Hey guys I am new here, and I did search before posting. I just bought a mint 98 from my brother. He gave up on it the motor is cooked and he thinks it has to be removed from below. I have a new motor to put in but is this true, or is there some trick to getting it out. I have done alot of swaps on jeeps and never heard of this. To me it should be simple I would have thought.
Thanks for any help.
Gerrard

 

Out the top.

It helps to pull the trans first, but it isn't absolutely required.

 

you never mentioned if it's a 2WD or 4WD. if it's a 2, then yank everything out the top, all @ once.

if it's a 4x4, then drop the trans-trust me, it's alot easier. in fact i couldn't get the damn oil pan past the front diff, on a truck i was parting out. i had the weight of the truck hanging off the engine (while it was beinging lifted by the cherry picker), and i was jumping on the front bumper-wouldn't budge! (and i'm no feather weight either).

 

Some guys say drop tranny i had to remove distribitor to get to the top to bolts just loosen the tranny crossmember bolts. Slide back trans bout a half inch did it in a rock drive way by myself in a total of 30 hours (including taking out donor motor). The donor truck was smashed on the passanger side over top of motor. That took 15 hours alone.

 

It is a good idea to remove the distributor as one of your initial steps. It is kind of close to the firewall and sits up there, kind of vulnerable...

 

Yes... definitely out the top. Some cars are out the bottom but not an S-series.

 

hmmm........................i've always just removed the cap & rotor. never been an issue-yet!

 

Thats what i usauly do but to get to the top to bolts i had to pull the hole thing.

 

drop the cross member, everything leans back & down-makes alot of room in the trans tunnel.

 

I am about to do this swap myself.

I have a 98 Blazer 4wd. I was hoping I could do it without pulling the trans. If its easier to get the job done by pulling the transmission, I will.

Can I just drop crossmember on trans and pull the engine/trans out as a whole unit? Or do you guys think I should drop the transmission out of the bottom first then pull the motor out of the top?

I would think if you had to drop the tranny, just unbolt it and leave it under there then the motor should come out (unless you need the trans to slide back to clear output shaft.

I have access to a lft, air tools, trans jack, etc. My buddy has a full shop and we can do this job if its somewhat reasonable.

Also, I am going to pick up a junk yard motor. Found one for $700 with 76k on it. Do all new gaskets on the top end, have heads gone through real quick, and slap it back together.