more engine removal help

[WillBilly53]

i've taken all the bolts out from the bell housing, front mounts and disconnected EVERYTHING. i've got the chains from my engine hoist bolted on to the head bolts with washers. i can NOT get this thing out. there's a visible 3/4 of an inch space between the engine and tranny showing the torque converter. how do i get my engine out!? can anyone help? please!

it's a 322 v-8

thanks,

willbur

[rocketraider]

Did you remove the bolts attaching the torque converter to the engine flexplate? I have no idea how many there might be.

[WillBilly53]

where are those bolts located? i removed every bolt known to man on the tranny where it's connected to the engine.

[Guest]

Never did this, but have a 322/dyna on the floor, and can't get them apart either. Here's what I think needs to be done (someone back me up on this!)

There is a sheetmetal cover mounted to the lower part of the front of the bell housing: it's under the engine block, behind the oil pan. Remove that

You should be able to access bolts holding the torque converter to the flex plate (the big wheel with the teeth on it). Remove these bolts all the way around (four, I think).

Continue pulling the engine out.

Also, did you remember to remove the ground straps from the engine? This would also do it, particularly if you say you've got space between theeninge and the bellhousing.

-Brad

[capgage]

It's definitely 3 bolts (flexplate to torque converter).

And be careful! I am not confident that the torque converter on a dynaflow is supposed to just slide off like on other later automatics.

You may need to relieve the tension on the lift, to get the transmission and engine sitting back together, maybe even install at least a few of

the bell housing bolts (hand tight), before you go loosening the flexplate from the torque converter. Otherwise you may have the transmission

falling as the last of the three bolts is removed.

You may want to talk to someone who has installed/removed engines before you proceed...it's dangerous to you and the car if you don't know

what you are into - having said that, it is easy and you should not be intimidated, just make sure you know what you are doing by talking to

others (as you are doing here...duh)

Good luck!!

Mark

[WillBilly53]

thanks ya'll!

yeah, i have a sheet metal cover exactly where brad said. there were a total of 4 bolts right there holding the sheetmetal cover, 2 of which i didn't remove, which i suspect are still holding the sheet metal cover.

my next question is, could i use a floor jack to support the tranny? also is the torque converter or tranny gonna come crashing on the ground when i remove the engine? is this what you are talking about mark?

thanks!

-will

[capgage]

Will E-

Yes, you need a jack under the transmission. As someone said on another thread here recently, the engine/tranny is a three point mount. One on each side of the engine, and the third on the rear of the transmission. So when the engine and tranny are unmated, the front of the transmission will go down. Point is you don't want to have your hand up between the engine and transmission as you loosen the flexplate from the torque converter, without having the bell housing bolts holding the engine and trans together.

Instead, you want to (roughly in this order)-

1) make sure bellhousing bolts are holding engine and trans together (hand tight is OK)

2) block the rear wheels solidly so that the rear axle cannot move forward any more than it already may have moved since you have already been lifting the engine

3) remove dust cover (you already have two bolts off there)

4) disconnect flex plate from torque converter (three bolts)- you will have to turn the engine a little once or twice (manually) to access all the bolts. One method is to use a socket on the harmonic balancer bolt to turn the engine.

5) put a jack under the transmission, and jack it up so that the transmission is supported but only slightly lifted. Make sure the jack will allow the trans/engine assembly to roll forward, not sideways. It may need to move a little as you pull the engine out.

6) similar to what you did with the transmission - jack the hoist to raise engine up slightly.

7) carefully remove bell housing bolts, while staying out of harm's way as much as possible. As you remove the last one or two, the engine may begin to separate from the transmission, but may not.

8) continue lifting with the hoist. You will see the rear axle move forward until either the tires hit the fender wells (maybe), or until the blocks stop the axle.

9) It is at this point, when you continue lifting, the engine WILL now separate from the transmission and come on out!

The torque converter should not fall out - but I guess watch for it anyway, taking breaks between hoisting to look under there and make sure.

By the way - on your car, the flexplate is triangular shaped and does NOT have any teeth on it. The gear teeth are an integral part of the torque converter on a dynaflow engine/trans.

The flexplate has a hole at each "vertex" of the triangle - this is where it bolts to the torque converter. Oh yeah, and just in case, mark the torque conveter AND the flexplate so that you can put it back together the same way to preserve balance. There are other ways to determine which of the three possible ways to orient this is the correct one (like if you use a different engine) - but marking it will preserve your sanity slightly.

Mark

[capgage]

I just realized last night---

My post above assumes that you have also removed the transmission cross member!

I you don't disconnect that, you should not have to worry about the axle moving. Sorry about that! All else still applies though.

Mark

[Gene Brink]

Willbur,

Having a lead foot in my younger days lead to replacing the Dynaflow in my '54 five times in a couple of years and I still (39 years later) remember how to get them out quite well. As you are removing the engine I'll add the following to the previous posts regarding separating the engine from the transmission (and converter).

1. The torque converter will not pull off so don't worry about it.

2. There are three bolts holding the converter to the flywheel (Buick called it a flywheel back then - don't think the term "flex plate" came into use for another 10 years or so). You can look at the flywheel and tell which three bolts fasten to the flywheel as opposed to only being used to attach the converter cover on clearly by looking for the bolt heads that do not sit completely within a hole in the flywheel.

3. The ring gear is welded to the flywheel.

4. Mark the orientation between the flywheel and the converter as there will be balance weights on the converter. You don't want to have to rebalance things needlessly.

Good luck, Gene

[WillBilly53]

Muchas Gracias all you Buicksters!

i will attempt the procedure tonight and let you know how it goes!

i swear i love this board.

p.s. be on the lookout for my website. it's gonna be buicksbefore.com

i'm dedicating it to buicks before i was born (1976) of course it will probably hang around the 40's and 50's a lot cause that's what i like the best, but i'll try and put some 60's early 70's and pre-war nostalgia on there to. my restoration page will be on there too!