Major things to do to remove engine:-
There will be a lot of nuts, bolts, wobbly bits and general whirlygigs coming off. It is essential to keep track of all this stuff. Personally I always try to refit bolts where they came from as I remove something. If that's not possible then put the bits in a ziplock bag and label carefully what the F it is and where the F it came from
First thing, jack the car up but not too high! You'll need to get under the front of the engine for a couple of bits but don't go sky high. There's a lot of work to do in the engine bay so lower is better!
Make sure the car is well supported with an axel stand under the front of each chassis rail. !!!!You’re going to be under the car tugging and heaving on things so it really does need to be secure!!!!
Remove front wheels
Remove both the undertrays
Remove front bumper
I did this for two reasons –
1 to protect it
2 to allow easier removal of the engine and allow the engine hoist to get closer when it comes to removing the engine
It’s possible that you don’t need to do this but given the scale of what’s ahead if this frightens you then I recommend refitting the undertrays and wheels and taking the car to a garage
To remove it:-
With the undertrays off you should be able to see the airbox resonator on the passenger side and the washer bottle on the drivers side. With a torch if necessary you should be able to look past these and see 3 nuts on the very front of each wing. It’s a bit of a squeeze to get in there but undo these three bolts
Remove the front indicators, unplug the bulbs then refit the indicators
Now a choice. Ideally you want to remove the thin wide undertray between the front bumper and the front crossmember. In my experience if you try to undo the bolts that hold it to the front bumper you will damage the bumper. The bolts are almost always seized into their captive C nuts and trying to undo them tears the captive clips off the bumper
Instead I always undo the bolts on the front crossmember (most will be out after removing the main undertrays
)
Unbolt the rubber seal strip that the bonnet closes on. You should now be able to pull the bumper forwards. It might take a bit of a tug but if it’s obviously stuck check for fittings I’ve forgotten about
If you have a UK spec then be aware that the headlight washers are still plumbed in! Pull the bumper far enough off that you can undo the single connection from the washer bottle to the washer pipework. Have a handy bung as when you disconnect it washer fluid will be escaping
Congratulations, you’ve just completed the first task that many people call difficult. It really isn’t
Remove radiator and hoses
Disconnect throttle cable from throttlebody
Drain engine oil and gearbox oil
Disconnect and remove battery
Disconnect alternator wiring and remove alternator from engine (leave the support bracket as it’s one of the engine hoist points!)
Tip, to un tension the alternator belt first locate the idler puller below and slightly behind the pulley on the alternator. Loosen the nut in the middle of this tensioner pulley. Now move to the front of the car. On the alternator support bracket under the alternator itself you should see a bolt coming through a captive sleeve. Tightening this bolt (clockwise turning) won’t tighten the bolt but it should release the tension on the alternator pulley)
Remove Turbo
Remove turbo support bracket underneath the turbo (connects turbo to block)
Undo the water hard pipe connection to the top of the turbo. Undo the bolts which secure this pipework to the compressor snail. Then disconnect the two hoses from the hardpipes just in front of and below the dizzy allowing you to remove the short hardpipe section.
Behind the turbo you'll see a large banjo fitting to the block (the turbo oil feed). Undo this
On the sump to the right of the oil filter is a large bore oil return line from the turbo. There's two options here. You can either slide the clips onto the metal hard pipe (you'll have to do a bit of wiggling to pull the pipe out later) or undo the two nuts holding the elbow to the sump
Undo the manifold from the head. As I said heating is very useful here so nip to a plumbing place for a MAPP gas torch. I find if I heat the bolts then spray with WD40 when hot it kind of sucks the WD in. Heat again and hopefully the nuts will come loose with a bit of welly. If it's still not moving give the end of the studs a few good belts and try again. This is often enough to loosen the studs in the head and allow them to come out (big thanks to Terry_T for that tip!). Looks like you're already on top of this!
Check to see if there is a pipe running from the turbo actuator towards the rear of the engine bay. If there is disconnect it
The turbo and exhaust manifold should now come off in one big unit
Unbolt AC compressor from block. No need to touch any of the AC pipework. Tie the compressor up to the slam panel without straining the pipes too much
Remove chargecooler pipework
One of the pipes that you've already disconnected from the chargecooler goes directly to the chargecooler rad at the front of the car. Identify this pipe and pull the connection off the rad. Have a bucket handy
The other pipe connects to the chargecooler pump. Pull this connection off the pump (remember that bucket again!)
