Wheel Alignment - Troubleshooting & Tips

Ok guys and girls, its back to the Camaro restoration series of articles. If you've been following the series, you should remember that in the last article, we removed the radiator and core support, which completed removal of the front end of the car.

Now we'll move on to the engine. In this article we'll remove the engine and put it on an engine stand. The first thing that you need to look at is the wiring that connects to the engine itself.

Step One: Make sure that the starter is removed from the engine-mounting pedestal. You'd remove this by first making sure that all the wires are removed from the starter. You should still have the cable from the battery hooked to the starter. Make sure that you remove the cable and all wires that connect to the solenoid on the starter. Once you have done that, you can remove the starter by removing the two mounting bolts on the bottom of the starter; these are the two diagonally placed bolts on the bottom of the starter.

Step Two: Now that the starter is out of the car, look at the top of the engine. Carefully disconnect any wiring that is still hooked to the engine. Now we'll remove the engine compartment wiring harness from the firewall of the car. This should be held in place by one or two small screws. Use a nut driver to remove these screws and the slowly work the harness back and forth until it slips out of the firewall plug in, make sure that you take pictures of the harness as you remove it from the firewall. Put it in a box and label it "firewall components".

Step Four: Now we're ready to remove the engine. First you'll need to go under the car and locate the transmission mount, This should be located about the center of the car. It bolts to the bottom of the transmission via four blots. You only need to remove the two bottom bolts that go through the cross member. After that, you'll need to remove the driveline from the car. Put a drain pan under the rear of the transmission before you remove the driveline, it will make a huge mess if you don't. Now roll to the back of the car and look at the rear end. The driveline is held in place by four 7/16 bolts. Remove these four bolts and the "U" brackets. Push the driveline forward, if it doesn't want to move you can use a small pry bar to fineness it forward. Once it slides out of the bracket, it will drop and then you can pull it toward the rear of the car and remove it from the transmission.

Step Five: We only have two bolts to go. We'll remove the engine and transmission as one unit. You'll need one or two friends to help you with this for safety reasons. Remove the carburetor from the manifold and bolt up a carb lift plate to the mounting flange on the intake manifold. In absence of a carb lift plate, you can run a chain diagonally across the top of the engine. If you choose this method to lift the engine out of the car, you'll need to be sure that you use a long enough bolt to go through the chain. Make sure that it has a washer on each end of the chain between the chain and the head of the bolt, so it won't pull through the links.

Step Six: Now we'll remove the motor mount bolts from the mounts. This is probably the easiest part of the process. On the front of the motor mounts there are two motor mount bolts that are about four to six inches long. They are made from grade eight steel. The motor mounts are located on each side of the block about half way down. Locate the motor mounts and remove the bolt from each one of them. Now you're ready to lift the engine out of the car.

Step Seven: Move the engine hoist over to the car and hook it to the chain that you have running across the top, or hook to the carb lift plate that is mounted to the intake manifold. Now you can start hoisting the engine out of the car. Make sure that you have one of your friends under the car to help direct the engine out of the car and one to help you with the hoist. Ok, let's lift the engine out of the car. Make sure that you pay very close attention to everything that is going on as you lift the engine out of the car or somebody may get hurt.

Step Eight: By this time, the engine is dangling above the car. You can begin to roll the hoist back. Once you have cleared the car you can remove the transmission and bell housing if it's a standard transmission. If it's an automatic you can remove the transmission from the engine mounting flange in either case, it will be held in by six or eight bolts that go around the back of the engine. If it's an automatic you'll need to remove the three bolts that hold the torque converter to the flex plate. You do this by removing the dust cover from the bottom of the transmission and rotating the engine until you can see each bolt. After you remove these three bolts and the six or eight main mounting bolts, the transmission will come loose from the engine. Set it on the floor and remove it. If it's an automatic transmission you'll need to remove the flex plate from the engine. If it's a standard you'll need to remove the clutch and pressure plate from the flywheel. This is held in place by six grade eight bolts. After you remove these bolts, you'll be able to remove the clutch and pressure plate.

Now you can bolt it to your engine stand and begin tearing it down.

Muscle Car Community
Automotive Advertising

I've been in the automotive business for about 20 or 25 years, I have worked in all facets of the industry, from parts to restoration, all different makes and models, I just want to keep people interested in the old cars because it's where my heart is
http://autorevival.comArticle Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=David_Atkin


	Buy Brand Name Replacement & Performance Parts Search by make:
	Powered by Auto Parts Warehouse