First Motor Swap ever

[Vali68]

I'm about to swap out a Slant6 in my Valiant to another Slant6 I have replaced gaskets and cleaned up. This is the first time I am doing this.
I have a 1ton hoist, floorjack, Jack stands, chain, leveler bar, and plenty of hand tools and Air tools to do the job.
What is the process? I think I want to just pull the motor and replace it. NOt taking the motor and tranny out of the car.
Any advice is well appreciated.

 

[DNasty777]

There's a lot of ways to skin this cat. Me personally, when I get around to finally swapping in my 360 I'm going to drop everything out the bottom. K-frame bolts, upper control arms, torsion bars, and driveshaft then everything slides right out from under the car.

 

[Ben Drinkin]

I'm with 'the nasty' on this. Last one I pulled, I did from the bottom. Easy as pie. If you're just swapping the motor, might be about the same to do it from above.

Assuming it's an auto trans:
Torque Converter bolts
Exhaust
engine-to-trans bolts
radiator
throttle linkage/kickdown
wiring
hook up the hoist
motor mount bolts

and she's in your lap.

I'm sure I skipped something. You'll find it when you snap it off with the hoist!!

 

[pishta]

hes not pulling the tranny so out the bottom is not what hes after. pull radiator and use the front threaded hole on top of the head as your chain tiedown, its balance point for motor, load leveler not needed. (rear is balance point for motor+tranny, pretty cool eh?) drop it in, slide it back a little to seat the convertor and bolt her up. I found that the rubber mounts are easier to bolt up when the motor is installed and lifted a bit. Trying to hook the trans as well as the the motor mount holes is not worth the 10 minutes it takes to put them on when the motor is in.

 

[67Dart273]

I can't answer this exactly because slant's don't "hang" balanced like a V8. Since you have a second engine, I'd take the time to experiment where to bolt your hoist gear so that it does so. If you can fabricate, you may need a simple spreader bar. The Horrid Freight engine tilting thingie is not that bad, I picked up one used.

You want to mark the torque converter for convenience, or consult your shop manual. The V8 ones (at least some years) are marked. The TC ONLY bolts up one way, one hole is "off"

Pull starter, cover, and unbolt TC one bolt at a time. "Rig" a simple bracket to hold the TC from falling out when the engine is pulled out.

To support the trans, I just hooked a small ratchet strap under the front of the bell, across the torsion bars. At least to get things back in, you'll need a jack under the trans to get it angled right.

Most the rest is common sense. Last time I swapped V8s with trans in the car, I left the hook on the car, a close "shave." Don't know if you can pull that off with a slant, or not.

 

[Charrlie_S]

Question: What year car, and what year for the "new" engine? There were some differences in the engines in the early years, that have to be considered when swaping. The biggest issue is trying to install a 67 or older engine in a 68 or newer car. The crank "pocket' is smaller then the pilot on the torque converter, and will not fit. There are differences in oil pans and engine brackets (different years and body styles) but these can be swapped from the removed engine.