I guess pulling/swapping an engine as a one man or one woman task is more a mental block thing than a physical thing. It does separate the oil and brake pad changers from the ones who really love working on their cars... It can be humorous like when you are sure you know your car so well you dont label your parts carefully and put them all over your garage floor..and then you have 14 odd bolts left over when the engine is back in..
I've done all of mine solo. Thats nothing to brag about --all it says is that I never could count on my older brothers for much except for a punch in the nose when I was a kid--I wonder what it would have been like to have a close brother like the neighbor across the street--his brother is helping him build his garage...
I don't know what the one man record is...maybe we could sponsor a engine swap contest (via webcam, as proof)...Its pretty easy from April to June and September to November and it always draws a few stares from your neighbors. I would guess it could be done in an extended weekend starting from Friday morning to Monday night. an be
I guess its up there with putting on your own siding or redoing your own driveway with a pick ax as a labor intensive project. I don't mind doing it if the car I'm going to do it on will get me another 60K and its a quality engine or car, but if its something mundane, it can be very distasteful..
My own story is once in 93 my wife and daughter went back to the Far East for the Winter and left me without anything to do, so I got an RX7 and redid the engine and trans. On the day I swapped the engine back in, it started snowing pretty heavily and I kept up the work, I was very young and stupid...
I wouldnt want to do it for a friend for money--and I am not doing it for my brothers...

Sure, but im not sure you will beat these guys "Fastest Engine Swap
The fastest time to switch the engine from one VW Beetle to another, then drive 5 meters (16 ft 5 in) is 1 minute 37 seconds by a team of four mechanics, Stefan Klotz, Ralf Kaelche, Markus Jung, and Stefan Worner, of Kaefer-Station Jung Klotz. They carried out the swift swap in Mulhheim, Germany on January 17, 1999. They were competing against another team to break the record."
http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/

Oh, and do I have a really good engine swap story for you... I dont think it would fit in one post so, heres the link wont start for anything! 1985 300SD

Most times I've used pretty conventional methods, but then there were the Corvair jobs. There, you drop the powertrain straight down. I used a skateboard as a dolly because a) I had nothing else to move it on and b) the place I had to put the engine(s) was a milking room in the back of my parents 200 year old barn. A path of plywood strips and planks allowed me to guide the powertrain across wobbly floors and through narrow doorways. After doing a few, you got pretty fast at it.

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'82 300SD - 361K mi - "Blue"

"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement."

listen, look, .........and duck.

I decided to remove the engine and trans out of a Audi Fox one day.

Borrowed an old shopping cart from a friend of mine (the cart had no basket...just the frame and wheels).
Carefully lowered the engine and trans onto the shopping cart, and then lifted the car up and pulled the cart with the engine on it, out from under the car.

oh,...don't forget to set the parking brake.

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It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so. Robert A. Heinlein


09 Jetta TDI
1985 300D

I look at the time I spend turning a wrench as kind of a zhen experience. I do enjoy it with someone sometimes but generally like working on it alone, sometimes listening to jazz or any other of a number of bands and you are right about pulling an engine or really for me doing my first clutch (complete transmission removal) did it for me - something about unbolting the back of the engine. I knew it was just two small screws still keeping it in there. Anyway, I did have a friend once, he took this photo which I'll have forever...


Which eventually turned into this, with a Cummins 4cyl in it

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Andre Shoumatoff - Park City, Utah
Diesel Engine Conversion Community

Fastest I ever got an engine out and back in was with an old Fiat 850 Spider (I should be embaressed to admit to owing one). Had a good friend and we pulled the engine with no lift, just unbolted it and I leaned over and hauled it out. Then replaced the leaking oil pan gasket and the screwy pulley and set it back in place.
Lapsed time was 2.5 hrs. Of course that engine is no bigger than what an average motorcycle will have. Hardly any bolts to hold it in either.

I still remember the first engine I ever pulled-a 230 inline 6 out of a '69 Nova-used my mom's garage crossbeam, nylon rope, and a come-a-long-somehow it came out upside down and backwards!!!