Undo two nuts on the top of the engine mount and you should now be able to remove the pipes exposing the top of the gearbox
Disconnect wiring loom
Something which may or may not be easy, depends on how much extra wiring is running through the bulkhead. Start by pulling back the carpet in the passenger footwell. You'll see the large engine bay loom clipped to the bulkhead just below the heater box. Unclip it
On the top left of the heater box is a small connector on a short loom back to the main wiring harness you just unclipped. Unplug it. Unplug 3 connections to the ECU and 4 (iirc) connections behind the centre console. The main loom should now be free. Back to the engine bay, undo the two 10mm nuts holding the wiring loom gromet. Unplug the 3 connections to the igniter/coil on the bulkhead. The loom should now pull through from the cabin.
Move round to the main fusebox in front of the passenger front suspension tower. Remove lid and the 10mm bolts that attach it to the inner wing. You should be able to see that it’s actually two piece. Gently ease the front section upwards (The main engine loom goes into the front section) from the rear portion to revel one gurtmongous connector on the lower section and a smaller connector in the upper section. Unplug these two and the engine loom end should be completely free from the body loom.
To the left of the wiper motor you should see the igniter and coil pack. This has 3 wiring plugs going to it. Unplug all of these. Also unplug the king lead which connects the coil to the dizzy cap. To the left of the igniter/coil is the AC idle up valve. Unplug this electrical connection and disconnect the hose which runs from the valve to the inlet manifold (the second hose should already have the other end disconnected as this was hooked up to the rear of the chargecooler
Now move across to the drivers side of the inlet manifold. Attached to the bulkhead behind it you should see another sensor (the turbo pressure sensor). Disconnect the single vacuum hose and the wiring connection from the sensor
While you’re mucking about with wires disconnect the earth strap from the passenger suspension turret to the starter motor (IIRC). Follow the lead off the negative battery terminal and disconnect it from the engine
Undo the main battery connection from the starter motor
Disconnect the earth strap from the alternator bracket to the driver suspension turret (there’s a connector in the middle of this wire that can be unplugged)
Disconnect Fuel lines
Easy enough. Have a rag handy to mop up the small amounts of petrol that will be present when you break the connections.
Remove the high pressure line from the top of the fuel filter bolted to the rear of the front suspension tower on the passenger side. Slightly further back from this you’ll see the return line from the fuel rail to the hardpipes back to the tank. This one is just held on with a clip. Remove clip and pull the fuel line off of the hardpipe.
On the firewall behind the fuel filter you should now be able to see a big black cylinder with two pipes, one small, one large. This is the charcoal cannister. Disconnect the small pipe
Disconnect gear selectors and clutch line
Not that some of the wiring and pipework is out of the way you should now be able to see the two gear selector cables attached to the back of the gearbox close to the firewall on the passenger side.
First off look at the end of the cables where they connect to the gearbox. You should see two R type clips in the top of the pins the cables are connected to. Pull the R clips out and the cables should slide upwards off of the pins on the gearbox arms.
Now it’s time to disconnect the cables retainers from the gearbox. The cables pass through two brackets on the gearbox (this is where the outer cable sheath stops). You should be able to make out brackets attached to the gearbox (these remain) and the U clips on the outer side of then. Pull the clips straight upwards and with a bit of wiggling they should come off. You should then see that the brackets on the gearbox have slots in the top. If you push the cables slightly towards the drivers side they should disengage from the GB brackets allowing you to slide the thinner “rods” through the brackets to disconnect the cables completely from the GB.
While you’re in this neck of the woods look for a large black connector slightly to the rear of these brackets. It’s the speedo sensor. Unplug it
Now look to the drivers side of the selector arms you disconnected the selector cables from. You should be able to see a hydraulic union where a flexi hose (the clutch) connects to the hardpipes on the gearbox. This uses the same sort of U clip as those on the selector cables. First undo the actual connection between the two pipes. The “nut” on the end of the hardpipe should unscrew from the end of the flexible hose. Then pull off the U clip from the bracket securing the end of the flexi hose. The hose should now be disconnected from the engine
Drain the power steering fluid reservoir as much as you can. It can then be unclipped from it’s mounting bracket (a bit of a fiddle but if you look at the mounting you should get a good idea of how it’s retained). Pull off the large hose that runs alongside the cambelt cover back towards the firewall. This will be messy
Things in the engine bay should now be looking quite disconnected. If there’s anything obvious you spot still connected disconnect it (and add a note to this post so the guide can be improved!)
