Practically Classics Forum

Will be removing the engine on the above ...fairly soon borrow a crane from a friend....have done this before years ago but cannot remember after all the bolts are removed do i have to support the gearbox which i will leave in situ....the head is already off....
thanks Jim

Yes, support the bellhousing end to avoid straining the rear gearbox mount. You could use a couple of spare tyres or some wood underneath, or support the bellhousing with a loop of decent rope that goes through the front drop panes and down into the engine bay forward of the plenum chamber, then back under the edge of the lower bulkhead.

Okay thanks John,....
I have a couple of trolley jacks so perhaps one of those will suffice to support the bell housing..
Jim

You might find that arrangement difficult to balance and it certainly wouldn't provide enough support for mating the 'box and engine after the job has been done. Really, you want something that can keep the bellhousing from moving radially and the small contact area of the saddle of a jack is less than ideal for that. Short of timber and old tyres? All sorts of domestic objects are suitable or can be made so; cut down a stable bucket (a pound at B&Q if you don't mind orange buckets..) to a custom height for the task, use the base of the bucket as the support and put an old blanket on the surface to prevent the gearbox from slithering around. That worked for me when I last changed an engine in a RWD car. The part of the bucket that you're left with can be used for making crop circles in your neighbours' gardens and making them think they're losing the plot.


Or you could use both jacks and support a plank between them, cut a notch in the plank to hold the bottom of the bellhousing still.

You might find it easier to remove the engine and gearbox together and split them when they're out of the car.

It's rarely worth doing an Escort that way. Not only because the engine is so light, but also because the bolt that goes through the rear mount to attach [the mount] to its brackets is usually seized in the eye of the mount which is a Metaxentric that's now only available from one source, assuming he has any left. And if heat is needed to shift the eyebolt, the bush will burn, replacing that requires a fairly large press. When I last had to replace one the only way it would shift was by being left in the capable hands of a local steam locomotive builder down in Hepscott village, by Morpeth, whose press is quite the most massive I've ever seen.
So probably more trouble than it's worth to consider dropping both engine and 'box in a oner in this case and many people just whip the engine out - even for a clutch change - since the Escort's tunnel isn't built to be removable and it takes no longer than going underneath and doing it from there as either way, you'd still have to drain and refill the cooling system.