I was reading the ever so helpfull Haynes manual that discusses the entire removal of the engine in 1/2 a page in the manual....I was wondering is really required that the distributer be removed just to pull the motor? any pointers on pulling one of these out would be aprrieciated.....

I pulled the motor in my E36 318i but the Bently manual was way more descriptive than this pos Haynes manual is.....

distributor can stay in no problems. They just say that cuz it could be busted up, but only the cap really.

pulling the motor is a cake walk. are you gonna pull the motor and the tranny as one?

pulling the motor is a cake walk. are you gonna pull the motor and the tranny as one?

if you are doing that i recommend the pivot for the engine hoist, makes life easier..........if you don't want to buy that then i recommend pulling the trans then the motor.......

but here again i don't know what i am talking about, i don't pull motors in and out of my e21 repeatedly :confused

definately agree,about the pivot. that thing rocks:buttrock . very good for getting the engine to sit levle. it helped a lot when we put another motor in mine,to get it all lined up to for the motor mounts. and that way when you pull it,you wont bang and scrape the tranny on everything trying to pull it up.

You will probably have to remove the intake pletum to get the harness off the motor, this takes a little time but, after that the harness is pretty much freed up. At least thats what i had to do with my M10.

Thanks guys for the tips, I will use a load leveler and pull it all as one, I used one on my E-36 and it made it tons easier. I do plan to pull it all as one unit. Last night I removed the exhuast, and some other odds and ends. I t looks like there is far less to disassembe before pulling than the E-36....

For the M42 motor you have to remove altenator, air box, upper and lower intake manifolds, the wire harness is in a goofy spot between the manifolds, fan and fan clutch has to come off, belts etc...the fuel rail has to be removed (that was a pain in the ass too), a/c compressor had to come off, had to dismantle the air intake since it sits on top of the intake brackets....over all the M10 looks a bit simpler to get out....

I dont reccomend the pivot. Use chain and when you line the chain up with the engine in the car, line it up dead level (so the lengths are the same size).

The load of the gearbox will give you the perfect angle as it drops the back of the gearbox towards the ground. It just swings back so easy once you pop the motor off the mounts, its like god intended the whole thing to lay back like that when removed :)

I dont reccomend the pivot. Use chain and when you line the chain up with the engine in the car, line it up dead level (so the lengths are the same size).

The load of the gearbox will give you the perfect angle as it drops the back of the gearbox towards the ground. It just swings back so easy once you pop the motor off the mounts, its like god intended the whole thing to lay back like that when removed :)


you sir haven't pulled one of these motors before with the tranny connected. the tranny will not cause it to drop back enought to allow removal when centered on the hoist. the 320i tranny is very light and if you have the chain positioned center on the hook it will not move back far enough to allow removal (also keep in mind that the 320's have this additional piece of metal up front unlike the 323's)......how do you think i got my eta motor and trans in without a pivot? i kept positioning the chain on the hook of the hoist until i got the motor and trans to pivot back far enough to install. once i got the amount of rear-ward lean necessary to get the trans down in the tunnel it all went in just fine. after doing that twice i went out and bought a pivot and now removal and installation goes much easier.

if you are hooking the chain on either sides of the motor you are doing it incorrectly. the correct way is to use the factory supplied attachments found at the front and rear of the motor.

oh and you don't have to pull the intake to remove. mine was on there and she came out just fine.

I used a fixed hoist connected to the header in my garage. I first thought the method that Madhatter suggested would work by aligining it center and equal length chains but it did not provide enough tilt. I had to readjust the chains in order to get enough tilt. I put it in the same way as well with no problems.

why do you guys pull the engine WITH the tranny?

I pull it with the tranny on because removing the tranny laying on my back under the car just sucks...I don't know how the M10 is but the top tranny bolts on a M42 are a pain in the ass to get off.

It's so much easier to remove it, and change the clutch and reassemble it with the motor on the floor....

yeah, you are right, i have never pulled an engine before. :rolleyes

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v505/madhatter_/out.jpg

That is an M20 and gearbox firmly attached, the m10 is even easier as it is lighter and pivots further with the weight of the gearbox pulling it down a little more. As for either side? rubbish, use the rings provided if they are still on your car (yes, your car would have come with rings like this at one stage), thats what they are there for, if not, make/steal/purchase some (junkyards from other cars), slip it over the last thread on the back of the head, another nut over it (repeat on the other side from the front if you have two). If you dont have a mounting point on the other side take your chain over and loop it under the exhaust manifold, what you should end up with is 2 lines of chain across the motor. If you cant clear the top radiator/support, either your length of chain is too long or your hoist doesnt lift high enough.

