Reinstalled engine/trans lands high on one side

[matrophy]

Reinstalling engine and tranny after having tranny rebuilt. The engine is landing on the engine mounts high on the driver's side (and low on Passenger side) so the engine is tilted down toward PS.  Is this a matter of how the lifting chain is attached?  I know about adjusting where the chains lift to install and reinstall but not sure about this one unless I liftt from rear lift point bracket only on the PS and just try and twist it.  I worked on it until 9 pm and left it like that on the mounts until the morning. I hope I don't have to pull the whole thing up and out

Edited July 16, 2020 by matrophy

[Draker]

9 minutes ago, matrophy said:

Reinstalling engine and tranny after having tranny rebuilt. The engine is landing on the engine mounts high on the driver's side (and low on Passenger side) so the engine is tilted down toward PS.  Is this a matter of how the lifting chain is attached?  I know about adjusting where the chains lift to install and reinstall but not sure about this one unless I liftt from rear lift point bracket only on the PS and just try and twist it.  I worked on it until 9 pm and left it like that on the mounts until the morning. I hope I don't have to pull the whole thing up and out

post a pic

[DanielC]

I would try to adjust how you have the lifting attached to the engine.   Did you tighten bolts on one side of the engine mount, before starting bolts on the other side?  is the rear (transmission) mount tight, try loosening it.

Try to get all the bolts holding the engine mounts just started before tightening any of them.   You might also try loosening the bolts that hold brackets on the engine, to see if you can get enough movement in the bracket to get all the mount and bracket bolts started.

If the engine is sitting slightly low on one side engine mount, that will tend to make the mount on the other side high.  Adjusting the lifting chain attachment to the engine to lift more on the low side may allow the high side to slip lower to make putting the bolts in easier.

On a 521, there is an additional hole on the engine mount that lines up with an extra hole in the frame that a 1/4 punch can fit in to pry the bolt hole in the mount closer to good alignment, to the bolt hole in the frame.  Look for that.

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

How many engines have you pulled/installed? Sounds like a case of learning on the job.

 

Pry bars, floor jack, philips head screwdriver as a bolt guide, even a 2x4 here and there are all tools of the engine installation job.

[matrophy]

40 minutes ago, Stoffregen Motorsports said:

How many engines have you pulled/installed? Sounds like a case of learning on the job.

 

Pry bars, floor jack, philips head screwdriver as a bolt guide, even a 2x4 here and there are all tools of the engine installation job.

More like bad memory.

 

It seemed in my teens, my buddies and I were pulling engines out of each others cars all the time. That was almost 45 years ago though.

 

I don't remember this instance or how or where to lift on the engine so it will raise the low side

[DanielC]

I have had engines that fight me a half of a day, or more, and I have had engines that just lined up, with about ten minutes from being lowered to right height, transmission bolts in, and motor mount bolts in and snug.

[datzenmike]

Did you have the engine brackets off??? They may be switched. Left to right.

[matrophy]

I thought about the motor mount part but I remembered that I never had them off of the frame separately. I just farted around with different lifting angles until it just dropped right in. It's 96 degrees here which isn't helping with my sanity.

[datzenmike]

Not the rubber mounts, the metal engine brackets that bolt to the sides of the block.

[matrophy]

1 hour ago, datzenmike said:

Not the rubber mounts, the metal engine brackets that bolt to the sides of the block.

It's in and everything is lined up but the brackets on my engine only go on one way. One has 2 bolt holes in the block and one has 3 bolt holes.

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Did they come off the block at all? I think the later L/Z engines had an extra boss cast into one side or the other that actually lines up with the motor mount brackets. I seem to have run across this in the past, so double check that.

[matrophy]

9 minutes ago, Stoffregen Motorsports said:

Did they come off the block at all? I think the later L/Z engines had an extra boss cast into one side or the other that actually lines up with the motor mount brackets. I seem to have run across this in the past, so double check that.

I got it in yesterday by trying different lifting angles and lots of jiggling around until it finally dropped right onto the pins on the frame-side brackets. The brackets that mount to the block have only 2 bosses on one side and only 3 on the other side so no chance of getting that part wrong. 

[Charlie69]

I find for me it is easier to bolt the metal bckets to the side of the block tight.  Then I put the rubber engine mounts on the metal block brackets but leave them a little loose.  Lower the engine down but not all the way, use an alignment bar to line up one of the holes and start a bolt. Go to the other side and start one bolt, lower the engine a little more if needed to start the remaining 2 bolts on each side the let the engine down all the way and tighten everything up.