I am having great difficulty removing the lower engine mount bracket bolt (18mm) to get the timing chain cover off. I was wondering if anybody has any ideas of how I can get this difficult to access lower bolt off. There is not enough room to get a ratchet/socket in there, so I have resorted to using wrenches. Problem is that the wrenches keep slipping off due to the torque required to remove the bolt. I could try jacking the engine up higher by removing the lower engine mount dog-bone, but fear that the engine will be too heavy to maneuver to reinstall the mounts again. I already have the upper mount removed.

See the following link for picture of what I am talking about (2nd pic from the top):
http://www.ny-jbodies.org/library/engine/2.4/2.4camsecret/EngineFrontCoverReplacement.htm

I would really hate to abandon this head gasket replacement project. I have managed to remove the two upper engine mount bracket bolts by jacking up the engine, but cannot jack it high enough to access the lower bolt. It is just too tight to get a ratchet/socket in there. I am hoping I have not rounded off the lower bolt from the slipping wrenches...



Any help would be much appreciated.

Jason
2000 Z24 (leaking head gasket and all)nullnull

That's a painful problem, my sympathy !

Could a rented engine hoist be the answer ?

I am having a hard time remembering why it would be hard to remove that support , maybe too much weight if you have already removed the top. I used the following setup to do my transmission, but I suppose the same idea could be used on the opposite side of the car.

Engine Support

Hopefully this link takes you to the second page where the photos are at the bottom.

I may have removed both bolts on my lower mount when I removed it as well. I found supporting the engine from the top was a lot easier then jacking from the bottom.

All this assumes of course, that your 2000 is still the same as my 1996 (which I believe it is).

Thanks for the quick replies!

I was kind of hoping not to have to rent/buy an engine hoist. May have to by the time all is said and done.

All I need is to raise the engine only about 1 inch higher to access the lower engine mount bolt. Problem is that the lower "dog bone" engine mount would have to be removed so that the engine can be raised higher.

The only problem with that is that if I remove the lower "dog bone" engine mount, the only thing holding the engine in position would be the tranny mount on the driver's side. Obviously I have a jack under the engine oil pan and probably will need another under tranny oil pan (with 2x4 distributing the load). I don't think the tranny mount is enough to keep the engine in "relative" position.

I imagine that removing the lower "dog bone" lower mount will cause the engine to shift/tilt forward/backwards despite the jacks under it. It may be near impossible to reposition the engine so I can reinstall/reattach the "dog bone" lower mount.

Do you guys think this will work? Or am I asking for trouble?

Thing I don't like about the manuals is that they do not tell you anything about the "little" details that are needed such as this case.

Thanks again.

I will try to take some low res pics so you can get better idea of what exactly I mean...

Jason

If you don't remove it, just make it loose ? ::

"I imagine that removing the lower 'dog bone' lower mount will cause the engine to shift/tilt forward/backwards despite the jacks under it. It may be near impossible to reposition the engine so I can reinstall/reattach the 'dog bone' lower mount.'"

Support it like I did with the 4x4 fours (see below). You don't need to buy/rent the engine hoist or the engine support tool. Trust me, these cars are set up to work off an engine support. As long as the support is set up high enough you should not have a problem.

The trany supports on the drivers side of the engine should keep the engine from shifting uncontrollably out of place front to back. When I removed the trany I had the only the upper support on the passenger side and the 4x4 home made engine support holding it in place, and I believe I also removed the entire "dogbone".

Got it!!!

Basically just lowered the engine as far down as it would go (rests on the bracket attached to the "dog bone"). I then removed one of the "dog bone" engine support bolts. With the 2nd jack under the tranny oil pan (with flat blocks of wood to evenly support the load) and the other jack under the engine oil pan, slowly jacked each up until I had enough clearance.

I was able to raise the engine just that little bit extra to get the socket/ratchet at the lower engine mount bracket bolt and worked it out of there!

What a relief. I think I am on the home stretch now. Got the timing chain cover off, set the crank to TDC, and installed the two 8mm bolts into the cam sprokets.

I figure those 8mm bolts in the cam sprokets should keep them in place while I remove the sproket to cam bolts to swap in the new HO cams!

Back to having some "fun" again with this project.

Thx again to everyone's help! Much appreciated as always.

Jason
2000 Z24

"What a relief. I think I am on the home stretch now" ...

Wonderful !