Just bought my little brothers' 87 maxima. I recently threw a rod and froze up the engine. I decided to buy another used running engine from the local junkyard. I thought that I could just yank the dead engine out and put the other one in, but found out that it is not that simple.
Is removing the tranny with the motor the easiest swap, or could I yank just the engine? I removed and labeled every hose and electical connection to the engine. If I yank the tranny with the engine, do I really have to take the majority of the front end apart as well, i.e. brakes, shocks, transaxle, yada yada yada....?

Suggestions more than welcome,
Nick

 

If all you need to replace is the engine, remove it only, leave the transmission on the car. It's alot more work if you take it all out, tie rods, ball joints, drive axles, all have to be disconnected. Check the CV boots for leaking grease to see if they need replacement. If so then you may have no choice but to remove them.

When you get the engine out, check the engine mounts, power steering hoses, presure/return for leaks, easier now to replace then later. My return hoses leaked oil onto the steering rack's rubber mount bushings, now won't hold the rack in place.

If you have a 5sp, will the clutch need to be replaced soon, if so, do it now.

Everything takes time, just do it right once and not have to do it over.

Al

 

it will saev you alot of time and $ if you just do it now anyway.

SuDZ

 

How exactly do I go about removing just the engine? With all of the hoses and electrical stuff tied off and the alternator and air conditioning compressor tied up, the road home to freedom looks like one big headache. Do I just unbolt the tranny from here? And if so, I can see getting to the two bolts towards the front of the car and the two bolts above the transmission, but what about the two bolts toward the firewall? If I unbolt all of those will I be able to get the engine out then, or will I have to...?

Nick

 

I think it would be easier to pull the engine wiht the tranny. That way you can line them up without as much hassle. you don't really need to remove those bolts, just the main bolt that runs through both tranny and engine mounts. If you have the PS pump, AC and alternator unbolted the engine should drop down basically. If you pull both engine and tranny you can leave the driveaxles whole, and just knock them from the hub. You should at least have a haynes repair manual though.