From now on most of the work should be under the car so feel free to jack it up a little more to help you getting under there. Remember, safety here is paramount!
Remove the driveshafts
There are a few ways of skinning this. I’ll describe what I think is the easiest method as it involves breaking the fewest taper joints
So…..
Undo the huge hub nut (30mm deep socket required
) (If working on your own some ingenuity is required as you can’t use the brakes to stop the whole hub from spinning. What I do is to put two wheel nuts back on next to each other. Then wedge a crow bar between them so that the end fetches up against the floor as you try to undo the hub nut and stops the hub spinning. YMMV)
Remove the brake calipers. Remember, don’t just leave them hanging, tie them up to the shock absorber
Remove the brake discs
If you have ABS disconnect the sensors from the hub and unbolt them from the banana arms
Right behind the backer plates you’ll see two bolts and one nut which secure the plates which the lower arms attach to to the hub itself. Undo these nuts/bolts.
Next you need to disconnect the steering tie rods. These are taper joints. The correct way is to use a hydraulic taper splitter to do this. The common way is to belt the hub with a medium weight hammer where the taper is fitted until the joint breaks (having undone the nut first
). Be careful not to tw@ the front wing when swinging the hammer **cough**JP**cough**. Personally I like to avoid the normal V style balljoint splitters as they’ll often destroy the dust covers. The choice is yours
Next you need to break the taper joint from the strut to the top of the hub. The above methods of balljoint splitting apply
You should now be done with the hammers
If everything is disconnected you should find that you can push down on the hub enough to disengage the upper balljoint from it’s taper. Rock the hub towards you then lift it up until the lower stud clears the plate on the lower suspension arms. The hub should now pull off the driveshaft
Once the hubs are out of the way the driveshafts should “just” pull out of the GB. They should move some way easily but they are retained. I found the best way was to push the shaft as far into the GB as possible then give it a swift firm pull out, like you were using a slide hammer
Any GB oil which you hadn’t fully drained from the GB is now pouring onto your drive (I did tell you to drain it earlier
)
Disconnect the GB oil cooler – on the front of the gearbox you should see two pipes connected. Undo both of these and unbolt the bracket which attaches them to the gearbox.
Now for one of the really awkward bits
You need to disconnect the power steering pump from the steering rack. Stick your head under the rear of the engine on the drivers side. You should be looking at the power steering pump. On the rear of it you should just about be able to see a banjo bolt fitting. This is the high pressure hose to the rack and you need to undo this joint. It’s awkward, it will still be full of fluid, there will be much swearing and mess. It’ll be particularly annoying when PAS fluid runs straight into your armpit. Perseverance pays
Note. If you’re taking the engine out of the bottom, as described below, then wait until you’ve removed the east->west crossmember to make life a little easier
Now comes the point where the two main removal methods (out the bottom or out the top) diverge . I’ll describe out the bottom as it’s the method I know. I had two reasons for taking this approach….It looked easier and I planned to renew all of the front suspension arms at the same time so mucho disassembley was already planned
Remove the crossmembers
This bit is going to be more involved without two other mates in tow to lend assistance. (there’s not much time or effort required from them
). If you find them skip the remove shock absorbers paragraph and rejoice!
Whatever happens, undo the ARB droplink (these usually put up a fight but I find the blowtorch/WD40 method mostly successful).
To do it single handed you need to remove the shocks which means you have to break the connection between the figure 8 link and the bottom of the shock absorber. This may be easy or it may be a complete pain in the proverbial, it just depends on your luck
). Again the usual taper joint removal process is required (proper splitter, hammer of V splitter and possibly wrecked dust seals). Then undo the brake hose retainers - 1 bolt to undo the plate from the top of the superstrut and another one of those C clip fasteners which clips the hose to a bracket on the damper body .Then undo the 3 topmount bolts on each shock. It should then be possible to wriggle the shock off the fig8 joint and completely remove the strut.