Works every single time, its even easy enough to do it by yourself without needing another pair of hands. Can pull an engine out in under an hour now pretty easily.

yeah, you are right, i have never pulled an engine before. :rolleyes

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v505/madhatter_/out.jpg

That is an M20 and gearbox firmly attached, the m10 is even easier as it is lighter and pivots further with the weight of the gearbox pulling it down a little more. As for either side? rubbish, use the rings provided if they are still on your car (yes, your car would have come with rings like this at one stage), thats what they are there for, if not, make/steal/purchase one (junkyards from other cars), slip it over the last thread on the back of the head, another nut over it, then take your chain over and loop it under the exhaust manifold if you dont have a pair of rings. If you cant clear the top radiator/support, either your length of chain is too long or your hoist doesnt lift high enough.

Works every single time, its even easy enough to do it by yourself without needing another pair of hands. Can pull an engine out in under an hour now pretty easily.

WOw. Do you mean attach the chain to a head bolt? Will this warp/damage the head??
IS the head designed for this type of abuse?
I have never heard of taking it out like this before.Tyler pulled his engine with an engine hoist,
and the m20s 1990 325i engines have a dedicated bracket that shaped like an A on the front to grab them.

You take out m20s in an hour...can you come to Boston Please??

I heard for the m20s you are supposed to pull them with the tranny in it.
Since its only me, I am bringing my 323i to a guy to install the whole new engine in it - when this day ever comes.
I cant do this in the back parking lot of my condo

i love that pic........um that's not chain, but braided line. so you placed it in the center and it pivoted back. won't work that way with chain......and you are using the intake stud to hold all that weight, yeah that's a good idea. i can clearly see the loop you are suppose to be attaching to (and look i have even highlighted it). consider yourself lucky you didn't fuck anything up. look at my pic, that's where your rear attachment should always go. I also can't freaking believe you looped the line around the front pulley....OMG are you freaking kidding me? you aren't doing one thing right in that pic. also so you got it down to pulling in an hour, that's great, doesn't mean you are doing it correctly. using that braided line and attaching where you are is some of the scarest things i have seen thus far on this site.

but here again, i really don't know what i am talking about, i wasn't a BMW tech for a number of years and i haven't pulled and re-installed my motor in my race car at least twice last week.

I just take the car to my fathers shop, and use the engine hoist. I use chains and move it according to need; also use bolts on the block not head. As for removing it in one piece is fine if you have the room...... I just use the lifter and tranny jack.
An on the M20 with their stupid Torx/allen bolts, we switched the 2 uppers for conventinal 6 sided ones.....

Well I'm slowly getting it to the pulling point...so far I've only pulled one motor and it was an M42...this will be my second, and 3rd motor pulls (have to pull the dead motor out of the other 79), this time without the help of my friend since now I have my owwn garage and don't have to borrow his....Today I got out the driveshaft/flex disk and disconnected the shifter linkage. Tommorow I'll drain the oil and radiator and start on the rest.

The engine crane I have borrowed has been used to pull RV motors so height isn't a problem....I went out and bought an engine stand so I'll be able to mount it up and clean it up change all the hoses, water pump etc...before I put it back in.

Now I have to convince my wife to let me exceed the car buget to get it all done before my friend wants his crane and load leveler back....

no, attach the rings to a stud on the side of the head as shown in the photos.

I know its not chain, its because i left the chain in a friends panelvan after installing his engine a few days earlier and i didnt want to wait till i saw him next time, so i used wire rope (stuff used for towing which has a snapping strength of around 2500-3000kg), not braided line. If you think wire rope is dangerous you want to check the lifting weights lifted for d shackles and snap rings on lifting frames, at best you might find 500-600kg, far less than weights wire rope is gaurenteed to handle :rolleyes. The chain is exactly the same, connects in the same places, has snap rings on the end just like a frame.

I hate to tell you but that "loop" is solid, there is no hole there.

