is it a pain?

[flybikes1593]

thinking about taking the engine out on my 86 mr2 and having the head redone and just check over the engine and clean it out. Because it is leaking oil anyways. So then i could pinpoint the oil leak. Also the engine has 162,000 miles on it

Is it a pretty big pain to take the engine out, what are the big things involved? and it there anything i should know before i do this?

Thanks

[mr3]

It's easy to get the engine out. You just need to have a good set of tools and some sort of a hoist. I used a swing set to lower the engine then I jacked the car up high and slid the engine out the back. Putting it in I went through the top. I had to take the header off and it just barely squeezed in. Then I jacked the car up and put the transmission in from the bottem. I put a 20v engine not the stock, but it's still a 4age and most of that stuff is the same. Engine out and new engine in was 1 days worth of work. Then putting the trans back in took a while because I couldnt line up my clutch and I kept getting frustrated.

[toyotaspeed90]

find the oil leak and fix it in the car... will be much easier..... oil leaks doesn't mean the engine has problems... just means a seal went out. 162k on a 4age doesn't really mean much.

However, if you were to remove it..... here are some helpful hints:

remove the engine & trans as one unit.
leave the electrical harness on the engine, pull it off the ecu & molex connector (and push through firewall) from the rear trunk
remove the axles by unbolting them.... keep the inner shafts in the trans as you won't have a mess.
leave the shifter bracket & clutch slave cylinder attached to the transmission.... just undo the line where it connects to the body.... trust me, those 2 top bolts on the bracket/slave cylinder can take HOURS (not exaggerating) to line up properly.
if you have a spoiler, remove it.... makes life a bit easier
undo the front and rear mounts first.... then attach the hoist and remove the side to side mounts

yes, there are many steps I skipped... those aren't really 'tricks' to working on an aw11, though... just necessary steps.

If you're quick..... I was able to pull a running/driving (ie everything hooked up) 7age & trans from the car... transfer many parts from the 7a to a smallport 4age (the 4age was an assembled longblock engine with just head/block/ oil pan and cam timing gears installed, nothing else was on it...)... reattach the trans, bolt everything back up into the car and get it running..... all in all took about 8 or 9 hours of work until completion.

It's easier to install the engine & trans as one unit.... when pulling, they go down... when reinstalling, they come up. This will require a hoist & a jack (and stands you trust) that will get the car to where the rear bumper is about waist high