78 replies to this topic

[ll77]

I just pulled my first engine yesterday, and I'm documenting my exploits for future reference, and I'm sure someone else might be able to benefit too. It was actually much easier than I expected, but I'm sure going back together will be much more difficult. Not all steps have pictures yet, I will edit as I take more, probably when I put her back in. And PLEASE, if I have forgotten something, or something seems off, let me know, I would appreciate it!

I'm going to do my head gasket (with a complete felpro kit with all the o rings and tiny gaskets), oil pump seal, front crank seal and maybe the oil pan gasket (hopefully).

First, drain oil and coolant, and remove battery.

undo charcoal canister by undoing clip and pulling up, then swing over the intake hose to keep it out of the way
( question: where does the hose on the bottom plug into? )

loosen clamp holding intake hose to air box, disconnect hose from air box



disconnect air box connector, undo 4 air box clips, remove air box (I did this as the engine was coming out, when I realized it was in the way)

undo 4WD/heater vacuum hose



undo thermoswitch and fan plug ( blue and white respectively )

remove fan shroud

remove radiator





remove fan from water pump pulley





undo power steering line brackets from engine



undo p/s lines from p/s reservoir



guide p/s lines away from engine



Undo alternator adjusting bolt at bottom of bracket, remove belt



loosen top bolt, and swing the alternator up



Remove bolts holding bracket onto engine (4 bolts)



Loosely reattach alternator to bracket by adj. bolt, then swing the A/C/alt. bracket assembly onto the shock tower, secure with bungee cords, hooking them into the shock tower holes

Undo PCV hose

Undo fuel lines (the feed line can be traced from the fuel filter)



Undo fuel vent line



Undo 3-hose clamp (1 screw)



tuck loose lines along with A/c/alt assembly

Undo this bracket







Undo Brake booster vacuum line

Edited by ll77, 23 June 2012 - 12:53 AM.

[ll77]

Undo heater hoses



undo throttle cable

undo anti-pitch bar from both firewall and engine sides, leave bolt on engine side on engine as it will be used to attach the lift chain



Remove ground cable attached to water pipe

Undo distributor connector

Undo high tension lead from distributor to ignition coil



Undo SPFI harness (2 connectors)



undo oxygen sensor connector



undo headers on both sides

undo y-pipe spring bolts

undo engine mount nuts (2 nuts)

undo 2 bottom bellhousing nuts

here's one:



the other must be accessed from underneath, and is a bit difficult

then, I made sure everything was situated correctly so that nothing would catch on anything else, especially the hill holder cable. Make sure spark plug wires are all under the hill holder cable and that the PCV hoses(?) won't catch onto the A/c hoses.

No biggie, but this tiny clip holds the distributor connector to the hill holder



Jack the transmission until the engine mounts have cleared the crossmember



Attach your lift chain to the previously mentioned anti-pitch bar bolt and the loop next to where the p/s pulley was. support the engine with the lift

Crack the upper bellhousing nuts and bolts (marked in orange)



Then separate the engine from the bellhousing and guide her on up! Be careful,don't let anything catch, especially that hill holder cable!

This isn't complete yet, and I will be adding more pictures. Hope this helps some people like myself.

[MilesFox]

i like it. i don't think you missed anything.

you could leave the fuel line bracket on the motor side to not compromise the intake gasket, unless all of it is coming off.

you can tuck the charcoal canister behind the oil fill pile along with your upper radiator hose.

Your write up gets my seal of approval:clap:

[l75eya]

This is an awesome write-up. Must have taken some time to write it all up and edit the pictures and what-not. Looks like you went about it in a very organized manner. When I do attempt this myself, I will positively be following this. Thanks for taking the time to make this! Should wind up helping lots of peeps.

[GeneralDisorder]

The last few steps are missing:

X) Drop EA82 in dumpster

Y) Install EJ22 w/adaptor plate and harness.

Z) Pass go. Collect $200.

GD

[l75eya]

Why GD always gotta be hatin' yo.

Oo look! Banana!

Dead banana
=P

[ll77]

Thanks everyone for the comments. I am so flattered that you like it Miles, I watched your video on the subject and I don't think I could have done this without your help. So thank you Miles!

Many of these pictures were staged, I didn't plan on taking pictures, but realized it would be a good opportunity, and I redid and undid everything for the pics; the charcoal can I replaced in its spot to take the pic of the 4wd vac hose haha.

And the fuel line bracket would have caught on that dang hill holder cable, so i took it off.

Oh and a fast question, where does the charcoal canister's bottom hose plug into? I know that this seems a very stupid question, but I don't see any hose that it could possibly plug into. Please, remember I am not a mechanic! Thanks!