Other manufacturers besides bmw have been using looped brass rings like that bolted to cylinder heads for ages, just looking at the workshop manuals sitting here, ford, holden, mitsubishi, nissan, they all use looped rings, when the cars come back ill even take photos to show you them bolted to the cylinder heads. Isnt a problem in the world in lifting from that point. If you actually knew what you were talking about you would see that the original manufacturers manual uses that brass ring you see in the pic, bolted to the cylinder head, and that is a lifting point. Sits above the thermostat housing and at the rear of the head over the inlet manifold. To quote from the manual;


engine lift points located at the front and rear ends of the cylinder head

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v505/madhatter_/loop.jpg

what is that? a ring... above the thermostat housing? dedicated lift point that comes off when you unbolt the thermostat housing from the front/side of the head. Guess bmw dont know what they are doing by indicating things like this in their manuals. Hah, bmw tech for a number of years, what, you want to compare certificates or something? would you like to compare penis sizes too?

The rope is looped around the balancer because of the length, its excess rope, it isnt holding any weight, it was just used there to keep it out of the way when removing the engine.

You take out m20s in an hour...can you come to Boston Please??

I heard for the m20s you are supposed to pull them with the tranny in it.
Since its only me, I am bringing my 323i to a guy to install the whole new engine in it - when this day ever comes.
I cant do this in the back parking lot of my condo

Yeah, if you pay for the international flight :D the most time consuming part is unbolting all the accessories. Once you have the loom removed, drop the tailshaft, remove the slave cylinder, unbolt the exhaust pipes (you can take the engine out with the exhaust manifolds on), remove throttle cable, cooling hoses and radiator (best to remove it so it gives you a couple inches extra room), you are pretty right. You dont need to remove either of the manifolds actually, you can pull it with pretty much everything still attached.

Only takes about 5 mins to get it out once you get it to that stage. The firewall actually helps you with the tilt as it provides a pivot point against the gearbox which will help you get the sump lined up and over the support initially.

The problem with M20's is that the bolts on the bellhousing are a PITA to get to. You can get to 4 of them without any real hassle, a rattle gun is needed for 20 year old, corroded (stupid alloy) bolts though. The top 2 which sit right at the top of the block are a nightmare, there is mayube half an inch of room between the firewall and the block (no chance to get a driver in there). Having actually worked for bmw they have a solution, its a giant ring spanner, sits out the top of the engine bay over a foot. Its thin enough to fit down between the firewall and onto the top bolts, makes removing them so easy, but then we had 3 full walls of "bmw special tool xxx" to use. Really is a case of the right tool for the job :stickoutt

Anyone doing work yourself without a hoist, buy a transmission adapter for your trolley jack, its a platform that tilts in both directions. Basically it sits inside your trolley jack giving you something to take all the weight of the gearbox. Its easy to put back into position, all you do is twist the knobs to change the rise, fall and angle of the platform the gearbox sits on. With the car sitting up on ramps or a good set of axle stands, you can get in and out from under the car with ease.

Actually, i might go take a pic of it with a gearbox in place.

Edit: Here is one i prepared earlier :D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v505/madhatter_/adapter.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v505/madhatter_/adapter2.jpg

I just pulled the engine from my 77 last night. I did not have an engine hoist so I purchased an electric hoist from Harbor Freight ($75.00) and a balance bar from PEP Boys. Once I hooked the beast up I had the engine out in a couple of minutes. The electric hoist is slick. I am curious about how penis size might be helpful. I try to keep it out of the way when moving heavy objects and/or electricity. Am I doing something wrong. Oh, I bolted the lift chain to the loop in front of the engine and a bolt hole between engine and trans which was separated earlier.

no, attach the rings to a stud on the side of the head as shown in the photos.

I know its not chain, its because i left the chain in a friends panelvan after installing his engine a few days earlier and i didnt want to wait till i saw him next time, so i used wire rope (stuff used for towing which has a snapping strength of around 2500-3000kg), not braided line. If you think wire rope is dangerous you want to check the lifting weights lifted for d shackles and snap rings on lifting frames, at best you might find 500-600kg, far less than weights wire rope is gaurenteed to handle :rolleyes. The chain is exactly the same, connects in the same places, has snap rings on the end just like a frame.

I hate to tell you but that "loop" is solid, there is no hole there.

