Motor Install - 03/07/2020

So... long time no work. I got cancer and it destroyed my ability to do ANYTHING car related for almost a year. But now I need to get this car's engine installed, so here we go.



The car sat in this spot for 10 months before I got to it...



New motor mount installed on driver's side. It'll probably disintegrate and fail within a few hundred miles as they all like to do.



New mount on the passenger side. This is the old 350 2bbl out of my '72 Lemans, so it will be smaller than the original engine but be mobile when done.



Put the transmission on the motor to lift them in at a unit. This transmission is out of the '74 Catalina that I parted some time ago and has less than 10,000 miles on a quality rebuild. The car it came out of is a 3.08 rear and this car likely is 2.79 so the speedometer gears will need to be changed.



And up we go, ready to go in the car.



BIG lift. This car has an insanely long nose and getting the motor in is as a unit is a challenge.



It's almost in. It took 2 hours and going in from the side (and cracking open the oil filter accidentally) to get to this point. It's now firmly seated on the mounts even if the passenger side bolt won't thread in because the mount isn't uniformly straight (stupid aftermarket parts).



Fully in and covered up with the air cleaner.



And now it's back in the garage thanks to my neighbor helping. Getting these behemoths to move where you want them is no easy task!

Back breaking work, but it only took 3 hours... still a lot left to do.

Return to 1971 Pontiac Bonneville

Last updated April 25th, 2020