RE: [DMCForum] mating engine and transmission

["Dave Stragand" <dave.stragand@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

http://www.projectvixen.com/week25.htm

 

Now, a few of you out there have helpfully commented that it's easier to
replace the engine and trans already bolted together. I appreciate the
advice, but usually do things the hard way anyway. (I'm stubborn like that).

Actually, in truth it just hadn't really occurred to me to do so. Oh well.
But, since the trans was already mounted, I reached into my bag of tricks
from the past to find an easy way to get the trans and engine together
without having to take the trans out. (Gumption trap #1 -- "Out of Sequence
Reassembly". See the Zen page <http://www.projectvixen.com/zen.htm>  and
you'll understand.) 

Now, I have mentioned that I also have a '58 Plymouth. That car and a
DeLorean have very little in common, but hear me out on this story, and soon
you'll understand the relevance to a D.

The automatic transmission on that Plymouth is called a TorqueFlite, and
it's made almost entirely out of cast iron. Total weight is somewhere in the
neighborhood of 300 pounds. Not an easy beast to maneuver you can be sure,
especially while all covered in that greasy black goop that seems to
accumulate only on transmissions. There was no way to lift the trans up onto
the jack while lying underneath the car on my stomach, so I had to lift the
-car- up enough to sufficiently clear the trans already on the jack. Now,
with the car so high, the trans jack could not lift the trans enough to meet
up with the engine. This is what is sometimes referred to as "a quandry". I
referred to it as something else -- something in "French" -- and something
definitely not repeatable on a family-friendly web site...

Lowering the car (and simultaneously, the jack supporting the engine) back
down to where the trans could mate solved that little problem. However,
another problem now presented itself, in that no matter how I tried (for 5
hours), I could not get the input shaft to line up with the engine. Those of
you who have tried to maneuver a D trans into place may know the feeling.
Multiply that by three and you've got a TorqueFlite. The thing was so heavy
I actually broke three trans jacks, necessitating the "Plymouth up, Plymouth
down" push-up process enough times to put an Army boot camp recruit to
shame. It seemed impossible, but there had to be some way to get them
aligned.

The solution was a quick trip to the hardware store with one of the
engine-trans mounting bolts. I matched up the size and thread to
heat-treated bolts approximately 6" long -- 4" longer than the originals.
Arriving back home, I threaded these bolts through the trans casing back
into the engine block, and then aligned the engine and trans to as close an
angle as possible. Then, all it took was to slide the trans right up the
bolts until it clicked in place, already pre-aligned. The whole process, now
that the 'alignment bolts' were installed, took only about 60 seconds.

Big difference.

Soooo... Not having learned my lesson (I'm stubborn like that), I tried for
around 3 hours on Sunday to get the Vixen's engine and trans aligned without
the bolts, but to absolutely no avail. I had skipped buying the alignment
bolts out of a total impatience to get home to try and install the engine. I
should have known better, especially considering my past nightmares. I've
learned that being impatient always takes more time than just being patient
in the first place.

So, tonight I stopped at Pep Boys and bought two 10mm x 120mm and two 10mm x
100mm coarse-thread grade 10.9 bolts. At home, I threaded the two longer
bolts through the trans into the block on the top, and the two shorter ones
on the bottom. (You need the shorter ones on the bottom to clear the output
hubs on the trans). A quick little lift on the hoist gave a rough alignment,
and a push of the engine back onto the trans yielded a satisfying clunk as
the two components clicked together effortlessly. Like I said, I should have
known better. 

If you're going to try this yourself, you could also use studs, but the
bolts are only threaded at the end, giving a nice smooth surface to slide
on. I should also mention that you should NOT support either the trans or
engine from these bolts. The casings are not designed to handle the odd
force vectors encountered in this situation -- just use them for alignment
only, with both pieces supported well. Once you've slid the two halves
together, pull the bolts one by one, and replace them with the correct
bolts. Then as the French would say... "Voila!" It's a different French
language than I was using on the Plymouth, to be sure.



 

 

  _____  

From: DMCForum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:DMCForum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Matt Spittle
Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2005 9:24 PM
To: DMCForum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [DMCForum] mating engine and transmission

 

Does anyone have a good "system" for doing this whilst both are out of
the car?  Right now I have the engine hanging on a hoist about waist
high, and I've been trying to just lift the tranny up and put it on. 
Having a hell of a time, but somehow I did it like this before and it
worked (somehow, but I was working out more then).  

Can't seem to get it to slide in all the way.  I get it to the point
where it slides in partially, and then is tough to pull back out, but
I know I should get it pushed alllll the way in or else I'll break
something.  

thanks,

Matt
#1604






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