1976 Cadillac eldorado trying to pull the motor

[joeymanning72]

Hello I am currently working on trying to pull the motor on my Cadillac and have never pulled a motor let alone a front wheel drive motor it has the 8.2 500 and is fuel injected was just wondering if anyone could send some pointers my way as it would be much appreciated.

J. Manning

["Cadillac Kid" Greg Surfas 15364]

Joey,
Many people have their own procedure for doing this, but I would like to suggest you get a factory service manual for your car.  The step by step procedures are called out for all operations including the engine removal.
Greg Surfas

[Glen]

Here is what I posted when someone else asked the same question:

The main thing you have to do is disconnect the inner CV joint from the final drive (differential).  You will need a 7/16ths 12 point socket to remove those bolts.  They are very tight and the space is cramped.  I found it easier to remove those bolts from the outside.  I bought a 28 inch extension for my 3/8ths drive socket set.  I take the wheel off and go in from there to get the socket on the bolt.  You will only be able to get to one bolt at a time.  Then you rotate the axle to get another bolt.  I also use a screwdriver stuck in the edge of the brake rotor to both turn the axle and to lock the rotor in place against the caliper while removing the bolt. 

The lifting points are triangular things on top of the engine.  They maybe hidden by the air cleaner.  They both should be a little aft of the carb for lifting the engine and transmission together. 

Once the engine and transmission are out it is real easy to remove the drive axles, all you have to do is remove the axle nut, but it is on pretty tight.  You may want to loosen those while the car is still together and the wheels are on the ground.

Everything else is just removing what ever is connected to the engine/transmission, like wires and hoses.       

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

G'day Joey,

Following the Shop Manual will save you a lot of time.

I found it easier to remove the Engine/Trans/Diff as a complete unit, then separate the engine from the trans on the bench/floor.

After removing the hood.

(1)   With the car outside of the working area, if you have to drain the water onto the ground, drain the radiator by either removing the bottom radiator hose, or turning on the drain cock at the bottom left side of the radiator.

(2)   Move the car back into the working area, and disconnect the battery terminals (Leaving the battery in place), remove the Radiator Cover/top mounts, Hoses, Transmission Cooler Line fittings, and then the Radiator, Fan Shroud pieces, Fan, Drive Belts, Crankshaft Pulley.

(3)   Place some rags on top of the Battery to protect the terminals, if you have a top post battery, remove the 5 bolts holding the A/C Compressor to the engine, and with care, and without undoing any of the A/C hoses, lift and roll the attached compressor over and upside down and lay it on top of the Battery.

(4)   Remove the Power Steering Pump and lay it off to the left side where it will simply sit there out of the way.   The Alternator now comes off, and lays to the right (you did undo the wiring?)

(5)   Remove the FI Throttle Body, (if you are going to use my method of lifting) Fuel lines to the Fuel Pump, and plug them to stop the possibility of fuel leaking out, or dirt getting in.    Remove the Ground Strap from the trans to the firewall (it is plugged into the firewall)

(6)   Remove Left Exhaust Manifold from both the engine and engine pipe, but only remove the Right Exhaust Manifold from the Cylinder Head.   This can stay attached to the Engine Pipe.   Remove the Speedo Cable

(7)   If your car has the diagonal braces from the firewall to the inner fenders, remove these.

(   Now it is time to get down and dirty.   Raise the car and insert jack stands.

(9)   Undo the inner Tripot axle joints and push the joints apart for clearance, undo the engine and Trans mount nuts, 2 in front and one each side at the rear.   Remove the positive cable from the Starter Motor and unclip the Starter Motor Solenoid to body harness plug.    Undo the trans linkage, and the Starter Motor to Chassis Ground Strap.

The engine combo is now ready to come out.   And the car can go back onto the ground.

(10)   I positioned the engine mounting brackets in their rearmost position as this balances the massive weight, as you will see in the picture.   The lifting chain is also off-set, and tied in that position.   IT MUST NOT SLIP.   

(10)   As the engine is lifted, it is necessary to remove the trans mounting cover plate, and carefully slip it out of the way.   There are only three bolts holding this to the back of the unit, and once undone, it is awkward and heavy, so care is needed to juggle it.

(11)   I found it necessary to remove one of the Windscreen Wiper wiring plugs to gain clearance from the rear trans chain cover as it passed by, and with a little bit of careful juggling, moving and hoisting, it will come out without damaging anything.

There will be some things I have missed, or messed up.   But, basically, it is how I did it.

LASTLY, if you take out the axles from the hubs, do not roll the car on the wheels or the bearings will pop out.

Bruce.

PS.   Why are you removing the engine?

[TJ Hopland]

Take special care to protect or remove the fragile parts of the EFI system like the fuel rails.  Those can be hard to find and are easily damaged so even if you don't plan on keeping the efi system you could likely sell them to someone that is trying to keep theirs going. 

Bruce's procedure is decent.  I find it easier to pull em together too.    Not sure why he had to remove the exhaust manifolds.   I don't remember having to do that but maybe I did and just forgot. 

Make sure you have enough height for your crane / hoist.   If you have a 9' ceiling you should be fine but if its lower you should do a 'dry' run with the hoist to make sure everything will clear.   On one job I had a decent length of chain between the hoist and engine but the crane hit the ceiling before it cleared the car.  No problem I thought and set it back and hooked it a lot closer which created a new problem in that the crane arm hit the top of the engine and still won't let me get it out.   Ended up letting the air out of the front tires on the car to lower it a few inches. 

[76eldo]

How about just removing the engine?

Is it just a matter of unbolting the flywheel and bell housing bolts?

My 76 is getting close to 100K and has never been apart for the timing gear and chain...

Brian

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

To remove the engine on its' own, there are a lot of awkward things to remove/get to to get it out.

The Right Axle has to be undone from the intermediate shaft, and to swing it back out of the way, the Right shocker has to be loosened on the bottom mounting point, and moved all the way back, without it coming off the mount.   Then the intermediate shaft removed, along with the Starter Motor.

Then the flexplate cover has to be removed to access the torque converter bolts, and there is a rotten bolt to access, and undo on the top of the transmission, to free the left side of said cover.

Then there is the Diff Mounting plate that bolts to the left side engine mount, and the long through bolt which is also a contortionists job to get to.   This plate is a real cow to access and place in the correct position when reinstalling.

All the above are very easy to access when the engine/trans/diff is out.

Bruce.

PS.   Removing the left exhaust manifold gives better clearance, and clears the exhaust pipe.   When reinstalling, there are less things to align as it all goes back into place.

[Scot Minesinger]

Ditto:

1.  Follow the shop manual, I had never pulled an engine either my first time, but it was quite easy using the shop manual. 
2.  I remove CV joint just as Glen described as well.

As an aside label all the removed bolts and fasteners so that they all go back in the place that they are supposed to. 

Probably a good idea to make a lot improvements much more easily made with engine out, the "might as well" list, detailing, engine mounts, replacing steel brake, fuel, and trans factory tubing and etc.

Good luck,

Scot

[bcroe]

I wonder if you really need the engine out at 100K; I have driven many engines of the era twice
that and had them running like new at 200K.  But of course they got a new roller timing set very
early on.  The trans at this age though will need "maintenance" of aging rubber parts, to avoid a
potentially serious failure later. 

Pulling the EFI version is a lot more complicated.  I always pull the engine first; then the trans
& final drive.  The entire package is more weight than I like to deal with, and the chances of
damaging something are greatly increased.  To do it the front of the final drive needs to be chained
up so it isn't trying to fall out.  You still need the crossover shaft out, then the engine must come
forward enough to clear the bell housing.  good luck, Bruce Roe