How I swapped my K frame last week

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67dartgtgo

67dartgtgo

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I’ve heard some of you say how you’ve done this and didn’t want to pull my motor so made up the 4x4 inner fender supports and suspended my motor from threaded rod into the intake manifold.


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Well thats interesting!

The red neck part of me really likes it. Way to think out side the box.

Why not just use a cherry picker?
 
I have the car on my 4 post lift and it was impossible to use my cherry picker and have the lift versatility. Worked out very well for me as I could then raise the car for easy access underneath. Easy peezy.
 
I probably would have ran a few 4 inch screws tieing it all together bit yeah. Thats a pretty clever way to do it.


I lift some heavy engines with the trans attached at stupid angles by the carb bolts. It always makes me nervous.

Your way at least is just hanging so id think id probably lay under that.

:thumbsup:
 
The funny thing is you can cross thread a bolt into that aluminum manifold and bust off an ear but it can support the entire weight of a fully dressed out v8.
I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again. Threaded rod and fender washers.
 
Wow! Interesting approach!! I think I would have screwed the two end pieces to the horizontal members but that’s just over safety conscious me!
 
Glad to see that style of work making a come back.
Back in the 80’s we did a similar thing when the k frames had the lower holes for the bolted shafts from the lower control arm oblonged. We used same set up but chained the engine from head to head instead of carb mounting flange.
 
Super cool idea. I have a steel tube I used to use with a chain attached when I worked on FWD MoPars. It layed across rad support and firewall and attached to the engine when I had to remove transaxles.

I like this idea enough to weld one of these together out of square tubing just to have around the shop.
 
5/16 inch, grade 2 bolts have a safe working load of around 300 lbs times 4 equal 1200 pounds. Plenty strong enough to support the engine. The strength of threads on an aluminum intake, not sure. A safety chain to a stronger attachment point, just in case, might not be a bad idea. I have used a 2x4 and a strap to support the rear of the engine before. Worked great and no jack under the car to get in the way. Rod

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R4Sedan said:
Pretty clever. Did the weight on your inner fenders affect them?
Click to expand...

It didn't affect them at all. I positioned the short 4x4 sections right over the shock towers knowing that's probably where most of the strength is. In reality with the weight distributed evenly, the weight on the cross sectional area of the 4x4's I don't think is all that significant. The transmission mount left in place acts as a weight bearing fulcrum as well.
 
I built an engine support from some square tubing and some laser cut brackets.

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All ingenious!
Thats one reason im a member here. The collective intelligence bar none exceeds any other forum i have visited.
 
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