79 TA 400 Lifting the Engine To Drop the Oil Pan

[Jolo]

I have an engine support beam attached to two engine lifting hooks I attached to the front of the block on my Pontiac 400 so I can lift the engine to drop the oil pan. I have both bolts out of the engine mounts and I have removed the fan and the starter and detached the fuel line to the pump at the frame (I will probably detach the rubber fuel lines at the pump, though I don't think that is the hang up). The engine will not lift and I don't want to put too much pressure on the inner fenders, or yank on something that is hanging it up. The T10 and bellhousing are attached and the transmission attached to its crossmember. Has anyone experienced this and are the mounts just a bit snug, or have I forgotten to disconnect something?

 

[melsg5]

Have you considered jacking up one side of the engine from underneath to break the mount loose and then doing the same on the otherside?
Dont forget to remove the distributor cap once the engine starts to move.
I assume battery is disconnected.

 

[Jolo]

Thanks for the quick response. Yep got he battery and Cap. Jacking it from under to break it loose was my next approach, but just wanted to be sure I did not forget anything. I am using my 1978 Pontiac Repair manual lifting instructions. I just don't want to damage anything due to a stupid mistake. I think I just need to break the mounts loose, but I am just not sure.

 

[Jolo]

I sprayed the mounts with Silicone-I wont use WD 40 on the rubber. I increased the tension on the engine support overnight. No luck, with a pry bar this morning - Not much to leverage and I have to be careful to not bend the engine mounts. I still have plenty of clearance for the bellhousing and tranny. I will loosen the rear tranny mount and then I am going to try two tall support jacks with a block of wood under the oil pan flanges on each side or use my tranny jack with a padded piece of 3/4 plywood under the oil pan. It should not be this tough to break loose.

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[Jolo]

Wanted to close this thread and thank everyone for the support I had surgery on both hands so I had to set the car aside for a while. The problem was that I was just being too cautious and I was dealing with severe carpal tunnel when trying to crank on the bridge bolts. The mounts broke loose finally by continuing to crank on the bridge. To make it easier on my hands after surgery I added Permatex Anti Seize Lubricant to the bridge bolts and washers and I was then able to crank on the bolts more easily and break the mounts loose with the bridge. One mistake I made was loosening the trans mount bolt because that caused the engine and trans to slide forward during lifting which threw the alignment out with the motor mounts. I had to pry it all back while gradually lowering the engine to get the mounts to realign when lowering the engine.

thanks again

Joe

 

[melsg5]

Thanks for the update

 

[LKLusza]

Good to hear the surgery went well too.

 

[cammerjeff]

Great news all around! Thanks for the update!

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