Other manufacturers besides bmw have been using looped brass rings like that bolted to cylinder heads for ages, just looking at the workshop manuals sitting here, ford, holden, mitsubishi, nissan, they all use looped rings, when the cars come back ill even take photos to show you them bolted to the cylinder heads. Isnt a problem in the world in lifting from that point. If you actually knew what you were talking about you would see that the original manufacturers manual uses that brass ring you see in the pic, bolted to the cylinder head, and that is a lifting point. Sits above the thermostat housing and at the rear of the head over the inlet manifold. To quote from the manual;



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v505/madhatter_/loop.jpg

what is that? a ring... above the thermostat housing? dedicated lift point that comes off when you unbolt the thermostat housing from the front/side of the head. Guess bmw dont know what they are doing by indicating things like this in their manuals. Hah, bmw tech for a number of years, what, you want to compare certificates or something? would you like to compare penis sizes too?

The rope is looped around the balancer because of the length, its excess rope, it isnt holding any weight, it was just used there to keep it out of the way when removing the engine.

Wait a second. Run this by me again. Madhatter you can use a head bolt to loop around and carry the Weight of the engine.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v505/madhatter_/out.jpg
I cant believe this. This is how you put in take out an M20 engine?
With the money involved in a rebuilt stroker (5-10K for a MM one)I would hate to warp the head or have the thing fall off doing it like this.
So you mean to tell me this is safe for me and my engine, and I can bolt too the head?
Wowozer. I thought you used that A pilar part in the front part of the later model m20, to attach the chain too.
Its in the front part of the engine, and easily accessable

BMW puts a loop right on the head for holding the engine on the M42 as well. That stupid loop bends and will break before it will ever damage the head.

you still upset over the other thread about how stupid i was doing my eta swap with no 323 items? why are you still trying to justify this incorrect and unsafe way to pull a motor?

first up....hate to tell you this, but that rear hole isn't filled.........why would it when that's the recommended lifting point for pretty much all their inline motors? and yes the front has the loop that is bolted to the head, doesn't mean you can pull the motor using an intake stud and exhaust stud. only safe way to use the "studs" is to leave both the exhaust and intake on and use heavy duty tow straps (or chain with rags) and loop them under each side then use the hook on the jack and pull the motor....but why in the fu(k would you do something like that when BMW gives you two points from which to pull the motor? and the front rope is just excess? from my vantage point it's taunt, far more taunt than the piece that is on the intake stud.

look you are pulling that motor incorrectly and unsafe, period. anyone with any doubt should print that picture (in color) and take it to a BMW dealer and show any experienced tech. they will first laugh, and then ask you if this was taken before it fell.

i will go home and post up pics of my eta motor/trans still connected from it's latest pull. connected the CORRECT way.

you want to half ass it that's your business. there are those that work under cars using only a jack and no stands. hey that's on them. i am just trying to keep others from making mistakes and learning the hardway.

and Alaska, you are clearly showing the 100% correct and safe way to do a motor pull with your M42

What head bolt, head studs, not head bolts. what is going to fall off? its locked into position just the same as using any other location, they are hardly going to snap clean through the threads, the wire or suddenly unhook the snap rings when load is placed on them.

And yes, thats where the rings are mounted from the factory, they are bolted into the cylinder head, thats where the bmw manual tells you to lift from. You know the big blue folders? Earlier engines dont have the same front timing case, distributor assembly and thermostat housing, its totally different when running jetronic. The front ring slides over part of the head and thread the thermostat housing sits on, its hanging off the cylinder head.

As i said, plenty of other manufacturers use similar lifting points. I wasnt lying when i said ford, nissan and mitsubishi were among them, here, take one of my other cars for example. Ford Fairmont, 4L, 6 cylinder, cast iron block, alloy head. Also runs a very large BTR 4 speed electronic automatic. The weight of the engine and box would easily be 100kg (220+ pounds) heavier than the M20 combination.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v505/madhatter_/ford6_1.jpg

But what do you see? lift hook bolted to the side of the head in front of the inlet manifold.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v505/madhatter_/ford6_2.jpg

Lift bracket bolted to the side of the head in front of the exhaust manifold.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v505/madhatter_/ford6_3.jpg

Thats factory positions for the motors, if i went and took a pic of the mitsubishi 4 cylinder outside it would have similar mounts, if i went and took a pic of the nissan V6, again, it would be similar.

