I am going to be doing a engine swap in my 99 jimmy with auto tranny. I have heard some people say that you can pull the engine and transmission out together and that leaving them together is the easier way as some of the top bell housing bolts are a pain to get to. Is this the better way and is it possible or does the tranny have to be seperated from engine before pulling out engine? and either way are there some tricks that make it easier to get engine out since I know its a tight fit?

 

Not a good way unless you are tearing the hell out of it and taking off the front clip/radiator support. 4WD you probably would still have to drop the front axle to get both the oil pan to clear the axle and the tranny to clean the tunnel when the tranny is still attached. There is NOTHING easy about 2nd gen Blazers.

What is going back into the vehicle. Stock 4.3? What year? Why?

 

Ok putting another stock 4.3 in because original engine bent a connecting rod and smoked some bearings on crank

 

Is this considered tearing the hell out of it? Just curious...

 

Why yes, that is exactly what I mean! And I still think the front axle will need to come forward to get the engine out still attached to the trans.

 

OK - good. Is your Jimmy 2WD or 4WD? What is the donor engine year model, etc? Rebuilt or used? There are concerns with metric/non-metric bolt holes and mounting of the knock sensor on the block with the different years. For example your 1999 is metric with old style knock sensor. My 2001 engine is metric with new style knock sensor. Just some preliminary stuff. I'll list the steps of exactly how I would pull it out of a 4WD (I have done this), if you answer my questions.

 

You are probably right... Luckily I'm not replacing the engine in this one and the front axle wasn't rusted to heck like everything else I removed....

Litlmeal, I would not advise to go this route unless you have A LOT of time on your hands and nothing better to do. Or, you have reason to replace the core support, radiator, condenser etc....

 

How bout this! Work in progress, and it's not my Blazer for once!

 

That certainly makes my project look like small potatoes!!

 

Does the transfer case need to be removed to drop the tranny?