[GeneralDisorder]

Why GD always gotta be hatin' yo.

You have to figure that I must have some pretty damn good reasons with my post count, join date, and reputation around here right?

Think about that for a minute... ponder it and really give it a chance to sink in.

GD

[GeneralDisorder]

Oh and a fast question, where does the charcoal canister's bottom hose plug into? I know that this seems a very stupid question, but I don't see any hose that it could possibly plug into. Please, remember I am not a mechanic! Thanks!

Below the canistor bracket there is a hole in the frame rail that the hose pushes into. It's just a condensate drain.... it doesn't connect to anything but the air inside the frame rail.   .

GD

[l75eya]

You have to figure that I must have some pretty damn good reasons with my post count, join date, and reputation around here right?

Think about that for a minute... ponder it and really give it a chance to sink in.

GD

haha! You're quite right, your reputation most certainly precedes you. EA82 basher extroairdinaire!

[ll77]

Aha, I saw that hole, tried it, and the hose fit perfectly, but my buddy said, "no way, that makes no sense at all." That'll show him. Thanks!

And trust me, I would love to have an EJ22, but my meager budget will not permit so. I thought my old L28E in the old Datsun lacked power, until I bought this car. Man!

Edited by ll77, 15 June 2012 - 12:51 AM.

[RXJ]

great job..
Now when putting my engine back in I'll know what was taken off...cause non of that organized stuff was goin on..

[ll77]

Ok, I need help today.

I've gotten to the timing belt covers and the bolts have started to spin in their metal casings. Miles says to gently persuade it w/ a prybar, but I've only managed to crack the plastic. I must be doing it wrong, I just wedge the prybar between the joining covers and pry..



Didn't do much, I had class to get to, but today I finally removed the oil dipstick guide



pull out from here






took off the crank pulley,






by first stopping the flywheel by a top bellhousing screw and a 13 mm wrench (Not the best or safest way)





then undid the oil sending unit wire






took off the water pump pulley









and this (among others) is where I'm stuck





Thanks!

[GeneralDisorder]

Just break the covers and throw them away. No need for them.

GD

[l75eya]

Agreed. How many of the bolts do you have slipping? If it's just one or two, you can try and cleanly cut around the bolts, if you want to salvage the cover. The covers are a P.I.T.A and unnecessary.

[ll77]

I have 3 bolts slipping. Yes, I was going to go w.out them anyways, but I just wanted to do things the "right way." But I guess I'll just rip them off huh...

[l75eya]

Yeah, I get you. It sucks when everything is coming along so nicely and then you hit a snag. I guess the cleanest way to get them off would be to drill them out. I've heard a lot of people have issues with them slipping, I guess I was lucky when I took mine off they were all intact. Good luck!

[ll77]

Yeah, I get you. It sucks when everything is coming along so nicely and then you hit a snag. I guess the cleanest way to get them off would be to drill them out. I've heard a lot of people have issues with them slipping, I guess I was lucky when I took mine off they were all intact. Good luck!

Thank you!

Oh, and it's ocurred to me that I haven't mentioned what I want to do. I need to do my head gasket (with a felpro hg kit), and I'm also doing my oil pump seal, front crank seal, and hopefully the oil pan seal/


But today, I have a real snag.

Yesterday:

I ripped off the covers

The FSM said something about marking the rotating direction of the belts (???) and my buddy Brian said he usually marks where belts contact sprockets with paint, so I did that.

Then I loosened the cam pulley bolts, because they are easier to break with the belts on.



Then starting with the outer (passenger) (LHD) belt, I loosened the timing belt tensioner to fully slacken the belt





Then I slid the belt off around the pulleys



Then the inner (driver's side) belt




Belts off!



Then I took off the cam sprockets and removed the rear covers, because the front is ruined anyways. Open belts ftw





Today:

I got a jaw gear puller and pulled the crank sprocket out



and the front crank seal is leaking. Good thing I ordered a new one.



Then I removed the distributor from the driver's (LHD) side
First, I pulled off the spark wires. Yes, I labeled them, don't you laugh.



Then undo the 2 mounting bolts (I marked the sides so I can realign the distributor later, don't know if that will help, but..)

Edited by ll77, 23 June 2012 - 12:51 AM.

[ll77]

Then I removed the oil pipe on the passenger side



Then I unbolted the water pipe from its bracket.


*****question: I tried to pull it out b/c the FSM said "remove", and it leaked from the pump side. Have I compromised the o-ring?



I did things the wrong way, but I'll post how I wish I did it..

I started with the driver's side

I removed the valve cover





Then I removed the cam case w/ the cam and cam support from these bolts



I was careful about the rockers, I took them out before they could fall.