Now you need to remove the east west (side to side) and north south (front->rear) subframes……
Undo the bolt through the centre of the front engine mount but leave it in position
Undo the two bolts that secure the front of the north/south xmember to the radiator support at the very front of the car
Now move to the east/west member, roughly under the middle of the car. You’ll see a plastic cover on the underside below the rear engine mount. Remove this cover to expose 3 nuts/bolts which attach the engine mount to the crossmember. Undo them
Next locate the two brackets (1 either side) that clamp the ARM onto the top of the east->west crossmember. Undo the two bolts in each bracket to free the ARB
Next locate and undo the two bolts that hold the steering rack to the E/W xmember, again one at each end. Note, it looks like a nut and bolt but it is not!. The nut is semi captive and cannot be turned so make sure you undo the bolt! (all will become clear when it’s undone)
Now support the middle of the east->west xmember with a jack in the centre
There are now another 4 bolts to undo each side to release the E/W crossmember – 1 bolt in the centre of the wheelarch, 1 bolt through the rear of the banana arm and two more bolts at the extreme rear of the subframe. Undo all of these.
The subframe should now be free of the car supported by a jack.
If the shocks are off (you’re going it alone
) just lower the xmember to the ground
If the shock absorbers are still attached it’s time to get your mates round – undo the 3 bolts on each topmount. Get a mate to hold it upright as you lower the subframe to the ground. If you don’t get someone to hold the shocks up then as you lower the subframe they’ll come out of the suspension turrets and proceed to fall against the inside of the front wings, possibly bending the flimsy wings in the process – not recommended
Once the topmounts clear the wing have them swing the shocks out horizontal so you can pull the whole subframe, arms and shock package out from under the car. It’ll be a bit like herding cats so be careful
Nearly there now
Remove mid pipe. It’s easy without all the chassis subframes there
Pull the bolt out of the front engine mount to release the north->south xmember
Now’s the time to put your thinking hat on. Very shortly you’re going to need to drag the engine from under the car. You need a sensible way of doing this (a 4x4 and length of chain is NOT sensible
)
What I used was a piece of 30mm board about 3ft square. Under this I put a few lengths of (22mm
) copper pipe so I could roll the board forwards and backwards pretty easily. Variations on the theme might be workshop crawlers, purpose built trolleys etc etc. The main thing is the lower the better.
Once you’ve figured out what you’re going to use place said contraption under the engine. What’s going to happen is that you’ll lower the engine onto it. The engine will sit on it’s sump, the gearbox housing and the little bracket which is attached to the very rear of the transfer right where the prop attaches (The thing that looks like the engine is supposed to sit on it when lowered
) Bear this in mind when positioning your engine moving contraption
Break out the engine hoist and attach it to the two engine hooks. A load leveler is very useful for doing this. Take the weight of the engine on the hoist.
On the passenger side of the car undo the bolt that goes through the middle of the round engine mount and remove it.
On the drivers side undo the 3 nuts which hold the engine mount to the engine (look down the side of the cambelt cover). The engine is now (if I didn’t miss anything
) free. Very slowly start to lower it. If it isn’t moving then look around and find what you/I missed
Even when it is moving go very slowly and stop often to have a thorough look around for things hanging up, plugged in etc etc. At some stage you’ll have to pull the AC pump clear of the thermostat/water inlet. Keep a careful eye on the propshaft. There should be enough rotation in the UJ but make sure it is articulating as the engine goes down (prop will remain attached all the way to the floor Continue lowering until the engine is sitting securely on your moving thingamabob.
Depending on how high the car is now you may be able to pull the engine forward enough to disengage the prop. If not take the next step slowly until you do
Last step is to get the engine out from under the car. Some people use the engine hoist to lift the body up (body is now much lighter without the pig iron…er I mean engine….. in the front)
Personally I couldn’t see a way of making this work as I wanted to pull the engine out the front but the crane would have been in the way
I put a 4”x4” fence post between the chassis rails about 2ft behind the firewall and jacked the car from there. This got the car high enough (just!) for me to drag the engine underneath the front xmember and out from under the car
Stop, have a cuppa, smoke ‘em if you’ve got ‘em steal ‘em if you haven’t etc etc