Engine is out!!

Today I managed to hoist the engine out of the car, that's a big step toward getting stuff done. I was hoping to put the engine on the stand, but ran into a snag... It appears that the torx bolts that hold the pressure plate on to the flywheel are stripped, and unless the pressure plate is taken off, the stand won't bolt to the back of the engine...

But that, literally is a story for another day (hopefully one where I've figured out how to get said stripped bolts off! ;-) )

Houston, we have a transmission!

Yes, putting a lot of my apprehension to rest, the transmission came out quite easily this afternoon! After a brief celebration with a bottle of water, I immediately proceeded to drain the coolant and the engine oil in preparation of engine removal. On a related note, the 2.9 L stroker kit is on order, I already got a call from Ireland Engineering saying the kit is ready for pickup. That's gonna happen this coming weekend! Exciting stuff!

The engine is now almost ready to be hoisted out. The air intake boot is detached from the air flow meter, the idle control valve is disconnected, as is the vacuum intake line from the brake booster. I've also taken 0ff the nuts holding the engine mounts to the mount points. Also disconnected are the the input and output lines of the steering pump. Next time I work on her, I'm hoping to have the engine out! More to come!!