engine removal

Both at once. It makes it easier to remove the transmission and it makes putting everything back together easier more straight-forward.

When it comes time to to re-install everything, you then only have to hook the driveshaft back up instead of mounting the transmission back on to the engine from underneath the car.

Pat

thanks. i imagine the motor is pull up from the top rather than down from the undercarrage?

tia again, peter

Yes, and the only reasonable way to remove the transmission from above it to leave it attached to the motor.

The transmission is not that difficult to remove first, but I figure on an engine pull, why not just unbolt it once the engine is completely removed when this allows you to stand on your feet with all of that room to hit the bolts and to really clean things up first.

The only possible factor that really matters is that you might need a higher-capacity engine lift, but the transmission, manual anyway, does not weigh that much. I can look up the total weight in the enthusiasts manual if you need it, it seems like it was around 400 to 450 pounds, iirc. The manual says to use a lift with at least double the capacity of the weight being pulled. The lift I used was so much overkill it was kind of funny. The owner often uses it to pull large service truck and van engines.

It will also be a bit more difficult getting the whole assembly in and out, but it's not that hard and people do it all the time with no problems.

Pat

i have used the cherry picker i have to pull/install a '72 351w w/ a '83 aod tranny for my former '68 mustang...i think it'll work for the miata :) thanks pat

That should do it. The automatic Mustang transmission alone probably weighs half as much as what you are pulling from the miata.

Now that I think about it, do they make an engine lift that won't handle the miata engine weight? If you get too much smaller than a a 1.8 liter, you probably don't even need a lift, just two fairly strong people to haul it out.

Good luck!

Pat

try a '63 austin mini 850 with right hand drive. drop the motor and lift the car away :) but that is a differnet news group. peter

A '63 austin mini 850 to a 1968 Mustang and now a miata. You have driven a far wider range of car types than I have.

Pat

LOL

peter wrote in news:zd44h.2433$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr13.news.prodigy.com:

Ditto the old Renault Dauphine, put a block under the oil pan, undo wiring, cables and 4 bolts, then two guys can grab the back bumper and roll the car forward leaving the engine, radiator, transmission/clutch and rear axle sitting all alone..... One of the few cars easier than the mid '50s Ramblers to remove the engine.

On the Miata the easiest way is to turn the car upside down and have Superman grab the engine/transmission and give a real hard tug upwards.

You're welcome.

the first series of cars were grey 68 saabs...one 96v4 the other 3 cyl

2-stroke :) my girl friend called them moles.

peter

Are we talking about a car or a lawnmower? The miata also has the smallest engine I have ever dealt with, and I have still never owned a V-8 engine vehicle, so my engine size range is a bit limited. It has been a 4 or a 6 cylinder in every single car or van that I have owned, though that huge Ford straight six was well over 4 liters, iirc.

Pat

The first car I ever drove was a 1959 Saab 93 - 3-speed on the column, suicide doors. Had a top speed of maybe 50 mph as long as you were going downhill with a tailwind! It was (in my parents' opinion) the perfect car for high school kids. Except for the suicide doors. But they made it a heck of a lot of fun to play Chinese Firedrill!

Came out one morning and the tranny was laying on the driveway - it had fallen completely off the car. The 'rents replaced the '59 with a 1960 Saab

93 - the only major difference that I remember was that the '60 didn't have suicide doors.

Iva & Belle.) '90B Classic Red.) #3 winkin' Miata

That actually sounds kind of cool.

My parents thought that a cargo van with a full custom interior and fold-out bed was a great first vehicle for me. Yeah, that's the idea, let the 16 year old buy a rolling apartment.

Now that is funny, though only years later I imagine. :-)

Pat

My 1999 Miata has the second largest engine (1.8 liters) of the five cars I've owned. Only my 1974 Pinto (2.0) had a larger engine. The others were a 1988 Acura Integra (1.6), 1983 Renault 5 (1.1) and 1976 Citroen 2CV6 (600 cc, only two cylinders).

Barry

How did that thing feel? Everything I've ever read says that you need a minimum of three, and preferably four, cylinders to get anything like "smooth power". I imagine one could finagle crank angles *SOMEWHAT* with three to get a reasonably smooth run, but two? (My only personal experience with 2 cylinders was an ancient "Poppin' Johnny" - A two-cylinder John Deere tractor. And it was *NO* fun. Trying to imagine that in a car... Seems to me you'd need a dentist to reset your teeth after every trip to town!)

Given the millions of two- and even one-cylinder motorcycles out there, "smooth" is clearly a relative term. My own 998cc twin is perfectly smooth to me.

-- Larry

peter wrote: >

I had a yellow '67 Saab Monte Carlo with the oil-injected 3-cylinder two-stroke, freewheeling transmission, and four-speed shifter on the steering column. According to the manual, it was a "sports car with super performance," and it actually was pretty zippy. It sure sounded good too, the buzzing-hornet exhaust note was that of a six-cylinder four-stroke. Remember how capacious and well-thought-out the interior of the Saab was? I especially appreciated all those storage compartments.

I replaced its clutch once in my garage. The technique was, remove the hood, unbolt the grill and radiator, remove a few cables and hoses from the engine block, unbolt the engine from the transaxle, and lift the engine out. I replaced the clutch disc and bolted the entire car back together, when I noticed that I had forgotten to put on the circlip that holds the throwout bearing on. So I took it all apart again, fitted the circlip, and bolted it back up. The entire repair was done, including pulling the engine twice, in one evening. Cars were so much easier to work on then. Much as I like my Miata, I wouldn't even try to pull the engine out by myself.

Yours WDK - snipped-for-privacy@ij.net

The smallest engine I've owned was an '87 Chevy Sprint Turbo, a badge engineered Suzuki Forsa. It was a 1 liter, 3-cylinder, turbocharged, intercooled, fuel injected rollerskate. It got very good gas mileage and was surprisingly fast. It was a bit twitchy at higher speeds though, no doubt due to the 12" tires. It was a great college-mobile: cheap to run and I didn't care about the (lousy) fit and finish. I got more than

100,000 miles of generally abusive driving out of it before finally blowing the turbo.

My wife still speaks fondly of the little red shitbox, which was also our courtin' buggy. But nostalgia has it's limits and I think I'll keep my MSM, thanks :-).

Wow, all of these old SAAB owner/drivers. I thought I was one of the few odd ones with a love of those old Swedish 2 stokes.

I have had a '60 93 750 GT, a '67 Monte Carlo (Named after they actually won the Monte Carlo road rally in 1962) 96 with oil injection, a couple of the V4's ('68 and '69 96), and a '72 97 Sonnett III.

It was pretty easy to pull any of the 2 stroke engines by yourself even without a lift. I have done it a few times. The V4's were heavier and required either a helper, lift, or a come-along and a good tree limb. (That was my usual.)

I find it hard to believe that Iva found the tranny from the '59 laying on the driveway. The unibody pan of the car went completely under the engine compartment. There should have been a rear mounting point on the lower firewall accessed from inside the passenger compartment that held the back of the tranny. The old ones definitely had rust problems, but I have never seen one with the engine compartment bottom rusted out. Usually oil from the engine, and tranny were enough to keep that section rust free. Now, the rubber donut CV joints for the front drive shafts were definitely odd.

I fell for the Miata after one test drive. It was the closest thing to the Sonnet III that I had ever driven. I loved the Sonnett in spite of all it's problems. It had a fair share, and the technology then was not what it is now. The engines would last forever with a little care, but rust, brakes, ignition, valves, and trannies required a lot of attention often.