What's your record time

[BrianT]

It took me and my buddy an afternoon, but we took our time and had a couple of beers along the way. I enjoyed the hell out of it and wouldn't want to rush it. Tempis fugit. The older I get the more I try to enjoy the little things like working in the garage with your friends.

 

[famous bob]

Oh boy! Your quick! I can get up and “Do” instantly but “Awake” is another story.

Exactly... Some people take short cuts that I wouldn't want in my engines, so I build my own so I know that it's done right... (And minimize my chance of breaking down....)

Not car related but, back in my younger days, my boss sent me and my helper out after 5:00 o clock to do the rough in plumbing on a 2 bath , 3 bedroom house. It had been raining for 2-3 days and was miserable to work out side, we loaded up the plbg. truck and drove about 2 1/2 - 3 miles to the job. We were the only ones on the job of course. The boss had already dug under the footings for the water service and sewer kick out. My helper should have had his license, and could think as fast or faster than me. All we had to do was stomp the pipe into the mud to get the fall that we needed. My helper notched the stem wall for a floordrain that set in the garage under the hotwater heater, and was ready for the pipe by the time I got there. We finished the rough in and was back at the shop in under an hour. Had to wait almost 2 hours on the boss to get back to let us in to lock up the truck. He couldn`t believe it, and went down, after we left to check it. The next morn. he was bragging on us in front of everyone , and wanted us to work like that all the time, was always wanting something extra.
Back in those days a guy had to work to feed his family, and plumbing wasn`t near as easy as it is now, used copper for the water lines back then too !. We had done that house a few times before and pretty well knew the measurements to hit the walls w/o looking at the plans.
We did not test it at that time tho.

 

[MrJLR]

I don't rush....typically about 5 hours screwing around and it's on the stand.

Jeff

 

[moper]

Reading back through this thread got me thinking. The very first time I pulled an engine too me a while. Rather than undoing the two long bolts to free the mounts from the K frame, I got my fingers in and unbolted the 3 fine threaded bolts to free the engine block ears from the engine mount plates. I was 16...lol. Fast forward to when I was 20 - I locked in a street race and drove my car to the exhaust shop I worked at, and my GF drove her dads truck loaded with parts to the same place. Between 2pm on Holy Saturday and 11am Easter morning I assembled a fresh 440+6, removed the 383, swapped the convertor and engine, broke in the cam, and drove the car home. Made it to Easter dinner, then lost $400 in the race because I was unfamiliar with the new combo and spun well into 2nd gear...lol.
One can learn a ton, and still not be wise...lol.

 

[doogievlg]

Go I have a friend that ran in the umtr (stick shift racers) in the early 90s. He has told me stories of him and a buddy swapping engines and transmissions during the night in a gravel drive way!!

I have only pulled my motor a handful of times. The last time it took me a little over an hour because of the stupid trans housing bolts.

 

[krazykuda]

The next morn. he was bragging on us in front of everyone , and wanted us to work like that all the time, was always wanting something extra.

That's the trouble with doing something too good, you raise the bar higher and they expect more out of you....

 

[krazykuda]

"What's your record time"


Let's just say that I thought my girl friend was a real slut when she told me that I was her thirty second lover...

Until I realized that she was talking about time....

 

[TrailBeast]

To pull an engine.

34 minutes
1968 dodge dart
Slant six with a manual transmission. Engine and trans together
No a/c and manual steering.

1. Get the front of the car on jack stands

2. Drain radiator. I start here so it can be draining while I get on other things
3. Driveshaft . 4 bolts with a 3/8" wrench one is always a challenge because it is in the driveshaft pivot. I usually put a loose yoke in the trans to prevent oil from spilling out.
4. Remove shifter and rods
5. Remove z bar.
6. Crossmember, the two bolts on the mount with a 5/8" wrench, I usually remove two of horizontal crossmember bolts and nuts and loosen the other 2.
7. Motor mount nuts.
8 by now the radiator is ready to go, but will probably still make a mess. Which is why i am pretty much done underneath anyways.

9. Throttle linkage
10. Wiring to the alternator and top of engine, don't forget reverse light switch which has wire clip on the transmission and oil pressure sender wire.
11. Fuel line. Plug it with a bolt.
12. Exhaust pipe. ( might spray with penetrating oil before starting the whole job. )
13. Connect chain on the engine puller and put tension. Remove crossmember which is already loose.

14. Proceed to lift and remove

33 min.

Just kidding, I don't do things like that for a time slip.

I did however do the assembly from the short block up of a 5.9 with aftermarket heads, different springs and retainers, new double roller set, oil pump, pickup and pan, intake and carb, headers, engine mounts, A500 trans with shifting setup for OD and lockup, shorten the driveline, mod the trans crossmember, install 3/8 cooler lines, install a longer speedo cable and put it all in the car in gravel, over a weekend by myself.

Everything takes longer if you have help.

 

[67Dart440GT]

6-8 years for me on average.

 

[BrianT]

6-8 years for me on average.

