Intake removed

Now Im making progress

Finally!

After many false starts and much second guessing, I finally got the engine out. Most instructions talk about "how easy!" dropping the engine is. "Its only 4 bolts after all!"

I knew the bottom two bolts were studs attatched to the engine and all I needed to do was remove the nuts on the front of the bell housing. I got stumped for a few days because those bolts are completely obscured by the transmission retainer bracket. I finally figured out I needed offset wrenches. Harbor Freight to the rescue...

Next problem was the upper bolts. The right hand upper bolt is easy to see. The left one is completely obscured by the fan housing. You may remember that I started the engine removal because I couldnt get to the bolt that let me remove the fan housing. Now the fan housing was in the way. Ugh.

I found the bolt hole on the front side - it looked empty. I used my phone as a poor mans scope:

Looks like someone decided that last bolt was too hard to deal with. I cant really blame them, Im not sure how I'd have gotten to it anyway.

After this it was just like the instructions: pull,lower, pull, lower.

Today I lifted the car the final few inches to get it out from under

Now I can see what Im doing. Time to clean, paint, and replace as needed.