Actually, here is a pic of the mitsubishi 4 cylinder head from when it was replaced after a waterpump failed. This is from a 4G54 head, notice bolted to the exhaust side of the manifold? another ring.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v505/madhatter_/mitsubishi.jpg

Here is another example of the same type of engine, this time in a RWD vehicle. Another ring bolted to the cylinder head.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v505/madhatter_/mitsubishi2.jpg

If you were to think rationally for one minute, say your engine and gearbox weighed 300kg. If you were to split that between 2 lifting points, all things being even, each side would have 150kg of load applied to it. Now, think of a 4 inch block of alloy (yes, even though it isnt solid), its dead cold, it doesnt have any twisting forces applied to it, and it has 12 studs which help displace any load through the cylinder head and block.

Now, lift it up, do you think you have enough force acting against the head to bend metal? you have combustion forces going on inside the chamber which impart more force per square mm than you would encounter when lifting its weight out of an engine bay. If you still think its a problem, well you better tell ford, bmw and mitsubishi (just to name a few), that with their many years of experience, they still have no idea what they are doing, who knows, maybe they will even give you a job.

you still upset over the other thread about how stupid i was doing my eta swap with no 323 items? why are you still trying to justify this incorrect and unsafe way to pull a motor?

first up....hate to tell you this, but that rear hole isn't filled.........why would it when that's the recommended lifting point for pretty much all their inline motors? and yes the front has the loop that is bolted to the head, doesn't mean you can pull the motor using an intake stud and exhaust stud. only safe way to use the "studs" is to leave both the exhaust and intake on and use heavy duty tow straps (or chain with rags) and loop them under each side then use the hook on the jack and pull the motor....but why in the fu(k would you do something like that when BMW gives you two points from which to pull the motor? and the front rope is just excess? from my vantage point it's taunt, far more taunt than the piece that is on the intake stud.

look you are pulling that motor incorrectly and unsafe, period. anyone with any doubt should print that picture (in color) and take it to a BMW dealer and show any experienced tech. they will first laugh, and then ask you if this was taken before it fell.

i will go home and post up pics of my eta motor/trans still connected from it's latest pull. connected the CORRECT way.

you want to half ass it that's your business. there are those that work under cars using only a jack and no stands. hey that's on them. i am just trying to keep others from making mistakes and learning the hardway.

and Alaska, you are clearly showing the 100% correct and safe way to do a motor pull with your M42


Upset? at what? stupid eta install? why would it be stupid installing an M20 in place of a 4 cylinder M10? i really dont care about any eta install you did. Why would it bother me if you didnt use 323i items? I couldnt care less whatever way you installed it.

Ahh, yeah it is, its solid on the engine i lifted out, its solid on the other 323i engine i have sitting outside too. The other eta engine i have sitting downstairs isnt, but then the manual doesnt say to lift from the existing hooks on the cylinder head (front and rear) does it?

Ok, so you agree that the ring is bolted to the head, its bolted to the head over one of these studs you think are so dangerous. See my post above with reguards to just how "safe" other manufacturers think they are. I mean, seriously, they are high tensile steel, much much harder than the alloy they surround. You would tear/snap/crack a piece of metal clear out of the head before any of the bolts every gave way.

BMW gave me lifting points on the cylinder head, i used the back one provided as per factory, then i bolted the ring on the otherside against the exhaust manifold because it stops the engine from swaying when you are lifting it by yourself.

Lets see, factory mounts from bmw, post quote from factory manual, diagram from manual. Photos of other manufacturers showing same lift points. You still havent posted any valid reason in reguards to how you think this will fall.

Snapped studs.... errr... no
Snapped wire rope... errr... no again, breaking strain is high enough that you could lift the entire car and it wouldnt snap.
Snapped rings .... well, good for an extra 200-250kg over the weight of the engine and gearbox. If they snap, they would snap on a lifting frame too.

So what does that leave? ohh, the head bolts (every single one of them) snapping clear out of the head, seperating from the block, then it falling to the ground. Hmmm, i would rate the chances of that happening right up there with you posting anything intelligent and sound in logic within this thread.

So what does that leave which is going to be the source of the "engine falling"? the hydraulic ram giving way or maybe the arm on the hoist snapping, i guess thats only 1/2" steel, what about an earthquake happening and a hole developing right below the legs of the hoist, maybe that could happen.

By all means, just stand there and tell me im wrong without actually putting up anything intelligent, ill keep lifting engines from provisions they make, ill keep lifting from hooks mounted to cylinder heads by manufacturers until someone gives me a good reason why i shouldnt, it makes no difference to me :)

http://www.altbrand.com/comics/singingcats/comics/20010709.jpg

:rolleyes

http://www.altbrand.com/comics/singingcats/comics/20010709.jpg

:rolleyes
:lol :lol
Ray does this mean that you agree with Matthatter's method of pulling the engine buy using a bolt on the head,
or you is it just that u have your own way to do this??