Ain't that the truth? Like I said above, I pulled mine in an afternoon, but the engine bay sat empty for almost two years.

 

[Ben Drinkin]

Did it in less than a 30 pack once..

 

[Princess Valiant]

33 min.

Just kidding, I don't do things like that for a time slip.

Everything takes longer if you have help.

Not doing it for a time slip either but I am pointing out how gloriously simple old cars can be.

If a situation dictates an engine be pulled then it shouldn't be a stressful endeavor on one of these cars because it is so easy that a girl can get an engine out, in 34 minutes and beat out some guys twice her size

Try that with a later model modular ford, then it becomes apparent how engineers have really lost their minds and how cars have changed so much and really puts a question on future car enthusiasm.

The last comment about help is so dang true. I am so used to doing things on my own that when I get help, it's awkward and they usually work against my rhythm and pace.

 

[famous bob]

Not doing it for a time slip either but I am pointing out how gloriously simple old cars can be.

If a situation dictates an engine be pulled then it shouldn't be a stressful endeavor on one of these cars because it is so easy that a girl can get an engine out, in 34 minutes and beat out some guys twice her size

Try that with a later model modular ford, then it becomes apparent how engineers have really lost their minds and how cars have changed so much and really puts a question on future car enthusiasm.

The last comment about help is so dang true. I am so used to doing things on my own that when I get help, it's awkward and they usually work against my rhythm and pace.

I have learned to do things by myself over the yrs. too , mostly because I had to.
Rani; it takes me longer than that to pull one header !!

 

[Tooljunkie]

2009 chevy pickup,about 20 hours.
Driver’s cylinder head on an 07 f150, about the same.
Trans r&r on toyota rav 4awd about 11 hrs.
Engineering at its finest.
When i do barracuda and dart, i will be sure everything is done in such a way it will be easier next time.
Take apart with stuck bolts all over isnt fun.

 

[TrailBeast]

Not doing it for a time slip either but I am pointing out how gloriously simple old cars can be.

If a situation dictates an engine be pulled then it shouldn't be a stressful endeavor on one of these cars because it is so easy that a girl can get an engine out, in 34 minutes and beat out some guys twice her size

Try that with a later model modular ford, then it becomes apparent how engineers have really lost their minds and how cars have changed so much and really puts a question on future car enthusiasm.

The last comment about help is so dang true. I am so used to doing things on my own that when I get help, it's awkward and they usually work against my rhythm and pace.

Oh, I agree with you completely.
I also wonder what the "hobby" part of it will end up being, and sometimes think it's possible we could end up looking for gas for our old cars in the black market some day in the future because it isn't compatible any longer or even produced at all.
Don't think I have to worry about that in my lifetime, but I still wonder how it's going to end up some day.

 

[Tooljunkie]

Its water and ethanol,We just have to brew our own...

 

[barbee6043]

Takes me longer to crawl under the car and be ABLE to crawl back out,.... than it takes to get the engine out!! I keep the cell in my pocket just in case I need the wife to come pull me out!
Pulling a slant other day and using the chain and 2 bolts that a PO had used on a slant I had bought from him. . ( Could not find MY stuff!), One of his sorry bolts snaped, as the engine was raised up on the cherry piker a few feet in the air. BANG!!!! Engine is dangling from just end end of the chain! Lucky it did not fall or bang into something! ha
In a few decades Rani will be spending 3 days pulling an engine!!!

 

[SSVDP]

I’ve only done it a handful of times & it was usually parting out a Michigan Miracle, that’s a car that is a miracle it hasn’t broke into two pieces and yet every bolt is rusted in place and needs a torch to remove. So I usually spent more than 30 minutes just removing a couple of fasteners.
So I never kept track of how long it took.

 

[Bodyperson]

Seemed like it took forever. Helped a friend swap out a junkyard engine in his I-six 70 chevy truck with a rented cherry picker in an abandoned car wash in the middle of winter in Havre Montana.

 

[ramenth]

Go I have a friend that ran in the umtr (stick shift racers) in the early 90s. He has told me stories of him and a buddy swapping engines and transmissions during the night in a gravel drive way!!

I have only pulled my motor a handful of times. The last time it took me a little over an hour because of the stupid trans housing bolts.

Two hours to R&R a trans in the daily driver '78 Fury. On frozen grass, in a quick built lean to made of scrap lumber and black plastic, no heat at all, -20°F.

We worked in shifts. One under getting **** loose while the other two were in the house keeping warm.

Work until cold, slide out, go in to get warm, the next would slide under, repeat, rinse.

 

[AJ/FormS]

Two hours to R&R a trans in the daily driver '78 Fury. On frozen grass, in a quick built lean to made of scrap lumber and black plastic, no heat at all, -20°F.
We worked in shifts. One under getting **** loose while the other two were in the house keeping warm.
Work until cold, slide out, go in to get warm, the next would slide under, repeat, rinse.

Wow, you had some dedicated friends there, not to mention yourself.