Hey guys, I'm pulling my motor for the first time. All of the sudden, I have an unexplained oil leak, and for the life of me, I can't seem to find where it's coming from. It's coming from somewhere on the LHS, but who knows where; it's spraying oil all over the place. Probably something in the turbo oil lines.

I've decided that this is a great opportunity to pull my motor and upgrade head gaskets and head studs. I'll more than likely go with the drop-in L19 studs and Cosworth head gaskets. I may even change cams while I have it apart, not sure yet. I'm thinking either the new Scott Performance cams, or the new Cosworths if they happen to come out this week

So far, I have the entire front clip pulled off, and I've taken off the upper and lower plenum. Guys, if you pull your motor, this is the way to go! I removed the entire front radiator support, with fans, radiator, and A/C condenser all attatched still. It's been cake so far. Tomorrow night I'll be pulling the motor itself out and taking off the turbo kit so I can get the heads off. I plan on supporting the engine from above, unbolting the crossmember, lowering it some and pulling it out through the front; tranny and all. Also a good time to replace that damned noisy *** throwout bearing.

I took a few pics so far, and will post them up tomorrow. For now, it's bedtime

 

Hmmm...

https://my350z.com/forum/engine-drivetrain-and-forced-induction-diy/111571-how-to-swap-your-own-built-engine-by-bruschijr-updated-6-17-2005-a.html

Good luck with this. Why are you doing this instead of leaving it to the pros. I only know of one other guy who did this and we all know how that ended.

 

Haha you can scrap that idea.

 

Yah we all know what happened... HE GOT MARRIED

 

UV dye in the oil system will help find that oil leak without all that work.
NAPA has water and oil versions of the dye so you can find leaks.

 

He has some bigger and better plans. He isnt pulling the motor, just to find the leak.

 

I'm in a similar situation - I think that the seal on my oil pan has a small leak. Just started a week or two ago and I can't find any problems with the lines, it just seems to be coming from the line between the APS oil pan and the block. I like that dye idea, though.

 

Pros became Pros by pulling their own motors---Just patience and a little common sense----Now,,, Internals----Thats Phase two. Good Luck FS 306 !!!!!

 

^^haha, thanks Eazzzzzzy (is that the right # of 'Z's? )

There's no way in hell that I'd try to work on the internals myself. Not on this motor anyway

 

I pulled my own motor, its a piece of cake!
(i must admit) i had a few able friends...

hardest thing is getting that baby to run well after reinstall..

But engine isnt complicated to get in or out, just be carefull and use common sens!
/
Phill

 

Whew, just got it out, tranny and all together. Absolutely no help either, I did this one solo, which sucked. Remind me next time to take off my 3.5" downpipes before trying to pull it out through the front; I don't know what I was thinking. I had to pull one off and the other side just barely had enough room to get through. It would have been a piece of cake if I didn't have to remove those mammoth pipes. If I had to do it all over again, I could have it all out in 4 hours probably.

I think when I re-install everything, I'm going to put the car up super high on 4 jack stands, drop the crossmember, and raise everything up together like at the dealership. We'll see. For now, I'm just glad I got this SOB out.

 

Install is a ***** if you didnt pullt the tranny with it. Im still stuck good luck with your install some one Help!!!

 

I pulled my motor out with a friend. It wasn't hard at all, only thing hard about it was that i tried to take off the tranny instead of pulling them both out at the same time. Which was really stupid. GL with everything. So what are the new plans? lol

 

I've pulled my motor 3 times, all 3 times with the tranny attached, I think it was fairly simple...disconnecting the tranny when the motor is out of the car is much easier than trying to perfrom the task with it still installed (IMHO)

Sharif jokes with me telling me I'm slow (as he swore this was much faster than pulling it from the front: I would rather pull the A/C condensor and radiator and bumper compared to having to disconnect the control arms, pull the radiator anyway, and wrestle with trying to keep the A/C in the car as we raise the chasis off the motor) when I got back to him on pulling the motor from the bottom via disconeecting the crossmember , but in my opinion, it is MUCH easier pulling the motor through the fron after removing the front clip and accessories...WITH the tranny still attached

-TODD

 

hehe...i dont like having to refill the AC system as well. When you come to the shop, I'll show you how we dooooo...dawg!

 

Make sure on that A/C that when u go back together --U flush flush flush ( I DONT mean with water --I had a guy do that once !!! )and get a new drier ---Congrats on Phase 1 !!!!

 

Got my motor started tonight (yea I know; it's been almost month...I've been busy)

So far, all is good. The car started right up, and idles perfect. I'm in the fun process of bleeding the air out of the cooling system at the moment. I should have it on the road tomorrow, and then we'll see if all my work paid off. And hopefully, I've fixed my oil leak (couldn't find where it was coming from, so I just pulled everything off down to the bare shortblock, cleaned, and reinstalled- upper/lower oil pan, entire turbo kit, front/rear timing covers....everything).

I know this really isn't a big deal to most, but it is to me seeing how this is the furthest I've ventured into the motor (all me, no help what so ever), and seeing that it all works is very satisfying

 

good job man! it is satisfying, also very tiring ...I had to pull my tranny and wastegates off yesterday to fix a rear main seal that was bad...it sucked, one of the wastegate bolts wouldnt come off, and it broke off in my greddy exhaust manifold ..so then i got to spend hours drilling it out

I don't want to touch my car (besides driving it) for at least a month!


GOOD LUCK!
-TODD

 

Thanks Todd. Oh, and I'm praying to the Almighty that I don't have any leaks

So far, so good though, although I've just let it idle for a few minutes in the garage.

 

Well u should pat ur self on the back and it is a big deal !!! But I hate it when I dont discover the problem ( Oil Leak )---I blew a head Gasket I believe so Im going to be slinging bolts shortly too. Good Luck !!!