Hey guys,

I'm in the process of doing a motor swap on my R53; I'm replacing my blown engine w/ a crate motor from Way. After a lot of time meticulously disassembling what feels like the entire front half the car, I'm about ready to hook up my hoist and pull the old lump out.

The Bentley manual lists a special lifting mounts -- they sure like their specialty tools! I'm wondering what techniques other DIY'ers use when pulling the engine/trans as a unit. It's not obvious to me what's the best/safest approach, so I'm hoping some of you might chime in and save me some headaches.

Thanks!

 

I dont lift it, I just put it on a wheeled cart and roll it out the front.
Can be done in about 3 hours.
How much did the crate motor cost you?

 

Thanks for the tip, Colin. A buddy and I pulled the old motor out yesterday. We did use my cherry-picker and a jockeyed it with that. Took us a total of about 6 hours, but that included a trip to get some bigger chain, another for a new hydraulic ram (my 10+ year-old hoist has been passed around a lot and the last guy to borrow it must have blown the seals), a long lunch with our wives, plus the time to unhook the couple of little things I missed on my first pass. So yeah, maybe 2.3-3 hours actual garage time after having removed the MFE/radiator, exhaust manifold, axles, etc. I'm probably just slow though and used to working on rigs with a lot more room to maneuver.

I just went wit one of Way's JCW crate motors, so it was a little over $5K.

For anyone who finds this thread in the future via the search function: we chained from the long motor mount bolts behind the passenger-side valve cover to the front driver's trans mount. Pulled the throttle-body just to be sure we didn't pinch it with the chain. Engine/trans combo balanced great using those points and it was relatively easy to wiggle around the engine bay with some pry bars. Hopefully that helps someone else in the future.