Flywheel and Engine Mount Removal

I put the engine for sale on CraigsList and have to prepare it for delivery this weekend. There is very little space in my one-car garage so getting rid of the engine while keeping all the necessary components will be good.

In order to get a last measurement of the flywheel to housing distance, I got a digital caliper from Harbor Freight Tools for only $29. It's remarkably accurate down to .001 inches and is very easy to use.

I chatted with a local Porsche enthusiast named Pat and he let me borrow the tool on top which is a flywheel lock to hold the flywheel still while I undo the heavily torqued bolts. Thanks, Pat!


I've already removed the clutch assembly and here's the face of the flywheel. Note the long breaker bar and flywheel lock needed to remove the the flywheel. With these tools, the job was a total snap and only took me a few minutes.


Here's the end of the engine case with the flywheel removed. I was surprised by how gritty the flywheel bolts were after they came out.


Next up was removing the front engine mount. The engine was balanced on one end of the furniture dolly, so I used the floor jack to raise the front end. I was able to raise the engine far enough to drop off the unbolted engine mount and support the engine with a 2x4 instead.


Here's the removed engine mount ready to be used in the EV conversion. Jamie from Corvallis (who knows Otmar and his 914 EV - see link at right) may drop by this weekend to pick up the engine and help me free up some much needed garage space.

Ugh, it's late and I'm going to bed.

Transmission Removed!

This was a big evening of figuring out how to remove the transmission with one person.


First up was removing the rear portion of the exhaust system, shown here next to my trusty 34mpg 1994 Saturn. (Someone else converted a '94 Saturn Wagon to an EV, but I'll keep mine!)


Here is the removed transmission. I'll try to take more pictures as I go next time to document the process better. Notice the 2x4 blocks on the ground to hold up the transmission so that it doesn't stress the driveshaft with the bolts removed.


After removing the exhaust, I slid the engine over on the furniture dolly so all the transmission points were on blocks outside the dolly. Note the stack of 2x4s on the right edge of the picture to hold up the transmission half of the engine.


Here's the removed transmission on the ground. The inside is covered with black grease. I wonder if there's a leak somewhere. Note that there are still plastic bags covering the transaxle openings that connect to the CV joints.


Interestingly enough, there was a "plug" of something that filled in this notch in the bottom of the transmission. I'm not sure why it was there.


Here's the engine half of the two pieces. The clutch looks darn near brand new with very little wear. I'm selling the engine to someone in Corvallis and they'll get this great clutch since I've already purchased a new one as a replacement. My only concern is that I'll be taking the flywheel for the EV conversion. That'll knock off a buck or two off the selling price.

Again, note the two transmission bolts at the bottom of the flywheel jutting out and the stack of 2x4s to hold up the transmission so it's removal doesn't stress the driveshaft.


Acutally, the first thing out, even before the exhaust, was the starter motor.


For storage of the transmission, I supported it on blocks to prevent the clutch pulley, shift linkage case and speedometer connection from supporting any weight.

I looked at possibilities for removing the front motor mount on the engine that I'll need for the conversion, but it's looking rather nasty.

Next up: Clutch and flywheel removal. I might need to get a flywheel removal block to keep the crankshaft from turning to do this.

More engine drop pictures

Blogger just took me off of "spam blog" status, so I can now post more pictures of the engine drop procedure.

Here are some 2x4s under the chassis to prevent the car from coming down.


I also put 4x4 blocks under the axles to prevent the brake shields from getting damaged in case I lowered the body too much.



Here's the primary engine mount after I unbolted it. This was a royal pain because I had to hold the nut on the top of the mount to keep it from spinning in place and there's not much room to maneuver in there.


Here is the removed transmission mount with its two brackets at the top edge of the picture. The engine drop instructions specifically say to remove the entire mount instead of just unbolting the center.


A common problem when dropping the engine is to get one of the CV joints caught under the starter motor like this. I had to move the engine to the right and lower the body a bit to get this unstuck.



The left CV joint is now free and sitting on top of the engine.


In order to hold the car up high enough, you need the tallest six-ton jackstands you can get your hands on.


Here's a final shot, specifically focussing on the transmission since it's really the only piece I'm going to keep of this beast.

Cheers!

blogger issues and engine drop picture

Apparently Blogger thinks this blog is a spam site and is forcing me to type in characters with each post. This wouldn't bother me, except that it doesn't accept my character input as valid, even though I've tried a few times. I've put in a request to stop this, but it will probably take awhile. In the meantime, I've pulled out the engine and rotated it for easier access to remove the transmission.

More parts but no instructions or hardware...

This week has been a whirlwind and I haven't caught up on sharing all the pictures. Last Tuesday, I received another shipment from ElectroAuto. This one included the motor controller mounting plate (large black rectangle), its rubber mounting posts and the potbox and its mounting plates. Since this kit is the 914 AC kit, I have no idea how to install the controller plate. In addition, ElectroAuto hasn't sent any hardware (specifically the rivnuts) so I can install many of these pieces.

I've contacted Randy Pollock, the first person to order a 914 AC kit and he and I are working to figure this out. Randy has been gracious enough to help ElectroAuto with installation instructions, photos and other descriptions.

On another front, I'm rapidly running out of space in my house and single-car garage for storing pieces that I've removed from the car. I ran out to Camp914 today to drop off the old suspension and fuel tank with Craig so he can sell the parts and possibly donate to the electric car project.

I'll post more pictures of the engine drop soon, but I'm possibly climbing Mt. St. Helens tomorrow and have to finish packing. More soon! Cheers.

Dropping the Engine

The engine just about a foot below mounting height.


Engine pulled back about a foot.


Hole left over in the engine compartment with dropped engine.
Notice the belt that drives the air pump for the emission control system.


Well, I worked for the last three hours to drop the engine out of the car. I followed all the directions in the Pelican Parts technical article and didn't miss any attached parts. After several expletives and tense moments under the car, the engine finally plopped down onto the furniture dolly.

The article mentioned that there was very little clearance for the fuel injectors. That was actually an understatement. There was negative clearance and I had to bend the flexible fuel hoses to the injectors just to clear the sheet metal. Removing the rubber stripping was definitely a huge help.

I'm surprised by how big the engine is relative to the transmission. With the engine and exhaust system gone, there will be loads of room for batteries. I'll be psyched to sell the engine on Craiglist and get that gas-burner out of my garage...

I took loads of pictures and will post most of them tomorrow, but I'm just too tired right now to process and document all the images. So here's a few above.

Days 3 and 4

I spent yesterday (Saturday) disconnecting all the cables from under the car in preparation to drop the engine. The shift linkage was especially hard because it moved around so much. My friend John (above) held the shift lever still while I yanked out the linkage earlier today. I also drained all the engine oil and transmission fluid. My buddy Pete is providing some 2x4s later today to hold up the car so I can drop the engine this week.

Yesterday was a bummer because I got really sick. I suspect I got stuck in the closed garage with all the fumes from the fuel system sitting out on the floor. Having transmission fluid dumped on my shoulder also stunk wretchedly. I got so sick, I vomitted twice. After completely airing out the house and a good night's rest, I feel much better today.

My biggest concern now is blazing through all this work only to have to wait for more parts from Electro Automotive to continue. In the meantime, I'm going to be working with Lee Hart on an improved battery balancing system (see link to the right). Lee is well known in the EV community for making practical, effective circuits for EV owners. I feel privileged to work with him (even if he does use a ten year old DOS copy of Orcad to design his circuits :)