Finally cured leak (I hope) and removing engine

[cleverusername]

I may have beaten the endless leaks into the footwell. Had so many false dawns with what has become an obsession; that I am not 100% confident but after two days of driving rain, both sides are completely dry. Since I have stripped the interior, there isn't anywhere for water to hide. The key was running a bead of sealant the full length of the gutters and sealing around the useless new windscreen seal. It was getting between the rubber and the glass.

So the new mission is to extract the crank, which means engine out. I don't fancy taking it out of the top if I can avoid it, I had to lift it alarmingly high when I put it in and there is much hazard to relatively new paint at the front. I prefer the idea of lifting the car off the engine.

I have done this using the engine crane with an MGF but not with a Dolly. The first issue is where to attach the straps? The car has GPR front valance, so that will crack if put under load.

The other issue is how to get the engine out once the car is lifted off it? The crane requires leg to remain stable under load and those will block any attempts to move the engine out. I assume people have ramps or extra large axle stands which allow them to move the crane out of the way once the body is lifted? What do people recommend?

Is it possible to lift the front high enough to clear the engine without bottoming out the rear of the car?

[yorkshire_spam]

To be honest I wouldn't want to drop the engine out the bottom without a decent set of skates/trollies to drop the subframe/engine onto AND a 2 or 4 post ramp to lift the body away.
I went the top way despite the new paint on the front end:

[Bumpa]

Likewise, mine went in the top without too much bother. An old rug over the front of the body and a load leveller on the crane. I did it entirely single handed.

[Robert 352]

If you have the space the easiest, safest and quickest way to take the engine out is by lifting the body off the sub frame.

You do not have to strip anything off the engine. You do not have to remove anything in the engine bay. You mimic the way the assembly was installed in the factory. The back of the car does not touch the floor.

The only thing which I remove is the front spoiler just to limit the height which I have to lift the body.

I made two simple brackets which bolt to two of the three bolts which attach to the top of the suspension struts. I have a convenient beam in the roof of my workshop to which I have attached a cheap chain hoist and I lift the body with that hoist.

I am not sure that this method would be suitable using only an engine hoist to lift the body. I use my engine hoist when I split the engine from the gearbox and for lifting the engine onto the engine stand.

I do have a simple dolly onto which I drop the sub frame but that is because I use the dolly to move the whole assembly around on and on which I remove and assemble the engine, gearbox and front suspension. It also supports the back of the gearbox and keeps the whole assembly level during its removal and re-installation.

It is a one man operation. It now takes me about an hour from start to finish to carry out the task. But then I confess that I have had quite a lot of practice for I took the whole assembly out of the car eight times during the re-commissioning of the first Sprint which I restored.

[shaunroche]

You might need a bit of height mind!