Swapping engines, any tips?

Purdy Swoft said:
I can ! Removing the hood is much easier if the hood sides are first removed .
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Good idea! Thanks Purdy, I'll try that next time I have to remove an A hood. Not easy for me by myself, with a bad back and a bum right shoulder.
 
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Closely inspect the bell housing, they tend to crack near the mounting pads. I put a small piece of carpet, 1 1/2' x 2', over the front crossmember to protect the paint on a freshly painted oil pan.
 
fredski53 said:
When I reinstalled my motor, I didn't put any shims under the top two bolts of the flywheel housing. What will happen without those two shims?
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You can crack the flywheel housing. The shims are the same thickness as the gasket, about .020" thick. When I did my flywheel housing, I did all the bolts up except the top two, measured the gap with feeler gauges, then made 2 shims to suit, just a simple horse shoe shape.
 
fredski53 said:
When I reinstalled my motor, I didn't put any shims under the top two bolts of the flywheel housing. What will happen without those two shims?
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How could one calculate and/or measure how thick to make the missing shims?
Guesstimate? .010"?, .015"?, .020"? Or?
 
I've taken 3 A engines out....I found you can easily use two helpers to remove the hood; 3would be better. AND you're in trouble (transmission jumping out of gear) if you didn't replace the shims .....read page 2-22 of Les Andrew's Red Book... PlEASE!!!
 
read page 2-22 of Les Andrew's Red Book... PlEASE!!!
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That's all fine and dandy when the engine is out of the vehicle.

fredski53 was asking about missing shims when the engine is in the vehicle and that is what I was referring to in my question about calculating shim thickness.
 
katy said:
How could one calculate and/or measure how thick to make the missing shims?
Guesstimate? .010"?, .015"?, .020"? Or?
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Bolt the flywheel housing to the block, including the gasket and leave the upper 2 bolts out. Use feeler gauges to measure the gap between the housing and block at the bolt holes, and then fit the correct thickness shims from the feeler gauge measurement.
 
The new engine already has a flywheel housing installed...assuming it was done correctly I shouldn't need to do anything to the shims, right?

Took about 3 hours to get the engine out. The Les Andrews book is outstanding. Having a definite order in which to remove parts, and even the correct size sockets and extensions saves a huge amount of time. I'll be sure to read pages 2-22! I'm putting the clutch on the engine now, hope to get the car running again by next weekend.
 
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Any last tips or things to be especially careful of before I put it back together? I'll follow the Les Andrews book of course. Really want to get it right the first time.
 
I would use a Float a Motor engine mounts when you put the engine back in the car.
Less vibration and simple. Good Luck
 
The new engine already has a flywheel housing installed...The new engine already has a flywheel housing installed...assuming it was done correctly I shouldn't need to do anything to the shims, right?
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Assuming something can lead to problems, there was a thread about this recently.
To be sure you need to pull the flywheel housing from the block and see what, if anything, is between it and the block.

Where did the "new" engine come from? Can you ask the PO about it?
 
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