What head bolt, head studs, not head bolts. what is going to fall off? its locked into position just the same as using any other location, they are hardly going to snap clean through the threads, the wire or suddenly unhook the snap rings when load is placed on them.

And yes, thats where the rings are mounted from the factory, they are bolted into the cylinder head, thats where the bmw manual tells you to lift from. You know the big blue folders? Earlier engines dont have the same front timing case, distributor assembly and thermostat housing, its totally different when running jetronic. The front ring slides over part of the head and thread the thermostat housing sits on, its hanging off the cylinder head.

As i said, plenty of other manufacturers use similar lifting points. I wasnt lying when i said ford, nissan and mitsubishi were among them, here, take one of my other cars for example. Ford Fairmont, 4L, 6 cylinder, cast iron block, alloy head. Also runs a very large BTR 4 speed electronic automatic. The weight of the engine and box would easily be 100kg (220+ pounds) heavier than the M20 combination.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v505/madhatter_/ford6_1.jpg

But what do you see? lift hook bolted to the side of the head in front of the inlet manifold.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v505/madhatter_/ford6_2.jpg

Lift bracket bolted to the side of the head in front of the exhaust manifold.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v505/madhatter_/ford6_3.jpg

Thats factory positions for the motors, if i went and took a pic of the mitsubishi 4 cylinder outside it would have similar mounts, if i went and took a pic of the nissan V6, again, it would be similar.

Actually, here is a pic of the mitsubishi 4 cylinder head from when it was replaced after a waterpump failed. This is from a 4G54 head, notice bolted to the exhaust side of the manifold? another ring.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v505/madhatter_/mitsubishi.jpg

Here is another example of the same type of engine, this time in a RWD vehicle. Another ring bolted to the cylinder head.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v505/madhatter_/mitsubishi2.jpg

If you were to think rationally for one minute, say your engine and gearbox weighed 300kg. If you were to split that between 2 lifting points, all things being even, each side would have 150kg of load applied to it. Now, think of a 4 inch block of alloy (yes, even though it isnt solid), its dead cold, it doesnt have any twisting forces applied to it, and it has 12 studs which help displace any load through the cylinder head and block.

Now, lift it up, do you think you have enough force acting against the head to bend metal? you have combustion forces going on inside the chamber which impart more force per square mm than you would encounter when lifting its weight out of an engine bay. If you still think its a problem, well you better tell ford, bmw and mitsubishi (just to name a few), that with their many years of experience, they still have no idea what they are doing, who knows, maybe they will even give you a job.


I quess you have a point. You are entitled to lift engines out of your car, anyway you want...within the parameters of being safe, and avoiding injury.

Its just that I am concered that the thread that you looped around the wire on, is strong enough to handle this.

I have too much money into my engine to even do this like this. Locating the 524td crank and knife edging it, plus Tyler's investment into the building the 2.8 liter bottom end that I now have plus the head work with the oversized valves and port and polish adds up to some hard earned mola.
Please dont take this the wrong way. Its just that I have spent a lot of effort building up the m20 into a 2.8 stroker too feel comfortable lifting my new engine the way you described. My car has sat since forever, I am the laughing stock of every male member in the family at this point, and I dont want to botch up the engine transplant. I also don't have the resources - OMFG- the sacrilidge - to rebore and rebuild if the engine was to somehow slip the thread and bounce off the floor!! :(
I can not go threw this work again..and have to enjoy the new engine, so Matthater, with all due respect, I am going to take my car and the new engine
to a person who races and installs these for a living. His car is an e30 V8.

I know there is the front A arm, that I will see If i have a picture of that most people use to hold/lift the m20 engine by.

later,
J

http://www.bimmerboys.com/silverstreak/M42/yank.htm

you are rocking just one stud, ONE STUD........yes i have seen factory lifting points that use the studs on other motors.....but there is the key word, STUDS. not just the one you are using. and again the front wire is TAUNT around the front pulley. and that rear point not drilled out? i would like a better picture of that. i mean look at the trans they specifically cast both items to have a loop there, why not drill it out. so i have my doubts on that. look this issue is dead, no one is agreeing with you that you are pulling that motor in a safe or correct fashion.

