Hints or tips anyone?

[mkIII213]

I pulled my n/a engine out of my mkIII, the head was off at the time and was really easy to pull out. I put the head back on along with some new parts while the engine was out and it has been a pain putting the engine back in. So if anyone has any tips on getting that freakin thing in, let me know. Thanks!

[IJ.]

Engine and Trans out?

If so buy/rent/borrow a load leveller it makes life so much easier.

[cruisnhard]

do you have the hooks for the chain on the head?

[cuel]

What are you having trouble with? Standard or auto?

A load leveler will make it much easier. Make sure your motor mounts are loose, they're easier to line up that way. If you're installing just the engine(trans. still in car), make sure that the trans. and motor are at the same angle. The gap between the 2 should be uniform from bottom to top, side to side, as you get to that point.

[gregzbutt]

When I did it (engine and trans together) I had one of my friends work a floor jack underneath the tranny to try and level it out as I lowered the cherry picker. When I got the engine mounts pretty close to lining up I took a big crowbar and forced them the rest of the way in. I had 5 dudes helping me too, that helped a lot. Still took about a half hour of fussing. Have fun!

[ubara86]

2 x 4's are your friend.

[trydrew]

I did it with a load leveller and what greg said (jack under tranny and all).

[mkIII213]

You got that right about the 2x4's lol. I will go look at the load leveler, I was also doing the jack under the tranny to level it out, not a bad idea, the most difficult part is lining up the engine mounts. I was told to disconnect the drive shaft, install the engine and tranny and then slide the yolk in and bolt the drive shaft back up, what do yall think? I tried sliding everything in at once, but it seemed to be a tad more difficult. The tranny is manual, and its all connected with the block. Those hooks on the head are very handy!