The Engine Arrives

Once I got the engine lift and the engine stand to the garage I was using, I was ready to get the engine out of the truck and into the garage.  However - there was still a problem.  Nothing about this was looking easy.  The problem was, was that there was a two foot gap between the garage door and the back of the truck where the engine was.

     The engine lift I had borrowed wouldn't roll on the gravel with the weight of the engine on it but it also didn't have a long enough arm to reach from the smooth concrete floor of the garage.  I had to figure out how to span the bumpy distance, so I layed a piece of plywood to help bridge the gap between the truck and the garage.  Once I had this temporary solution I was able to get the engine out of the truck and onto the engine lift.  While I was lifting the 500lb engine and gently pulling it back into the garage, one of the wheels of the engine lift came off the plywood and the engine almost fell over. Luckily my friend Robert was able to stabilize it and save it from falling over.  I was then able to lower the engine back on to the ground so we could reposition the lift and make sure we didn't have the same problem again. Once repositioned we got the engine into the garage with no other problems.

 The engine was set on a piece of plywood and cardboard on the floor.  I wouldn't be able to put it up onto the engine stand until I was able to remove the transmission. 

Front of engine.

Engine and Transmission on the garage floor. 

Removing the starter and thermostat

After the intake manifold was removed and set off to the side the next thing I needed to remove was the thermostat and the starter. They were very straight forward to remove both coming off with only a few normal 10mm bolts. The starter was in pretty bad shape, it had a chunk of metal missing and was dented.

Both of these pieces went to the side and again the bolts were bagged and carefully labeled.
 

Thermostat housing.

Thermostat housing once removed.

Starter.

Inside the starter.

Setting Up the Garage

Before I brought the engine into its new home, I needed to set up the garage. I was lucky to have found a large garage space that I could use that was close to my house, but it was not outfitted with anything other than some rusty garden tools and a few cobwebs.  I needed proper tools in order to make this possible.

The first things I tracked down to use were an engine lift and an engine stand to make the project easier. The engine lift would allow me to lift the engine out of the truck and get the 500lbs beast off the ground once it was out of the truck.  Once I had it in the garage and the transmission was removed (the first step), the engine was lifted back up and put on the engine stand to make it easier to work on. I borrowed the lift and stand from a friend who owns a local auto shop I actually pushed the engine stand and  lift 5 blocks to my friends garage where I would be working.  I should have brought a bottle of WD40 with me.  The lift made a horrible noise as we pushed it.

If I hadn't had a friend to borrow these tools from I would have had to rent them or buy them.  They are easily available and range in price from $100 - $400. 

Garage with the Space Needle peaking above the trees.

Casual walk with my engine lift and engine stand.

Riping its Heart Out

The madness began on September 25, 2014, I had found a perfect engine in a wrecked car and we arranged to remove it from the donor car that day. The donor car was a 1994 BMW 535i.  This is a fast engine that is one of the best BMW has made.  With some minor modifications, it can be made to fit into my 318is and will give it even more power than it already has.

To get the engine out of the car, we started by taking off the front grill and removing all of the engine mounts and transmission mounts.   at this point the engine was not completely free it was still connected to the driveshaft but we considered that unimportant becuase we had the power of a tow truck to remove it.
     Now your probably are wondering why we have and why we would use a tow truck to take an engine out of the car... well earlier a crazy ex criminal showed up in his tow truck and said he would take it out so why wouldn't you take up the crazy ex criminal on an offer like that. The engine came out on out second try and actually broke the differential when it came out, we were expecting the driveshaft to break not the differential.
    Once the engine was out it was loaded into our truck and drove it home to Queen Anne where I had found a spot in a friends garage to work on it.

Removing the front of the car.

Front removed.

Engine ready to be removed.

We used a tow truck to lift the engine out of the car.

Engine finally out