So I head over to the junkyard in Pocahontas, Illinois</ST1 to get my Red Ram Hemi. The owner drags the car out of the woods and his guys go to work to pull the engine. They cut the hood off this old Dodge was really a rusted out hulk in about twenty seconds. <O The engine looks pretty good, considering, and turns out to have the embossed valve covers I was looking for I missed them under the grime in the darkness of the woods and thought I had decals. The covers are incredibly straight, dent free and should clean up great. Two barrel manifold, but shes getting a 3-2 down the line. I got everything, including the motor mounts.
Anyway, back to the removal. The owner says hes got to get to the bell housing and front motor mount bolts. Its raining and muddy and I dont envy him crawling under this wreck and torching them off. <O</OHes got a better idea! <O <O He made fast work of the bolts while his buddy held the motor in. <O Took ten minutes to pull the motor. Now Ill have to see whats inside. Lots of antifreeze came pouring out when we cut the hoses and the pan is still full of oil, so Im hopeful she can be rebuilt only time will tell. RT
Could there be a bigger torch out there in the world? Dam, ten minutes a big *** torch and a fat man with a bobcat! Wait till nascar sees this!
My old man worked a wrecking yard in the early '70s. They saved every Hemi engine they could. Pick the car up with a forklift, torch the trans crossmember, engine mounts, and exhaust, and wrap a chain around the engine. Use a machete to cut the hoses. With the car back on the ground, use the forklift and chain to "pop" the engine and trans out of the car. They would see how fast they could do it, and he said they had it down to a science in three minutes. Of course, since '50s Mopars are my favorite cars, I can't stand when he tells me these stories.
Shoulda got the grill to, would look good modifide on a shoe box Yep, thats one way to pull a motor!!!!!...Roach.
Old Jack is one crazy dude - but he builds some sharp cars. He's got a wild 32 DeSoto with a SBC and is working on a Chevy pickup. I won't even go into some of the stuff he has stored all over his property. He likes the long torch - says he's been burned too many times. Maybe wearing a shirt would help, but it was about 95 degrees today. I'm happy with the little Hemi and when he found out it was going in my Wayfarer convert, he sold it to me cheap knowing it was going to a good home. RT
Bloke I knew of down in Sydney (Australia) in the 70's had a mate who drove towtrucks in LA. The towing company had the contract to remove abandoned cars from LA streets and crush them. The arrangement was simple. They put an open-top shipping container in the LA yard, and as the V8's came in, they'd torch the engine and gearbox mounts, slash hoses and wiring, then lift the car over the container, turning it and shaking the engine out of the bay as it p***ed overhead. The engine would drop into the container (from several feet up) and the car would continue along to the crusher. I helped unload a fresh container once, there wasn't a salvageable carby or distributor in the entire shipment, and most of the rocker covers and sumps were dinged too, but hey, you couldn't buy an SBC, SBF, or any other V8 engine in Australia in those days, so $150 rebuilders sold as fast as we could unload them. Cheers, Glen.
Dig the hell out of the long torch and there is nothing like getting things done quick. The ol song Country boy will survive comes to mind. Hell of a find, those covers rock
Around here or in parts of Florida that's a restorable car, hell. Fastest I did a motor was about an hour on a '47 Cad, but that was one guy with no torches too. Front fenders about fell off in my hands, nipped it with a sawzall to get the inners off, cut the frame in two, unbolted the tie rod and pulled the pitman arm, went through the floor and ground off the trans crossmember bolts, thought I could pull it out with the front frame stub with a tractor... the frame stub came off but not the motor! Had to hook on it again. But it then came right out.
Not quite the same, but me and some buddies once did a '57 Chevy engine swap pretty quick. We parked the two cars side-by-side and got everything disconnected. Went down to the rental place and picked up a hoist. Got back and pulled the six out of one car and set it off to the side. Pulled the V8 out of the other and put it in the first. Made sure it was sitting on the mounts as it should and broke down the hoist. We had it back to the rental place in about half an hour. The girl behind the counter was shocked. She was used to those things being out at least all day. "What's the matter? Didn't it work?" "Oh yea, it worked fine, we're all done." "Uh, well, I have to charge you for at least a half day" We left there with her still shaking her head in disbelief.
Way off topic I know but pulling VW motors is quick and all you need is a bottle jack and a skateboard. I cringe now how we used to treat those vision decks
i just hope no one on here works for OSHA, for the longest time growing up i did not know there was a different way to pull an engine except with a back hoe, i guess you use what you have.
They used to do contests to see how fast they could swap motors at VW shows. I think it was around 30 minutes and limited to a floor jack for lifting...
Looks to me like they trashed a bunch of good stuff rolling it on it's side. Front bumper was probably pretty good before they started.
Now everybody settle down ! how soon we forget WHO we are and WHERE we are...... Can this method be any more HOKEY *** ? LOL ! i myself have commited far more atrocious acts ! (no photos allowed ! ) No offence to any member or visitor intended dave lewis
Amen Bro! What a great post; when I heard the banjo's, I couldn't stop chuckling. And they talk about us Southern boys!
The Jalopy Journal