Ladies Ladies... lol How about everyone get along and notice the fact that Alaska Bimmer already took it out. Everyone has a different way of doing it.:stickoutt

But I will put my finger in the hole and say my way. I used a standard engine hoist, a leveler hooked up to the head, and a tie down hooked on the left engine mount.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a207/BARRYE36M3/SKY17.jpg
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a207/BARRYE36M3/SKY27.jpg


Took about 20 mins to take it out, and 40 mins to put it back in since I left the tranny in and took time rehooking them up.

I don't have it out yet...that was my M42 from 318 I did with expert help last winter...this project is all me...no help. I havn't picked up the load leveler from my expert friend yet so this weekend I hope to have it out. I'm not in a hurry I have all winter to pull the motor, strip the rest of the bits off the parts car and get blown motor out of the project car and get this one in....I hoipe to have it all done before April and the 1st auto-x of the season...My 318 sucks in street mod class....I need to get back to H stock lol...I hope to change out the control arms and other stuff while the motor is out it should be easier....

I'd like to clean up this motor first before I put it in the other car, is it better to paint or powder coat, polish? I don't want to spend a ton of money on making it look nice but it would be nice if the motor looked good so it takes the eyes away from the rust....

I take it I will need to remove the fuel distributer before puliing the motor? The Haynes manual is mostly worthless for this task...on the flex disk if it would have said in simple english remove the the center driveshaft support and the flex disk will fall off I wouldn't have spent 30 mins trying to figure out how to get it off....

what looped around the wire on? There is nothing looped around at all, its hooked through the rings just like you would do with a frame. Seriously, how can it slip off a thread? Its mounted no differently than if you used a frame

I said if you didnt have anything on the exhaust side, you can loop around the exhaust manifold as other members have indicated in this thread they have done previously, there are holes between runners in which you can pass chain through. I didnt say loop around a stud on the exhaust manifold side, there is another brass ring like seen in the picture attached to the other side of the motor.

Its not "taunt" around the front balancer at all, there is no weight on it. Its wrapped around the pulley and around the side where the engine mount is to keep it out of the way (as i said, it was to remove it without chain as i left it in another vehicle). Its sitting there as if it was hanging down it would get caught on the bonnet mounts at the front.

And its not one stud at all. If you bothered to look in the photo you would see more than 2 wires. It runs from the ring on the rear of the head, back up over the shackle, attaches with a snap ring to the ring on the front of the head, then it runs back across the shackle and attaches back to the head at the back. The straight line you can see in the background is another part of the rope, then above the front timing case is the other end of it. Clearly you cant comprehend the part where i said it crosses over the motor twice. How in the world do you think it would be possible to lift the engine if it wasnt attached to the other side?

You didnt really need to remove the CSB to get the guibo out, as long as you unbolted it so it wasnt attached anymore, when you shifted the motor off the mounts it would have fallen out. Its because its hollow in the middle and designed to sit on a lip

Nooooice Engine hoist, Barry :)

Well I'm almost to the point of pulling it out...everything is disconnected all that's left is to undo the 5 tranny mount bolts and the engine mounts, and engine damper....

I'm still trying to figure out the best way to attach the motor to the hoist...I've looked at the other photos but with the intake manifold on I can't use that bracket on the back. It looks like Barry removed the valve cover and hooked up inside there...

Sorry for the Noob questions, I don't really want to respark the debate on how to hook up M20 engines...I just need a pointer or 2 about M10s with the manifold on...

I have to get it out this weekend since I'm having some sinus surgery next week that will kill a few weekends of work time....

Ok I got the motor out and it's sitting in the floor....It was a pain in the butt for me the a/c crap took away my swing out space on the passenger side so the smog pump wouldn't clear the battery tray...so to solve that issue I consulted my sawsall and the battery tray was no longer an issue...

The A/C belt tensioner was in the way so I had to take that off. The compressor made this task way more difficult since that pully is at the bottom of the motor and sticks out farther than the rest of them.

but I did get it out i didn't break anything or knock the car over, so my first solo motor pull was a sucess....It's sooooo much easier to do with 2 people it took me way longer to pull this one with no help.

I'd like to thank Al for wanting a sunroof foam piece (even though he got one a bit closer to him instead of mine) because the ripping of the headliner kicked me in the pants to get to work on stripping this thing out....had I not dug out that foam piece the car would probably still be sitting in the garage waiting to be disassembled...