As im doin mine at the moment i thought i would provide a tutorial.. It is pretty straight foword but it might help some to see it in writing and maybe show a few things you might not of considered...

Please dont reply to this thread until i have finished, as i am not doin it all in one day(but need to write it down before i forget), i would like all the posts to stay together...photos will be up soon

Register on the forums for fewer ads.

okay first things first

1st and 2nd hour: I removed all the front panels off my car. First went the bonnet, then the head lights, grill,blinkers, bumper bar, bumper bar support( i suggest if you havent taken your bar off before the screws that hold this to the chassis will be stuborn they are 14mm, spray some crc or similar and come back in 20 mins should help). also all the splash trays and so forth however i left the inner gaurd linners and gaurds on..Intercooler and as much intercooler piping as possible even the engine bay stuff, piping also can be stubborn just use patience and dont go sticking at them with screw drivers as you might be up for a new set of pipes...behind the cooler sits your aircon normally; mine has already been removed but this is all straight foword im sure you can work it all out just chuck a rag over the first pipe you crack so the gas gets caught in that or better still get it degassed... pull off the lock bar support but leave the locking mechanism attached to the wire as its a real pain when trying to get the wire on later.

3rd hour: drain your radiator fluids and remove the radiator and top pipe as it gets in the way bottom pipe can be left... with this done you should be looking like this(pic 2).

Next is power steering, undo your resevior from the strut tower and get a bucket and try and tip out as much as you can.... on the drivers side there is piping that goes to the front as a little cooler the piping has fins on it.... get a bucket underneath and take this off.. it will start to leak out what i did to speed things up was grab the air compressor and put it on 4-5psi and blow air through one pipe be ready and it will start coming out the other pipe at a rate of knots. Now take off your resevior from the rubber piping... next crack those really big bolt on the top of your powersteer pump they are around 19mm i think and will need some force...be carefull when undoing as there are two copper washers for each bolt keep these you need them... push these pipe out of the way as you can leave them connected to the rack....now undo the bolts that hold the pump to the block there are three then youve finished that part....

4th 5th 6th Hour: Time to start on your turbos, mine was relatively easy due to a big single and the fact i have done it so many times... first drain your oil from the engine... undo water and oil lines... take off exhaust or at least dump pipes.... on twins i thing you can take off the turbo attached to the manifold but on mine the turbo has to come off then the manifold.... carefull with all exhaust bolt use lots of crc/wd40 and i feel for you if you get cross threads as its regular with exhaust bolts can take up alot of time....now you shold be lookin like this (pic3)...

Next post tomoz morning will include the pics as mentioned and gearbox removal.....

Side note if i havent mentioned stuff like disconnect your battery and stuff its cause its straight foword and if your attempting this you should have enough knowledge for simple things of this nature..

7-9th hours: Next i worked on the front of the engine which isnt actually nessassary to getting the engine out but a few things help making the job easier.. Took of the fan pretty straight foword, i replaced the studs that nissan use on their water pumps with bolt with spring washers much easier if you need to do it often!!!
Off comes the harmonic balancer using a rattle gun i think the socket is 24mm or 28mm cant remember, these can be really tight i suggest spraying some wd40 a good day and at random intervals before you get here as it will help... then i used a harmonic balancer puller kit (these can be had from repco or similar) and off she came... mine was easy its been off a few times but they can be god awful tight, whatever you do dont lever against your engine as you probs lever against the oil pump not cool if you want to keep it... I also sprayed wd on the cam gear thats behind the balancer, if you want to get this off start spraying your wd well in advance!!!! Now the shield that covers the front of the engine can come off, and you can access the water pump, if this needs doing this is all that needs to be off the engine plus some steps from my previous posts!!!

10-14 hours: Geez im slow, but check twice do once!!!
Next is gearbox... first undo the engine mount bolt in the engine bay, this will require the alternator to be removed it bolt from the front but you will need to get underneath to undo the power cable and the plug in from th loom, this will give clear access to mounts!!! which in turn will allow more leveridge later down the track!!! remove oil filter for more room but remember to put back on before lifting the engine out later otherwise more fun leeks...Next go underneath and remove the slave cylinder from the box and tie it up with wire to something so you dont hit your head on it every 5 minutes...then undo your rear driveshaft bolt, you will need a breaker bar or long handle to get a good snap action on these bolts otherwise you will be just moving the car around.... also while your at the back undo the transfere case oil feed line and have something like an old paint brush end, or something tapered to jam in the line otherwise she will leek oil till empty... Next you will have to undo your front drive shaft from the front diff, these can be a little tricky also i suggest a single hex socket to minimise the chance of stripping the nuts!!! Okay the fun starts now, lets go the starter moter there are only two bolts, before starting unplug it and the wiring plug get it undone if you can also... i wiggled mine out the bottom with the front shaft gone it can be done it just needs some funky angles!!! Okay around to the inside of the car and something that is forgoten is remove the gear stick!!! Once youve cleared everything and can see where the stcik goes into the box you will notice, just inside the round hole at the top of the box there a clip, to get this you can use needle nose plyers or the the needle noses with the pin points on th end are ment for the jobs, squeeze the clip together and pull the stick out.... back underneath start undoing the gearbox bolts, these are often very tight...the on on the left at the top can be accessed from the top of the engine bay the right hand cannot but i didnt find it to hard just dont leave it till last leave a nice easy one till last...

