Thread: tricky engine pull

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ok so i'm gonna pull my 351 out of my 69 econoline to give it a rebuild.... and i've never done this on a van before, anyone with some experience got some tips? i can tell it wont come out the hood..... do i drop it out the bottom like a volkswagon?

hmm.... its a pretty tight squeeze in there.... its wide open with the grill and hood off... but how do i get my hoist in there... theres about 2 inches of clearance between the top of the motor and the upper front end section/firewall that doesn't come off

oh ok i see... cool thanks!

well denny i went ahead and tried your method.... looked like it was damn sure gonna work... til i put it into action.... the sides of the engine bay are too narrow to slide the 351 through its too wide.... by further observation it looks like i'm going to have to life the engine up thru the top of the passenger compartment which is no problem space wise.... i can access the whole engine and half of my toploader from there.... its just a matter of lifting that heavy thing out

Originally Posted by thesals

oh ok i see... cool thanks!

well denny i went ahead and tried your method.... looked like it was damn sure gonna work... til i put it into action.... the sides of the engine bay are too narrow to slide the 351 through its too wide.... by further observation it looks like i'm going to have to life the engine up thru the top of the passenger compartment which is no problem space wise.... i can access the whole engine and half of my toploader from there.... its just a matter of lifting that heavy thing out

Do you own a magic blue finger??
If you do this will help, but I am not sure what it will look like when you are done.

magic blue finger??? i tried looking it up on google and all i found were plastic things that keep women happy

Originally Posted by thesals

magic blue finger??? i tried looking it up on google and all i found were plastic things that keep women happy

HEY,HEY,This is a family show!!
What in the world??
O.K,do you own a sawz-all or a porta-power???

A way to do it with the regular cherry picker, is to jack the front of the van up about 1 1/2 feet. The regular arm then slides in there, but its still a major pain in the ass.

I pulled the 318 from my '69 Dodge van through the cargo doors. Took the seats and the whole "doghouse" out, and got a long armed cherry picker, short chained the lift, and just picked it out. Maybe not quite that easy, but, you get the idea, I'm sure.

yes i own a sawzall quite a few of them... but no i dont have a porta power.... and i already have the doghouse off and the seats out and my tranny pulled... i got the heads off the motor to drop the weight quite a bit.... i guess i could just use the cherry picker thru the passenger door to pick the motor upand slide some plywood over the hole and stick a piano dolly under the block.... these vans are a pain in the bum... and it doesn't help when the van was converted to a 351w with powersteering and a 4 speed toploader

Originally Posted by thesals

yes i own a sawzall quite a few of them... but no i dont have a porta power.... and i already have the doghouse off and the seats out and my tranny pulled... i got the heads off the motor to drop the weight quite a bit.... i guess i could just use the cherry picker thru the passenger door to pick the motor upand slide some plywood over the hole and stick a piano dolly under the block.... these vans are a pain in the bum... and it doesn't help when the van was converted to a 351w with powersteering and a 4 speed toploader

Oh,the 351 w does have a taller deck heighth than the 289/302's.
Hey,I was just messing with you on the saw-zall and porta-power bit.

Originally Posted by DennyW

No Tanker Bar ?? That's a huge 6' or so steel bar used for prying things.

actually i've got one of those... with a big blade at the end so you can chisle up tile with it

Originally Posted by thesals

actually i've got one of those... with a big blade at the end so you can chisle up tile with it

The old "Wonder Bar".
Is'nt Wonder Bar an old German word??

Or a GM radio

You ain't got it so bad. We changed a 440 in a motor home, and it had to be carried up from the door back by the rear wheels and manhandled into position!

I needed a 351 with a C4 and the best one(and recently rebuilt trans) was in a van - we got the gas wrench out and removed a few pieces and rolled the body off the engine and transmission. I never did use the tranny and still have it 20 years later - rebuilt again - as a spare, sitting under my workbench.

Of course, the body was then scrapped which doesn't sound exactly like what you wanted to do with yours.