SUCCESS!

Well was finally successful in getting the engine and transmission out of the the Tomato Saturday and it was harder that I remember pulling engines to be!! Might be because I had several things working against me? Here's how things went....

First order of business was to make some room for pulling the drivetrain. I had the roof skin setting on a couple saw horses in front of the car that would definately limit my working area, so I had to find a safe place, out of the way, for the skin until I got the engine and tranny out. I looked around and thought "what safer place than back on the car?", so I gingerly got hold of it and eased it back into place on the Torino.

Next thing was to get the engine hoist up to the second floor. Rolled pretty easily on the concrete, but rolling it up the wooden access ramp, which is covered with expanded metal for traction, was a real PITA and should have been my first clue of the trouble which lay ahead!

With the cherry picker now on station, I then removed the transmission crossmember. I had to raise the transmission as high as possible, push the passenger side of the crossmember as far forward as possible and the driver side as far rearward as possible. Then, after getting a good grip on the driver side of the crossmember, a firm yank to the rear and out it came. CAUTION: the crossmember is VERY HEAVY so make sure you are out of the way when it falls...  ouch!

Now that the crossmember was out, I attached the lifting chain to opposite sides/ends of the engine and naturally, the chain was a bit too long (go figure!) so I had to choke it up a bit near the center. I rolled the lift into position, adjusted the grip on the chain so it would pick the engine straight up and started my first attempt....

NOTHING. The lift wouldn't move an inch. WTH?? I looked and the small diameter steel wheels on the lift were rotated 90 degrees to the direction I wanted to go and were wedged between the floor boards, so I set the engine back down, rolled the lift deeper into the car and rolled it back out to where I had it to re-orient the wheels in the right direction. Rehooked everything, lifted and rolled about 1" before getting stuck again. I fought it for another 45 minutes or so until I was ready to go postal, then decided I needed to call in reinforcements. A call to my brutha from a diff'runt Mutha, Jim Conley, and I had the Cavalry on the way!

When Jim arrived we were able to move it out another 3" or so until the exhaust manifolds started hitting on the control arms. We removed the manifolds from the heads to gain extra inches on both sides of the engine (made it soooooooooooo much easier!) and renewed our pull. Was moving forward, but we were experiencing resistance from someplace?? A closer look revealed the transmission cooler lines were clipped on the backside of the engine crossmember on the passenger side! On all the Ford smallblocks I had ever pulled, the cooler lines were clipped along the oil pan rail and came out with the drivetrain, so I neglected to look at how they were on a 460/C6. I had boogered mine up pretty good before I realized what was preventing the assembly from coming forward smoothly. Removed the clip and WHA-LA the engine and tranny were free! We set the assembly down on an old tire pressed into service as an engine bed and unhooked the hoist.

(check out those mangled cooler lines!!)

Before Jim departed I had him to help me take the lift back down the ramp to the service area. Was soooooooooooooooo much easier going down! LOL

With the Tomato much lighter, I was able to roll the Torino back and take up the old plastic which I had on the floor to prevent fluid leaks from seeping thru the floor and onto the service area below. Picked up all the loose debris from the floor, rolled out new plastic and moved the vehicle back onto her spot....

WHEW, she wore my hinney out this weekend, but the blood, sweat and tears were worth it knowing I am another step closer to having her ready for the body shop! A few more little items to take care of and off she goes!

I again want to give Jim Conley a great big THANK YOU for saving the day and helping me wrestle that 600lb hunk of cast iron out of the car... I OWE YA BIG TIME BRUTHA!!

Stay tuned....

ZEBRA 3 OUT