After a good bit of work and learning a whole hell of a lot of useful stuff that I'll be able to apply to avoid breaking anything when I go to pull the engine from the 'vert I'm working on repairing, I'm finally ready to pull the block from my parts car. The problem? It's sitting out in my yard, and there's essentially zero chance of getting a hoist or the likes out there and just about as low of a chance of moving the parts car in to the garage.

From what I've read, the block alone with everything stripped off (see picture) and no fluids weighs a bit over 300 lbs- which should be within the range that two reasonably fit guys could lift (with the proper leverage) and carry. The plan is to get a pipe capable of taking the load (or an angle section of some sort- but I don't have a good reasonably priced source for this...) and putting it through chains on the engine and having one guy on either side of the car lift and then carry it into the garage.

First off- does this sound reasonable, or have others tried this and just not been able to do it? I realize it's not ideal by any stretch- but it seems to be the best way I given the situation. Also- with the engine stripped down to just the block, where should I be attaching the chains, and how? Ideally I'd like two chains- one on either side of the engine- so that the weight would be somewhat balanced between the two and less likely to slide around. Thanks!

 

I don't recommend you do it without a hoist unless you have a lot of people happy. While it can be done, the engine will often hang up on the transmission and having to lift the engine in the air while wiggling it around is difficult and dangerous.

 

agreed just get the hoist.

 

If it were a simple (or even reasonably difficult) matter to just get a hoist (a friend has one that I plan to use when pulling the motor/tranny out of the one I'm repairing) and pull it, I'd do that in a heartbeat. But the logistics and effort that would be necessary to get the parts car to a place practical to use a hoist (it's not just a matter of getting it out of the car- it's then got to be able to be moved someplace useful) seem to me to be in excess of the trouble of just doing it by muscle alone. It would at best require the abuse of a friend's truck to push cars up the hill my driveway is on as well as the effort to ensure both cars could be rolled and steered, and at worst require getting a flatbed truck back out to move the parts car- which was how it got where it is in the first place, and in either case would probably involve damage to my neighbor's lawn. Again.

Believe me, I realize using a hoist would be best- but it just doesn't seem practical in this situation, which is why I asked for experience/advice on doing it without one.

 

There have been some people on here saying the removed the engine like you have stated, can't remember who thought. THey had a bar and had it hooked up with some chains and jerked that bitch. I've had two people at my work pick my engine off the table and put it in the back of my intrepid when i was getting a hoist, and one guy was kind of weak. Just watch out for sharp edges if it comes to that.

 

ive done that with a small honda engine out of an accord, if you have the muscle it will work, just make sure that the pipe or whatever you are using to lift is is strong enuf to hold the wight. i made that mistake before and it was not fun

 

Also the second part. THere are those two hooks on the engine for lifting. Disconnect those oil cooler lines if not already since there on in the picture.

 

Throw a sheet of plywood under the car and wheel the hoist on top of it? I don't understand how you can't use a hoist.

 

Get a sheet of plywood or a tough, old blanket and drag it!

As for getting it out of the car.......if, you're dead set on lifting it, get as many people as you can fit to pull/lift it out.

 

most hoists have wheels and fold up these days i borrowed a friends and pulled down an ally used it and pulled it back ...... get one with wheels . yeah but if your going to lift it out use the eyelets on the block they were put there to balance the engines wieght when removing / installing the engine into the car and ahve a couple of pretty strong guys to help you

 

The problem is that there wouldn't be any way to move the hoist to get the engine into the garage... this would be much easier with a picture. I don't have a really good one of the area, but the one attached is probably sufficient. The parts car is in an area between my house and garage on two sides and the railing for the steps down to my basement on most of the third. Unless the hoist has off-road wheels on it and is like 2 1/2 feet or less wide, it would have to be rolled all the way around my house (which would still require off-road wheels) and then up the incline to my garage. There's room in front (the picture attached was taken before pushing the car to where it is now, which is nice and straight and in the alcove area) likely to put down plywood and use the hoist- but then I would likely have to take it off the hoist to get it into the garage, so it would probably be easier to just do it all by hand from the get-go.