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1982 300DT 190K (Diesel Purge + synthetic oil=smoothness at last!!!)
2004 Ford E-350 6.0 L PSD 227K
2006 Dodge Ram 3500 SRW HO Cummins 4X4 48RE 42K (brute force tow vehicle)
2005 Scion xB wife's rolling pop can
1993 GMC Sierra C3500 6.2 142K

I've pulled a few engines before. But I remember lifting the whole front end of the 240D off the gound 4" before I found out about the center engine mount.

Folks,

My block on my inboard ski boat ended up cracked due to trapped water and and a COLD winter in NC 10 years ago. I discovered this in April, with the impending arrival of daughter #2 in 2 months. I knew if I didn't get this fixed soon it was going to be a year or so until I would get time... off to the races.

It was fun pulling it out ( Chevy 454 + trans) in the boat on the trailer mean I need to lift it about 6' high to clear the sides of the boat. I built a frame out of 2x8's - tripled and tied it to the trusses in the top of my garage. It lifted just fine, and then I could pull out the boat. 2 weeks have gone by, baby due in 6 weeks.

Now the engine goes on a stand, heads and tranny removed, diagnosis done - new short block needed. I found one from a guy in Dawsonville GA I worked with (NASCAR theme starting). He had it in a Suburban for 5000 miles but pulled it back out. BTW - I live in Mooresville, home of about 20 NASCAR teams. He wants my old block for a core. I had an 86 Isuzu Trooper at the time. The stand worked perfectly to roll it into the back of the Trooper, but left it 3" off the floor of the trooper. No problem... put the hydraulic jack under the Trooper and lift until no load on the engine bolts. Unbolt from the stand and pack up the engine, heads, and jack for the trip.

I arrive in Dawsonville, we tour the Bill Elliott McDonalds in town. Unload the engine and reload the new one. A bargain at $500 for a recent rebuilt with a truck cam - great for a tow boat. Back on the road the next day.

I was concerned about the new block and the compression ratio with my heads. I found a small shop, "Bills Head Shed" in Blacksburg, SC. I called and he said no problem, he could CC the heads and figure out the compression ratio of the new combo.

I stop on the way home to get my heads CC'ed and the block measured. Way out in the county I find a little metal building ( 20x 60 or so) and expect dirt floors. Inside, I find out Bill is the pre-eminent NASCAR Head Specialist. Spotless floor, 10 or Numerically Controlled machines. He measures it all and pronounces 8.5:1 - life is good. Total charge $20.

Back to NC I arrange for my motor head friend to arrive the next week-end, now down to 4 weeks and counting before baby. My buddy arrives and we put together the engine. There is a flex-plate on the back that ties to the tranny. On inspection we find a few sheared bolts on Saturday at 5pm. Nobody around town that is open and sells grade 8 bolts in Mooresville. Jump in the car, run to Charlotte and catch a PEP boys and grab the bolts needed with 15 minutes to spare.

Sunday afternoon assembly is complete, we hoist the engine back up and remount in the boat. We reconnect all the electrical and and plumbing. Crank and crank and it fires! Move the trailer over to a boat ramp and fire it for real with a water supply. It runs for 15 minutes - we adjust the timing - no leaks! It runs another 10 minutes and we decide time to launch. Off for a quiet run.

Fifteen more minutes into checking everything out... all is good. My buddy looks at me and says " I thought this thing had a 4 barrel?". ZOOM! Daughter #2 arrives 2 weeks later. Life is good 8^).

Nine years later it is still running great.

Chuck

I've done a small block chevy into a 1979 Chevy Monza spyder..........

I've done a JDM DOHC ZC engine and trany swap into a US market Civic....

No small task as the JDM motor had multi-point fuel injection and the US market car had Dual point fuel injection...ran that a few years and moved up to a B16A1 swap int the same car....and yet another custome engine harness to be made.....even wired a full electronic dash from a later model integra to replace the cable driven speedo.....

I did all three of these without any assistance at any point.

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Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
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Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Many years ago the 900cc engine in my then daily driver '57 DKW 3=6 got R & R'd barehanded. Was able to get everything off except the head before lifting it out while it was parked on a side street. Have no idea how heavy the block with pistons, rods, and crank plus head might have weighed, but I was only 165lbs and not muscular!! Oh well, what we do when young and ignorant.

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1961 190Db retired
1968 220D/8 325,000
1983 300D 164,150