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Hey guys, so Wednesday get to use my dad's friends shop to operate on the wagon and sedan. I plan on pulling the motor and 4EAT together. Is this going to be a fail ? Or will it come out fine. Then I will remove the motor and tranny from the sedan, and put the engine and tranny from the wagon into the sedan.

I am thinking it is as simple as, removing the rads, moving the powersteering and A/C to the sides, undoing the intake, removing DP to axleback as one piece, but leave the manifold and turbo attached (will probably remove the turbo though) crossmember from tranny, motor mounts via engine crossmember, dog bone will be removed, driveshaft, ALL electronic connectors that will interfere of course first, transmission cooler lines.

I didn't list everything in order but do I have everything right in my head?! Any suggestions? Thanks alot, need to get ready for wednesday!

I tend to think pulling both together would be a huge pain in the nards, but I've never done them both at once, so I don't know. With a nice smooth floor and a nice (smooth rolling) engine hoist, it probably would be a easier than separating them. The MT would certainly be fine, the AT is a fat bastard... making me think it would be easier to go down with it rather than up.

ugh idk I keep hearing the same thing. It will be a shop ad it is a real huge engine hoist with a balancer or w.e it's called. Just seems like a pain to seperate the tranny and engine!

Separating the engine and 4eat is not bad all all if you don't mind the TC coming out of the 4eat and spilling fluid all over the place. once you have it out its easier to get to the flex plate bolts.

I've pulled the engine/tranny combo together before. It's possible but tricky to navigate the tranny out of the engine bay.

Good enough for me ill make it happen!! THANK YOU!!

The people I've seen pull them together drop the whole motor, tranny, crossmember, suspension, basically everything to do a direct swap. It takes a pretty beefy tranny jack to do it.


There are only four bolts on the bellhousing, so I don't see what the big deal is.

that is how my friend did it at his junkyard. he would pull several drivetrains a day like that. just hook an engine hoist up to the engine, a jack on the transmission, zip zip zip down it goes straight onto a pallet.
the only bad thing about that is how do you wheel the car around? my friend would just have the shell on a forklift at that point, so moving it around was no problem but if you need it to roll its not a good option.

eric are you trying to do something else with the wagon or are you trashing it? if so you could cut out the top of the core support which would make things easier.

I've never pulled them together but I put mine in recently together.

You MUST have the engine leveler and I installed mine so it would level front to back, not side to side. This way I was able to get the whole thing tilted way down on the tranny end and manage to slowly lower it while adjusting the leveler and maneuvering it by hand until it was all the way in.

I would leave the intake manifold on. I don't see how that would really make it any easier and you'll probably just get shit in the ports. Also I think you can leave the tranny cooler and lines alone.

All done by myself and I'm only about 6ft 180lbs.

Looks like it's too big to fit in the 3rd picture!

thanks alot kimo looks like i should be good with 3 to 4 guys !

I plan on selling the wagon shell or most likely scrap metal.

Yeah I'd say that ought to do it! Although without the engine leveler I would say it's damn near impossible.

My friends and I dropped an engine/tranny combo into his GC once. We just jacked the front end of the car up to allow enough clearance for everything. Also, like Kimo mentioned, an engine leveler is a must for this.

I also had the front end up on jackstands.

The front axles need to come out correct?! Also you didn't end up putting in the motor with the exhaust manifold right? I should have a leveler for sure, if not ill be sure to get one!! Thanks alot those pics are definitely the confidence boost I need for tomorrow. How long should a direct swap over take ?

Correct, the axles need to come out. Also, you can put the motor in with the manifold attached.

If it's your first time doing this, plan on spending a good 6 to 8 hours working on this. It's really not that hard and it's fairly straight forward, though it can be somewhat intimidating your first time.

I left my axles in when I dropped that engine and tranny in. They hang out of the way I believe. But don't leave them hanging too long or support them somehow because I tore the boots letting them hang like that for months. Brand new axle boots.

I left the exhaust manifold on. Essentially a complete engine/trans dropped right in. Make sure you remove your radiator lol.

ive done alot of these in the garage. i dont have a hoist or a lift so i usually jack up the car and lower the engine, trans and crossmember as one. lower it on a jack or dolly and roll it out. im actually doing a full drivetrain swap this weekend. should be fun.

You must have to jack it up pretty damn high.

kimokalihi wrote:You must have to jack it up pretty damn high.

Yup! You do.

All went well thanks guys!! Can't wait to clean this motor and start replacing seals. Them it REALLY can't wait till I drop it into my sedan

Lunatech wrote:

kimokalihi wrote:You must have to jack it up pretty damn high.

Yup! You do.

or get 2 friends to lift the front if ur jacks dont go high enough. then pull engine and trans out as one.