dropping engine, transmission, muffler and suspension toghether?
 

Has anyone done this? How did you go about it? It looks like it should be a nice way to save some time since I'm chaging suspension as well.

Any thoughts or tips?

Never done it. Looks like an easy drop. Here's from thstone's build thread:
http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1386d6e9.jpg

Wow, what a great way to get access.

That's how they assemble the car at the factory. What you see in the post above is sub-assembled on a carrier, then mated to the unibody, and all fluid and electrical connections are made. Take a look at the orientation of all the bolts that would secure the entire assembly to the body - they are all vertical and shot from underneath the car. The forward bolts on the lower tie bars (?), the two bolts that go through the suspension mounting frame, the bolt that goes through the lower shield support, etc....

That's what I spied when I had a first look underneath. I just need to figure out a way to do this without a lift....

It IS a great idea - but only if you have the equipment imho.
I have a lift but decided on a different method because of the need for a jack stable enough to lower an unbalanced load from a height of over 2 metres. I have a Wudel trans jack that will reach that height and I used that for both the gearbox and separately for the engine. The combined weight of all the components may be the least of the problems. I considered renting a truck trans jack.That may be the way I do it next time.

What about setting the drivetrain on some pallets at heigth high enught for the engine to just slip out with one pallet or a partcile board underneath. The bolts must be pre-loosened, then we can undo the bolts and raise the car slightly to separate and create room.

We can then slip beams through the pallets to put jacks under. That way we can put one jack on either side and one to the rear of the drivetrain and slowly raise the drivetrain just enough to pull out one pallet. The beams should probably be secured with some wooden screws. Then it should be a matter of slowly dropping the engine with the jacks whilst removing pallets as it comes down. The pallets will minimize the potential distance it can drop and the three jacks should keep it super stable.

As long as the floor is not too rough it should be possible to out from underneath the car on the remaining pallet or particle board? If not dollies of some sort will be needed. I'm planning to use the bottom frame of my engine stand with a particle board platform on top.

To raise it again it wheels will probably be of great help to align everything up, or it should be done in sections to make it a bit easier.

Yes, but they also use a specially made cradle that balances the load while lifting or lowering it. Without some fabricated support system, the entire package is going to be very difficult to handle.

Yeah, I said that they sub-assembly everything on a carrier...

I've never dropped the whole thing out of my Boxster but I don't think it will be very difficult at all. There is so much flat area on the bottom of the engine that it should be very stable. I've balanced worse, haha.

This should work...

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...t/P3120033.jpg

I need a trolley like that...I'll hopefully find something used.

Here's where I bought the one in the picture:

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/category_material-handling+lift-tables+hydraulic-lift-tables-carts?

It is called a hydraulic lifting cart .
Clarke Equipment in U.K.(like Harbor Freight in USA) may have some.
1000 lbs. Capacity Hydraulic Table Cart

what kind of car jack is that?
where did you get it?

Cheers!

I bought one from Harbor Freight for about $250 during one of their parking lot sales, but have not use it yet..

PS: If you want, I can look for the HF model number. It looks identical to the one on the picture but it is grey in color

Are you referring to the lift that the eng and tranny is on or the car lift?
I'm interested in the lift that is holding the car up.

Thanks

Greg Smith Equipment


Atlas® TD6MR 6,000 Lbs. Capacity Portable 110 Volt Scissor Lift | GSES

No, the one I got for $250 was for the engine/tranny cart, the 'portable' car lift costs about $2k