Long overdue update!
After a crazy year we finally completed the swap in the past few weeks. What a job ugh!! Even with a shop & lift, experienced mechanic cousin.
Few rough points:
The top 2 bell housing bolts are tough, if you lift up on the front of the motor a little it gives extra clearance. I ended up putting in the remanufactured transmission 4x, by the last time I was an expert LOL.
The motor sat for almost a year, this caused some rust issues on the valves that created extra problems lining up the flywheel to torque converter and getting it bolted. We initially got all 6 bolts in, then when turning the crank to tighten them it wouldn't move all the way around. Our initial thought was that a piece of the valve cover was stuck in the timing chain. Copious amounts of WD40 was sprayed in the intakes and injector holes and gentle turning back and forth.
I tried pulling a vacuum to bleed the fuel system when it was re-assembled. Didn't really work, some part of the system was preventing it. Fortunately the motor fired up after only about 30 seconds of cranking, at first it was missing on one cylinder but after we revved it a bit it ran awesome.
The transmission stopped going into R about 2 months ago if it was on any sort of incline, I had a reputable shop look at it and they said the best option was a reman for $1800.
I also swapped the steering box from the donor car, it was much tighter.
When reconnecting the vacuum hoses, I had the fuel shutoff mistakenly connected to the wrong spot and it wouldn't shut off. Took a while to figure that one out.
I also replaced the rear main seal, because I had it and it was super easy with the motor out. Also did new pan seal, water pump, thermostat.
I feel like I know this drivetrain inside out now!!
This wasn't a good day- both of my vehicles on lifts!!
