Engine plants use specialized fastening spindles. They use a load cell to control torque. It’s usually a torque to turn, which means a initial torque, then so many degrees rotation.
In the factory, we never reused a fastener, and any fastener that dropped on the floor was scrapped.
In rebuilding my own engines, I don’t reuse rod bolts, head bolts, bearing cap bolts.
I use simple beam torque wrenches.
I wanted to check the wheel bolts on a new tractor I bought once. I think they were 150 ft/lb I could not get them off with a 3/4 impact. I think they are on there pretty tight, probably with some Locktite for good measure.
YouTube has some good vids. But watch a bunch of them, I pick up a little bit from each one.
The OP stated that he has always wanted to try this himself.
Buying a new vehicle costs a HUGE amount of money (one or two car payments will cover the entire cost of the new engine) and provides absolutely nothing towards the goal of educating himself about car mechanics.
The electrical connections are many but not all that difficult, the plugs or connectors will not usually match up to a wrong connector. I never found it necessary to mark any of the electrical. I use a big chunk of telephone wire with all different color wires to mark the hoses. I take out 1 strand cut it in half and wrap a strand around the hose and the other half where I just pulled it off.
Considered removing motor and box as one unit? with exhaust back to wherever is easier to separate. removing the radiator, grill etc if needed to maintain the right angle. Attach box to new engine outside of truck, and reverse procedure.
If the Denali has an automatic transmission (I’d bet it does), there is no advantage to yanking it with the engine. The engine and bell housing and torque converter bolts aren’t much of a problem. A Denali should have plenty of room to get to them.
Oh hey another question. What should I use for break-in oil and how long should I run it before switching to synthoil (assuming I splurge for a rebuilt rather than pull-a-part).
You should use cheap oil at first because it’s not going to be in the engine very long.
I’d change it once fairly quickly after the engine swap, like maybe 50 miles or so, then again after a few hundred miles, and then go to a normal oil change routine.
I’d recommend regular oil at first and for the first 50 mile oil change. You can go synthetic at the next oil change at a few hundred miles because that oil will be in the engine for a while and you’ll actually get some benefit from the synthetic.
The last time I swapped out an engine was with a C4 transmission. It had a spacer plate between the engine and the tranny. Don’t be the guy who triumphantly tightens the last bolt and then looks over and sees that plate leaning up against the wall.
I’ll further add that I installed the transmision myself using a floor jack between my legs. It fell off the jack and the sharp edge of the transmission housing came down on Mr. Happy. I was not amused.
One more thing. If you’re going to use an impact driver, you’re probably going to need sockets made for an impact driver. Typical 3/8 or 1/2 drive probably won’t work, as in they will not be strong enough to survive.
You do have to be very careful to make sure the torque converter is properly seated before putting in the bolts. I bolt up the trans first and put the torque coverter bolts last. A real common rookie mistake is having to torque converter not pushed all the way in and seated. If it is not rattley loose with the trans bolted up it is not likely seated.
And don’t be the guy who takes out a v6 and puts a v8 in its place, gets everything running, then puts the hood on thinking he’s done, only to find that the hood won’t shut, and after a bit of confusion and some frantic looking through the book realizes that even though they bolt up just fine, the v8 actually uses different motor mounts.
Changing motor mounts without pulling the engine out can be done. I wouldn’t describe it as a pleasant thing to do, but it can be done.
Also make sure to properly reattach any ground straps or ground cables between the engine & the body or chassis. If you forget that step all 300 amps that go into the starter while cranking will try to get back to the battery via a couple of small but very expensive computers. They do burn colorfully though, so do you get a pretty light show.
As **Magiver **explains, floor jacks are lousy transmission jacks. I also can attest they’re lousy engine jacks if you have the kind of car where the engine goes in from the bottom. There are lots of ways for the engine to not stay balanced on that perch. And only one rare & unlikely way for it to stay on the perch. No blood was spilt, but it was real close.
Can a guy with basic mechanical skills remove an engine? Yes. I’ve been that guy.
The tools: an extensive socket wrench set, an oxy-ascetelene torch, and a chain fall hoist.
The team: One inexperienced wrench-monkey (me), one 18-year-old shade-tree mechanic (My Buddy), one experienced shade-tree auto/semi mechanic (my grandfather).
The victim: 1972 Chrysler Newport that was generously giving its ife to save my station wagon.
It took most of a day. We only needed the torch because the exhaust was too rusted for us to unbolt it, so we just cut the pipes. We had hoped to do the job without removing the engine hood, but the transmission didn’t want to let go of the engine, so we decided to take them out together. That required twisting the engine in directions that the hood was blocking.
The job consisted mostly of unhooking wires and undoing bolts, then wrapping chain around the engine and lifting.
Of course, the “putting an engine into a car” part of the job was one I paid a professional to do.
My favorite part was when I went to pick the wagon up at the repair shop. There was a familiar looking engine sitting by the corner of the shop (outside), and on the head covers in chalk were the words “old” and “bad” and a frowny face. And the engine under my hood had “good” and “new” and a smiley face on its head covers.
My only caution is this: you want an engine hoist. You probably don’t have anything that will do. The only reason it was possible for me to go get the engine from my grandfather’s Newport was he had an A-frame with a chain fall hoist on it that he bought to remove engines and transmissions from trucks. When the engine got stuck the first time, we didn’t notice until we had lifted the front of the car clear off the ground. This is not a power tool: it is run by hand.
Last I checked, engine hoists were expensive. Expensive to rent, and expensive to buy. Too expensive to rent unless you are sure you’ll only need it for a day or two, too expensive to buy unless you’ll be using it a lot.
And just trying to rig something that is attached to the rafters in your garage is a good way to break your house.
