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[VintageLambo] Urraco Blog #02

vabene36

The engine/transmission/running gear came out in six hours, believe it or not!Here"s how we did it (me, two kibbizers, and the farm cat) with nothing more than a couple of floor jacks, some odd pieces of wood, and common tools. First step, unhook the battery, and then put the car up on jack stands so you can zip around underneath to unhook stuff. Remove the rear wheels.Then drain the radiator, remove the coolant pipes (2), AC lines (if there"s anything in the AC system, either get it evacuated by a professional or don"t tell the EPA), clutch hydraulic line, gas line, oil temp/pressure hookups, battery cable, ignition wires, throttle linkage, gearshift linkage (has to come off at both ends to allow the rod to be extracted), brake calipers (hang them up away from the rotors with plastic ties), and spring/shock units (motor won"t move back far enough if they aren"t disconnected at the axle hubs), parking brake cables (can be done at either end – mine were seized at the wheels, so I popped them off at the other end where they attach to the lever). Got everything?Probably not.Check again. Next, take a decent sized floor jack (minimum 2000 lb) and put it under the middle of the car, back by the engine bay, with a 4x4 board across it to bridge the tunnel which carries the coolant pipe, clutch and brake lines, and handbrake cables.Start jacking until the jack has just lifted the rear of the car off the jack stands.Leave one stand on each side parallel with the floor jack for safety. Then take a second floor jack (one with wheels) and put a big chunk of one-inch plywood on it to spread the load over at least the engine oil pan, and preferably the whole engine subframe.Position the jack center of lift under the engine"s oil pan at a point which you guess is the unit"s center of gravity.Jack it up until it starts taking most of the engine weight. The whole thing weighs about 800 lb so it isn"t a big deal. Now you can undo the main subframe attachment bolts, two in front and three at the rear.They all attach to hefty steel projections on the body/frame with rubber bushings about the size of a Big Mac.Stay clear of the engine in case the jack fails!When all five are out your engine is free, but not ready to come out yet.First, you have to lower the rear edge of the subframe a couple of inches, just enough to clear the three projections and allow the subframe to move to the rear, but not so much as to tilt the engine and drive the oil filler pipe into the rear engine compartment wall.Then (here"s where a couple of friends with pry bars come in handy), coax the subframe rearward until the front projections are cleared.Then (with your friends steadying the engine and preventing it from flopping over) slowly lower the engine until the floor jack has bottomed out. At this point the engine should be free and clear of the body/frame, but without enough clearance to pull it out on the wheeled floor jack.So while your friends steady it, simply jack up the body with the other floor jack until it is high enough to slide the engine out from under.Once out, you can jack it up again (your friends are still there to steady it, right?) and you can slide three or four more jack stands under the subframe to hold it in position for further work. (I"ve got a picture of the end result, complete with the farm cat, for anybody who wants to see it.) Nextinstallment – why wouldn"t the engine turn over?Why wouldn"t the clutch work?All is revealed. George Bullwinkel