Thread: Supporting the motor...

Okay guys, Just not sure on this, so right now the motor's being held up by the engine hoist, which sucks because I can't get under the car to take care of things, very easily.

My question pertains to using a floor jack with a decent sized piece of 2x8x8 wood. Can I safely support the motor's weight against the tranny, by putting the jack under the tranny to support the total weight?

I've already got the pass side motor mount off, and the front dogbone off as well as the front of the xmember unbolted.

REALLY is a pain in the ass to support the motor from above, with the legs of the hoist under the car where I need to be crawling around.

Problem is that I need to remove the upper pan, so that I can get the timing cover off and fix an oil leak from the cover to the head.

TIA

Cliff

Tekster, can you put the motor on a stand and do the stuff?

If you absolutely have to work underneath and have no choice I would keep the trans mount bolted up, bolt the passenger mount back up, keep the hoist attached and locked, and use a scissor jacks with the wood to support the trans from rocking back and forth. Then take the lower/upper pans off...

Then once thats done (if there is enough space to work?) unbolt passenger side, and take crank and the timing cover off? In my head that works Might not be the best way.

I dont think it would balance there for you. It would support the weight but it will shift. If just working on it why not support it with the engine hoist and raise the car up enough to get at what you need to. you might as well remove the motor at this point, whats a couple of fuel and vacuum lines, a throttle cable, clutch cable, and a harness. It will make this easier to do and you will not have to work around anything since you need to get to the top and bottom of the motor.

naw, it shouldn't shift too much with the jack and on both side mounts, with a hoist, and a scissor jack with wood on the trans. That's how my motor in the blue car is sitting right now.

I think all the bolts he'll be messing with will be 10's and maybe some 12mm's. As far as the pans he should be good. When its only on one mount it may suck... You could put the crossmember back on after you remove the pans, but it might make it hard to reach the **** you need to reach to pull the cover.

Here's something I found on the other side that may help.
http://www.sr20forum.com/general-sr20/219768-advice-timing-cover-replacement.html

Thanks for the input guys. IMO, pulling the motor at this point would just cause me more headaches. I'd have to pull the harness thru the firewall, yank the axles, etc. just to get the motor out. Lets not forget that I'd need to remove the tranny because it's a bitch trying to pull the motor out with it connected.

I'm going to go the route that the other members had suggested, in the link that Meeners provided. I need to bolt back up the pass mount, un bolt the xmember, remove the pans, bolt the xmember back up, then I can remove the pass mount and pull the timing cover.

If you have a strut bar, you can take out the bar in the center, and use a ratcheting strap under the intake manifold and over to the strut towers. I did that while I had my crossmember out. You would probably still need a jack under the oil pan, but it would give you a lot more stability.

Good idea Swiss. Actually, the only downside is that it's a REALLY tight fit, becuase of the CUSCO that bends towards the firewall. I think you're right though, if I put enough tension on the tie strap, I can use the floor jack to support the transmission side of the motor and pull the pans off more easily.