...