Long story short my engine died.... Wawaaa. No matter though as I have sourced and good used engine. However I'd like a guide or a something to walk me through the removal process. I can't seem to find anything for the .2's
Does anyone have a link to a complete engine removal guide or video? It can be with the trans attached or without no matter.
So, I've done this a couple of times now on my car. I have a
987.1
, but converted it to a
987.2
by doing the DFI engine conversion and then just swapped to a
GT4
engine. It's really quite simple, but I'll list the steps I remember from having just done it a week and a half ago. My method involves a 2 post lift, so if you don't have one, you may want to try the methods of getting your car up on high blocks or something similar.
First, remove the
exhaust
from the
headers
back. You can get access to the flange bolts through the sides after removing the wheels. As for the rear part, I find it's easier to unbolt the 4 bolts that attach the
exhaust
bracket to the back of the transmission, but you can also remove the adjustable brackets at the sides if you prefer.
Once the
exhaust
is removed, you have the option of keeping the
headers
on, but if you're replacing the engine, you can go ahead and remove them as well. Disconnect the plugs for the
O2 sensors
and leave the connectors hanging.
Remove the lower reinforcement plate by unbolting the front and rear bolts (rear go to the kind of trapezoidal brace that you can remove with the plate or separately if you want). There are two reinforcement bars that go from the outer lift
points
to the suspension attachment
points
that if you unbolt the 4 nuts on the suspension attachment
points
, you can pull down on the bars and swing them to the side. You don't have to unbolt them from the lift
points
of the car.
Next
you can unbolt the axles from the transmission output flanges. Now you can remove the black reinforcement bar that goes under the transmission. This also has a metal cable that attaches to the engine oil pan. Easiest to unbolt the cable from the oil pan and leave the cable attached to the black bar. Also unbolt the rear sway bar.
Go to the front of the engine bay (still under the car) and remove the underbody plastic panel under the front of the engine and the one on the driver side and middle section in front of the engine. You'll need to disconnect the fuel lines (one feed and one return), the
brake booster
vacuum hose (I would also remove this from the car to avoid breaking the little nipple that the tiny vacuum hose attaches to), then the power steering hoses. On the passenger side, you'll disconnect the coolant hoses and A/C lines. Also, look up in this area and you'll see an electrical connector going to the expansion tank coolant level sensor and to the engine bay fan. Disconnect both of those.
Now go up top and you'll want to disconnect the throttle body to the MAF connection and the electrical connector for the
MAF sensor
. You'll also want to lift up the silver cover separating the engine bay and the trunk area. There are two screws behind the oil/coolant fill flap and then clips, so just lift up on it. You'll also want to remove the black plastic panel and carpet on the left side of the trunk area to get access to the wiring harness and
DME
. Once you remove those panels, you can pull back on the carpet to the left of the oil/coolant fill flap to expose the
DME
and wiring harness. Disconnect the
plug
housings on the relay panel and unbolt the
DME
to disconnect the main two plugs on it. There is also a ground point
next
to it you need to unbolt. Now you should be able to push the wiring harness through the large hole going into the engine bay. Drape the wiring harness over the top of the engine so it can come out with the engine.
Disconnect the coolant expansion tank hose from the expansion tank. Also disconnect the oil filler hose from the engine plastic pipe.
At this point, everything should be disconnected from the engine and transmission other than the engine mount nuts and the transmission mount brackets.
This is where things can differ depending on if you're working on a lift or on blocks. For a lift, I would lower the car down enough to put a lift table under it. If you don't have a lift table, you can do this with a pallet, jack stands (not recommended, but use your own judgement), or crates/wheels/etc. With the engine/transmission supported by your chosen method, loosen or remove the 4 13mm bolts holding the transmission mounts to the body of the car. You can either remove the brackets entirely or just loosen them so they can move out of the way as the transmission is being removed. Then unbolt the 4 16mm bolts that attach the brackets to the transmission.
Start to lift the body up, separating the engine/transmission from it. Go up about 8" or so (a little at a time to make sure you didn't forget anything) and you should now be able to get to the clutch line where it goes into the slave cylinder. Disconnect that connection and the clutch line should be able to stay on the car. Now you should be able to continue lifting the car up, checking often to make sure you didn't forget anything. You can also lower the lift table to accomplish this if you prefer.
Installation is reverse of removal, but I will warn you that it is a lot more difficult to get the engine in than it is to take it out. Getting everything lined up is not easy. A helper or two is highly recommended.
That's it. Hope that helps!
This is amazing. Thank you so very much Blackknighti30. 🤙 Many thanks.
Happy to help. Kind of wish you still needed an engine though, LOL. I just had the 3.4 DFI engine I just took out dyno'd prior to removal and it is quite healthy at 80k miles. Made 296whp/260lb-ft on a hub dyno.
