URW450X V8 engine removal

[Paule]

Looking ahead and planning a wee bit here having used the search i now have a few questions / looking advice on removing engine/gearbox.
I have an engine crane, axle stands and a set of lifting hooks. Think i have an engine load leveller.
(For info I have removed/refitted a few engines in my time mainly in various Talbot Sunbeams from 1 litre to Lotus which I had for 8 years before getting the TR8.)

Q1:- take it out in one lump ..... engine /gearbox or split them ?
Q2:- out the top or drop the lot underneath ? (Will be taking off front suspension etc for fitting on rollover jig)
Q3:- raise the rear of the car .... what height are we talking here ?
Q4:- remove any auxiliary parts to aid removal. (Mind engine bay getting gutted anyway to repaint)
Q5:- anyone already have a sequence/step by step procedure ?
Q6:- drop front tyre pressures ? Get nose how low?
Cheers

[busheytrader]

I took my engine / gearbox combo out from the top in one unit. It enabled me to wheel the wedge to make the room i needed as I was very limited for garage space at the time.

Basically it was bonnet off, jack up the rear wheels on to the tallest ramps available, let all the air out of the front tyres, trolley jack under the rear of the gearbox, engine crane in place holding the engine under slight tension, undo everything connecting the engine and gearbox to the rest of the car, lower the trolley jack holding the gearbox end and up everything comes at about 45 degrees while the gearbox rolls forward on the trolley jack.

As the engine comes up, so will the front of the car, so the load leveller is very useful to raise the gearbox end. I didn't have one of them at the time.

Adam

[tr7dan]

I just took mine out a couple of weeks back from underneath but - mine is the standard engine and I didn't have a hoist or other equipment to lift it out from on top..... plus I needed to remove all the front suspension components and subframe anyway.... plus the engine was pretty much stripped down to the block in situ so a lot of the bulk was already gone.

Everybody I asked said take it out from on top but I think that may have been to avoid having to strip the front suspension down.

I actually jacked the car up, stripped the front suspension and steering rack off and placed a mobile axle stand frame under the sub frame and a wooden trolley under the gearbox and then lowered the front down. It was then just a matter of removing the 4 gearbox member nuts and the subframe bolts and then jacking the body up bit by bit until it cleared and I could pull out the engine/gbox assy. from underneath. Pretty easy really.




Dan

[FI Spyder]

You need a certain amount of height to take it out the top. Not all home garages have that. Pulling the suspension out with engine isn't a bad idea, allows you to check all bellows and replace, check shocks, play in suspension parts while out, paint up suspension. Things you wouldn't necessarily do if still attached to car (no sense doing a job half done). Most every picture/video I've seen of assembly lines, they put the engine in from the bottom. If you're just taking the engine out and all the other stuff has been done and you have the height then out the top might be the answer but otherwise out the bottom.

[Paule]

Cheers for replies.
As i'm going to be overhauling all the front suspension etc anyway it's in poor mechanical shape and be putting shell onto a rollover jig I'm going to drop it this time. Interesting to here peoples opinions.
Found this in a TR8 search,its published by BL Cars Ltd:- http://www.triumphwedgeowners.org/uploa ... r8_rom.pdf on pages 50 & 51 gives procedure and shows dropping the engine/box.

tr7dan jealous of your clean tiled floor. I'm in an old barn.

[Rich K]

If you are a health and safety anorak, don’t use my technique to raise the car! That aside, it is fairly easy to pull the engine and gearbox out with subframe and front suspension attached as one unit.

[Paule]

Rich K love it , that's a bit of my style, see in background the axle stands as fallback.
Noticed you have the orange polybushes in the subframe. Recommend?

[Rich K]

Yes, axle stands in there as fall back while we inched her up. I would definitely recommend upgrading the subframe bushes as well as track arm and roll bar bushes in combination with uprated dampers and stiffer springs if you want the car to handle more like a “sports car”. This will improve location and firm everything up by reducing movement and slop in the various components. Obviously do the rear end as well to balance things out. I have used the blue Superpro bushes in several cars and these seem to work well. The orange ones came already fitted to the car in the picture but I changed them out as part of a full suspension rebuild so can’t say what brand they are.

[busheytrader]

+1 for uprating the bushes at the same time as uprating the suspension or beforehand.

Back in the day I couldn't afford to uprate everything at once, so changed the suspension bushes front and rear first. The handling felt better but was magnified when the subframe bushes were sorted as well, especially since the internal steel spacers had corroded badly and were much thinner. I bought stainless steel replacements, not cheap.