Best part of my day





*****question: I only see one of these rubber washers, are they important? I don't see them in my head gasket set...



I unbolted the water bypass pipe bracket from the bolt that went here



and unbolted the alternator bracket bolt



took out the spark plugs

Then I (should have) removed the EGR plug @ the EGR pipe on the passengers side intake manifold, on cylinder #3

Then I definitely, definitely would have removed the intake manifold by first undoing the INNER 4 studs first (the 2 on each side of the manifold that are lined up with each other, marked "1") THEN doing the 2 studs at the sides (closest to the valve cover ends, marked "2"). This pic is of the driver's side.



I noticed that the longer inner bolts were significantly more rusty than the outer 2 bolts. I think this process could have minimized the tension on the crusty inner bolts and prevented my situation...

But instead I undid all the bolts on the drivers side of the manifold first, then moved on to the passengers side, undid the one off at the end, then moved on to the inner 2, and when I got to the last one...

(insert picture of broken bolt for dramatic effect)

pretty much all the thread was broken off in the head. so now I have to lift the intake manifold off (after unplugging the EGR pipe) take off the head and try to impact, lubricate and hopefully loosen the broken stud with a pair of pliers... sigh


FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

It was really a life lesson for me. I had always thought before, it doesn't matter how it comes off, only how it goes on matters. Now I know to be mindful of how things come off too.

Edited by ll77, 23 June 2012 - 01:26 AM.

[l75eya]

This is an excellent photo-documentary of your tear-down.
About the water pump o-ring, probably not compromised at all, but should try and track down a replacement one anyway if it's reasonably easy to.
About the cam carrier case o-ring; very important. If it fails it could lead to a tick of death type scenario.


This thread should definitely be in the USRM and should be sticky-ed at that.
Good luck getting that bolt out. Live and learn, my friend!

[GeneralDisorder]

It wouldn't have mattered how or in what order you removed the intake manifold bolts - about 25% chance of one breaking every time you remove one of these.

Don't remove the head, and don't bother trying to extract the broken bolt. Just grind it smooth, center punch it, drill it out, and heli-coil the hole.

GD

[ll77]

I am very glad that you like it friend, these posts take quite some time to put together!

But about helicoil-ing... I dread it. I dread drilling, I've never done it, and I'm deathly afraid of chewing up the metal and whatnot. On top of that, I don't have a drill... I'll try channel lock pliers, and if that doesn't work, I'll have to borrow a drill and get a helicoil set.

Thanks for the comments!

[l75eya]

If you gotta drill it, keep your cool, even if you don't have experience drilling things out. If you have a vice, why don't you try locking up a bolt in a vice and drilling the center of it for practice. My suggestion (because I did it myself haha)

Will continue to watch this tear-down and still vouch for it's stickification

[ll77]

Hahaha thanks! No, unfortunately I don't have a vice either.. I'm only beginning to work on cars, I'm still pretty clueless, and my toolset is very meager...

So I'm confused. I thought the intake manifold was only held on by the 6 bolts into the head, and the EGR pipe, which I undid:

pull off the cover





undo the plug



But she still won't budge on the passenger's side. The driver's side is fine, and clears with a tiny pry with the prybar. The manual just says "Remove bolts attaching intake manifold to cylinder head, then lift intake manifold from cylinder head."
Help please?

EDIT: haha got it, it was glued on from the gasket, and I was being a priss about it. It came right off with the prybar

Edited by ll77, 23 June 2012 - 03:55 PM.

[ll77]

A slow, but important day today.

After the EGR pipe, I pried the intake manifold off the heads. Don't be a wuss about it. I guess I was just unnerved by the broken intake manifold stud...:-p
(This picture was staged, just imagine the valve cover still on.)



Then, I found that I had to undo this hex bolt holding the lower alternator bracket onto the driver's head




Then walk and wiggle the head off the block

Light at the end of the tunnel



One head off!





I observed the cylinder walls were a bit wet with water...



Then I took off the passenger's side valve covers, cam case, spark plugs, etc. just like the other side. I could have done it along with the other side, but I wanted to do it one side at a time.



take off the 8 bolts just like the other head



I tried to drain the coolant from the plug at the bottom of the head (I assume that what its for?)



but this is what came out instead



blechh



Clear!



and off she came!

and here are cylinders 1 and 3:



coolant pooling up inside...

and the head



From what I've gathered, the cracks between the valve seats are normal.

Not long before everything goes back together:clap: now I'm just scrubbing. Maybe I'll take the heads to a machine shop tomorrow. :cool:

Edited by ll77, 24 June 2012 - 01:53 PM.