Hi All,

I'm about to remove the engine from my JCWS. It's completely disconnected and stripped, except for the transmission and crankshaft ladder. Two questions so far:

1. Is there room to wiggle the block off the tranny and slide out the block only, leaving the tranny in place?
2. Is there a way to lift the engine (with or w/o the tranny) not using a special BMW lifting bracket and if so, where and how to attach lifting straps or chains?

Thanks for the advice.

 

My car is an R50, and I'm not sure what a crankshaft ladder is. With that caveat divulged, the engine is the same externally. I removed my engine and transmission together straight forward, after removing the front bumper, radiator, and swinging AC condenser out of the way. I used a typical "cherry picker" style engine hoist, and a length of chain. Nothing special. It was pretty easy, actually.

One thing I will say is that if the front of the car is raised on jacks, raise the rear to level it. I don't know about removing engine by itself.

 

Thanks Blackbomber,

Can you tell me where and how you fixed the chain to the engine & trans?

 

Coming out, I goofed, and it wasn't balanced at all:


Going back in I did a little better. Since I could see which way the assembly wanted to flop, I made a few adjustments until it was stable. I know I moved the chain on the passenger side to the front of the motor, the long bolt that goes through the mount bracket, I think. I don't remember where I put the other end, but it was towards the rear. I installed a 6 speed going back in, and I think the trans actually had a boss cast in to which I bolted the chain, that my 5 speed didn't have. Your motor will be balanced differently with the supercharger, though, probably not by much. But as you can see, even making a bad mistake, I still got it out fine. Two people is helpful, as one can work the motor as the other slides back the hoist.

 

When I lifted my engine to take the transmission out, I used a generic engine leveler (a Torin T32100, $24.99) in place of the BMW tool. On the passenger side I bolted alternately to the front and rear where the engine bracket attaches, as needed. Since the leveler has two chains and brackets on each side, you can lift with one while you disconnect the other, if you need to move your attachment point. On the driver's side I used the transmission bracket-to-transmission bolt, and -- very gently -- a bolt on the side of the head for a hose and wire bracket. As far as I can tell, an engine leveler is a lot more versatile than the factory bracket, and vastly cheaper.

 

Those are nice. I should be smart and get one, but I don't pull more than one motor every two years or so, and most of what I do are aircooled VW's anyhow. But the bulk of my problem is that I didn't plan properly, and didn't have the right size chain and bolts, and such. I would have had more places to attach to if I had more versatile hardware.

 

If your doing the job on the floor, I like to use 2 jacks and pull it out the front.

 

That's probably a good way to do it anyway. If you have a lift, you could do all the underneath stuff and then lower it almost to the floor and use 2 jacks as you said. Sounds simple enough

 

Dennis Im curious what the BMW engine hoist plate even looks like. Dealer that is selling me the engine told me they never heard of it.

They just drop the engine from below.

Do you have any pics of where you attached the load leveler to the block to pull it out?