Removing is hard, i suggest 3 people its bloody messy with only two, also side note if you can get you rear tailshft completely off and out of the car makes it easier and less tight when moving the box back.... i used a floor jack with 4x2 on it to take some wieght off the front, again messy..... cause you have the engine mounts undone you can lever the box down at the back alot.... i had to get pretty physicall on mine to get it off the input shaft i had the crow bar out wedging it between the box and engine, then when it comes off my god is it heavy, you will wish it was back on that bloody shaft youve been working it off for the last 30mins.....dont worry if you damage your sandwhich plate they flaten out easily..... now if your interested this is now how to do your clutch its all right there!!!! For the others following the process getting the engine out, another post very soon!!!

FYI,
If you remove the engine gearbox attached with the cradle complete its much easier. 4 bolts off the shocks, cradle, unbolt the drive shafts etc, and wirinng and hoses. Drop the whole cradle down as appose to going up. Guys in Japan do it that way too. Takes about 1-2 hours. I know an ex JMS mechanic who actually took 45 minutes. FACTUAL TIME.

Thats all well and good if you have the following:

A two post hoist, mine is 4 post so makes it very hard to get suspension stuff out.

Its basically all the front suspension that needs to come out not just what you mentioned...

Who has a 1 tonne hydraulic engine stand that the can rest the engine on a lower it out of the car not many people as they are around 2g to buy...

Or alternatively how has a house or workshop they can shackle a whole engine and box off their roof and lower is using that....

And what do you do with the car then leave it sitting on a hoist for a month 2 months 3, at least i can move mine around!!!

Plus the engine went straight onto an engine stand ready to be sripped, 45 minutes maybe but then once out you still have to detach all the stiuff yo left together and it alot more solid and easy to crack the bolt when they are attached to the car not just rolling on the floor!!!!!

So maybe its a little easier if you own a mechanics shop and its a customers car and its not a 305 month rebuild period but for your home mechanic it generally out of reach and not feasible at all!!!!

okay third and final part then let the questions role guys!!!!

14-16hr: Righto next stop steering and suspension, and driveshafts....the left hand side no suspension has to be touched just undo the drive hub from the engine... righ hand side is a little more involved.. Take your wheel off so jack up that corner of the car and undo the following.... the tierod arm coming out of the rack, the lower ball join the radius rod that join to the lower ball joint and the lower control arm, and the sway bar and the little thing that is with the sway arm..... lower ball joints need to be smacked with a hammer to crack them dont be affraid just whack the beefy steel bit above it and bang they will undo.... undo the shocke from the top and bottom... now your sweet to swing the rotor upwards and away iundo the cv boots from the driveshaft to the engine and slide the drive shaft out....this is a very dirty bastard job... just lightly put everything back in as you will have to reverse the process later.... engine is free and we are cookin"

16-17hr: Right we have the gear box removed we have everything you can possibly see might stop the engine coming out removed including air lines and such... From underneath you can see two heater hoses going under the plenum leave these attached untill you raise the engine a littel they are bloody hard to get off.... First get a big flat head screw driver or crow bar and crack the engine mounts as they are rubber they bond much like rubber hoses so you need the wedge something to crack them off the surface... Next attach your strap personally i like nylon straps than chains polus they dont rip sh.it out of your rocker covers and dent them like a chain can.... i attached one at the back of the head there is a bracket there i took this off and put a 80mm long bolt on with a really big washer this stop the strap coming off the end of the bolt (NOT GOOD).. An at the fron there is a bracket in fron the the 1st injector its nice and beef, i use 2 45mm ling bolts again with big washers (oh and make sure you screw them in as far as possible or in the case of the 2 together at the front do the nut up a fair way).... get you engine stand attach and jack.... if you are like me mine wouldnt quite go high enough to get the engine over the radiator support cause we didnt have the snatch strap short enough so make sure its really short (see dodgy pic of me and the old boy balancing the engine on some 4x2 on a floor jack shortening straps).

And your engine is removed i put mine on a engine stand but if you do this make sures its bloody sturdy as these engines arent light....


I hope this can help some of you in the future and feel free to ask questions...

I will be doing a dummy guide to engine rebuilds and also a guide to converting a rb30 block to suit 4wd drive soon.... oh and pics up soon sorry bout that

True inspiration!

Nicce Work!

Dont supose u still have the pix of this ...?

really really wish there were pics...........

I could never get the pics to work they worked some times, i think with the forum changeover they are lost forever. What do you need pics of maybe I can organise something!!!

maybe the pix from the camera are too big..........shrinking them down might work......not too sure.......

Im basically interested to see how every step goes, I've never seen how they are changed and really curious.

If the pix could be emaild to me (serge@nextgenocs.com.au) that would be much apreciated