Engine removal question
It's only easier if you have the equipment. The problem is that you need a rolling jack big enough and strong enough to support the engine as you roll it underneath. Even if you then lower the car, which requires a hoist that can lift it high enough, you will still need to jack the engine/tranny into position.
A rolling jack? No, and you don't need to use a hoist. Try a furniture dolly and a cherry picker, although we have had a couple of guys make small collapsible carts out of tubing. Either of my two brothers will perform this entire engine in or engine out process completely alone from start to finish including B/RB's and Gen II Hemis in A-bodies.
Open the hood (but leave it attached). Remove the front bumper at the frame brackets (optional). Jack up the rear end, placing a couple of inexpensive plastic service ramps under the rear tires to raise the car. Remove the driveshaft. Unhook the head pipes from the manifolds (or headers). Unhook the starter harness but leave the starter installed. Pick up the front of the car with the cherry picker hooked to a chain between the bumper bracket bolts, high enough to place a jack stand at the cross member by the firewall on each side.
Remove the battery and drain the oil and coolant. Remove the alternator, air cleaner, coolant reservoir etc.
Remove the radiator, belts and hoses. lay aside any air conditioning compressors and power steering pumps.
Unhook any throttle cables and kickdown linkage. Unhook the steering shaft from the steering box and pull the shaft up into the interior (a tarp strap from the wheel to the driver's headrest will usually hold it). Loosen the torsion bars and slide them out. Unhook the upper ball joints, so you can leave the upper control arms on the body while leaving the lower arms attached to the K-frame.
Those are the obvious preliminaries. Now, hook the cherry picker to the combined engine/trans unit and apply just enough tension to hold the assembly in place while you remove the four K-frame bolts and the trans cross member. Position the cart underneath utilizing some blocks to support the assembly and lower the engine/trans/K-frame down onto the cart. Once down, unhook the cherry picker from the engine and again use it to pick up the front of the body a foot or so; just enough to wheel the engine trans off to the side. Lower the body back on the jackstands or attach a wheel/wheels made to roll the body out of the way. Note that now the portion of the car in front of the firewall will be so ridiculously light that it's no trouble whatsoever for one person to maneuver it around. Two strong boys could probably pick it up.
No scratching of paint. The manifolds stay tight on the engine in or out. Simply reverse the process to install the assembly. (NOTE: on a Gen II Hemi you need to remove the valve covers for the necessary clearance when the top of the engine passes between the frame rails).
I'd love to post some pictures of this process but it seems that despite being paid up until next year, Photobucket has decided that I have no more 3rd party web hosting privilages so my thousands of Mopar photos are no longer accessible.
I'm tired of typing for now and even worse I'm getting hungry. I hope this gives you the general idea.
