A Little Breathing Room Would Be Nice!!!!

We know from day one that this was a big motor and it would take a lot to get it in, but we had no idea!!!!! As you can see from the image below we couldn't use a traditional engine hoist to bring the engine into place. We ended up using a floor jack and lots of muscle.


Once we got it into position (shown below) we realized that we wouldn't have enough room to work on the top half of the engine. We needed more room!!!!! After much brainstorming and some research on the internet we had a plan. We decided to cut ANOTHER hole in our van (its starting to look like a cheese grater).



So we cut out the WHOLE rear deck. From the fuel tank wall to the back (including the buildt in cross-member), from the right side of the original engine compartment to the left. In the picture it looks crooked, but it is just an illusion. The cuts came out perfect.



You'll notice in the next picture Jay Thompson (8th grade student at the time) built a very nice torsion bar to take the strain that cross-member would have. The new torsion bar can be removed with 8 bolts to make way for the engine and hoist.


When the trunk lid is finished, the torsion bar will be the only thing in the way when we try to work on the engine. We are working on the framing and hinge-work right now but will include more pictures as that finishes.



You'll also notice on the left side we have removed the spare tire compartment. This will be framed in and made into a access panel with a 3x9x24 inch compartment for the ECU, fuse panel and other electrical. This also made room for the air filter, and most likely the inter-cooler.

Emmet grinding the welds to remove spare tire compartment