pulling the motor

[gngirl]

I need to know if I can drop the oil pan and crankshaft without pulling the motor? any have a clue? Alisa

[jhef83]

I suppose it could be done. Getting it out would be the easy part,getting it back in Work smart not hard,Pull the motor! What happened anyway? You got some noise down there?

[edmackenzie]

you could drop the pan and drop the crank, but you'd have to pull the transmission, you're better off pulling the engine, not that big of a deal, looks scary, but not bad at all.. did mine 4 times in the last 3 years

[Keller]

Pan is no problem. Just had mine off to do a rear main seal. But I'd be a bit leery of doing serious bottom end work (like dropping the crank) with it in. There isn't much room to work down there. And it would be hard to keep things clean. Probably better (and safer) to pull, overall.

[Scott231]

Originally Posted by gngirl

I need to know if I can drop the oil pan and crankshaft without pulling the motor? any have a clue? Alisa

In order to pull the crank, you have to undo the flexplate bolts...which means the torque converter has to come off...which the transmission has to come out...which means the driveshaft has to come out. Then there is the front of the motor - you have to remove the timing chain...which means you have to remove the timing chain cover (do the cam sensor first!)...which means you have to remove the water pump and to get that off you prolly want to remove the intercooler.

So the extra work involved in pulling the motor is to remove the A) wiring harness, B) water/heater lines, C) oil cooler lines, D) fuel lines and E) motor mounts...But, you can leave the trans in the car.

[turbogn86]

take the time u think it will take when u consider all that is ganna be done, an multiply it times 2, beacuse nothing ever goes like its supposed too... trust me mine still is "almost" in after a month or 2. including motor rebuild time.

[gngirl]

Originally Posted by turbogn86

take the time u think it will take when u consider all that is ganna be done, an multiply it times 2, beacuse nothing ever goes like its supposed too....

GREAT advice!
We have the car "almost running good" - 2 months later.

[gngirl]

Detonation kills!!!

Took the engine out and found the problem among many other miscellaneous issues.
Besides the fact that the previous backyard mechanic did not install exhaust gaskets, a few of the bolts on the intake were not very tight.

The head on the passenger side was removed and cylinder number 4 is shot.
The top land of the piston is gone, melted all the way down to the ring (about 75% of it has been disintegrated!). Rings seem ok (Mood point at this stage in the game)

The metal head gasket was also burned (0.375” gap) and was leaking into the motor (below the intake manifold). The block is scrap - There is about a 0.050 in deep groove burned into the head sealing surface of the block. Maybe it could be refaced but it is hard to say. Re-facing looks like it may just “barely” be higher then the top of the piston at TDC. We have a picture if anyone is interested.

So, here is the short story: The difference in the compression of the cylinder did not warrant a broken ring as suspected all along, and, we need another block. Anyone has a short block for an 84 GN “laying around” and want to help a gal out in Houston, TX? (YES, we will look at the “parts for sale” postings )

[Keller]

Originally Posted by gngirl

Detonation kills!!!

Truer words never spoken!

Incidentally, I don't believe gaskets are used between the heads and exhaust manifolds. (They certainly weren't on 86/87 cars.) So if this is the area you were speaking about, this may be one less crime to accuse the previous owner of.

Rough outcome. But if you build it up right, you can make it really nice! Bring some learning to all the Hot Air folks out there (and learn from them) along the way.

[1985WH1]

Scott is correct on this as well, 84-85 cars did not have gaskets there either