On5/11/2022, Duncan MacFarlane wrote:
>"I've never pulled the engine separately. How far does the engine have to be pulled forward to disengage the first motion shaft? Do I need to remove the front pulley?
>

>This is the procedure that I found: Remove the driveshaft after noting its rotational position. Disconnect the speedometer cable. Remove the clutch slave cylinder from the transmission. Drain the oil from the transmission. Unbolt and move the starter motor out of the way. Support the rear of the engine. Support the transmission. Remove the gearbox to frame mounting bolt. Unscrew and remove the clutch housing to engine retaining bolts, being careful not to allow the weight of the transmission or engine to rest on the gearbox input shaft! Pull engine away from tranny.

Theat large bulleted paragraph is more than you really need to do. This is actually a little easier for the stock MGA. You don't have to disconnect propshaft or speedo cable or remove the gearbox mounting bolt or clutch slave or drain the gear oil, none of the above, don't touch the gearbox.

Drain and remove radiator. Remove generator and starter motor. A hanging oil filter may have to be removed to get the starter motor out, and the hanging oil filter MUST be removed to pull the engine out past the engine mount pedestal.

Disconnect all engine linkages, cables, hoses, and the tachometer drive cable. Remove carburetors, at least the front carburetor (easiest way to get to the left engine mount). With radiator out you might be able to release the left engine mount without removing the carburetor, skinning a few knuckles in the process.

You can unbolt manifolds from the head, and leave the exhaust pipe connected to the exhaust manifold. This works best if you remove the front and rear manifold to head studs and replace them with bolts. Otherwise disconnect the exhaust pipe and leave the manifold(s) bolted to the head. In that case you can leave the rear carburetor on it, maybe remove the air cleaner.

Remove lower bolts from engine mounts, leaving the mounts attached to the engine brackets. At that point it is just sitting there still attached to the bellhousing. Remove bellhousing bolts at bottom and sides, leaving two bolts somewhere in the top half. Connect a lifting chain to the valve cover studs. Can use lifting brackets on the studs, or remove the valve cover and attach lifting chain to those same studs (pictures on my web site).

Get your favorite engine hoist in position, and take up the weight of the engine. Lift up until bellhousing touches top of the body tunnel. Get a short piece of 2x4 board (1-1/2" thick), and push it in under the bellhousing on top of the round frame tube to support the gearbox. Remove the last bolts from the bellhousing, and pull the engine forward.

The crank pulley should skim over the top of the steering rack. Keep pulling forward until the clutch clears the gearbox input shaft, and then finish lifting the engine out.

I often do this without an engine hoist. I use a come-along (cable jack). Leave the wheels on the car and sitting on the floor just before lifting. Lift engine a bit, roll the car back a bit, lift more, roll back more. Finally lift the engine out, roll the car out from underneath, and lower the engine. You can set it on the floor, or onto your preferred roller dolly or work table, or attach it to engine stand.

Before installing the engine, you MUST use a clutch alignment tool to be sure the clutch disc is centered in alignment with the crankshaft spigot bushing. You might try to turn the crankshaft until one male spline in the clutch disc is straight up, and turn the gearbox input shaft so one female spline is straight up. Pre-aligning the splines may save some time and pains at final mating.

For engine installation, lift the gearbox to top of tunnel and insert the 2x4 under bellhousing. Lower engine into place, moving engine and/or car to being engine and gearbox together. Position engine at angle to match angle of the gearbox so it goes together without stressing the gearbox input shaft.

The shaft will bump the spigot bushing about 1-1/2" before the engine rear plate gets to the bellhousing. Be gentle, align engine to input shaft, push and rock the engine around to get the spigot to engage first. Then the splines will bump up. Continue pushing and rocking engine gently to get the splines to engage. If the splines are reluctant, shift gearbox into 4th gear to stop the input shaft, and use a wrench up front to rotate the crankshaft while pushing to get the splines to go together. This process could be done in 10 seconds, or it might require a few minutes fiddling (never more than 5 minutes).

Once splines are in, the rear plate will slide right back to the bellhousing, and you can install the first bolt, whichever one is easiest for access, loosely, just so it doesn't slip apart again. Maybe install two bolts loosely, one on each side.

Then install the two designated alignment bolts where the holes are smaller for pilot alignment. One is bottom left of center (near the exhaust pipe). The other is top right of center (near the oil outlet connection). These two bolts in tight holes serve as alignment pins. When you get those two in you can tighten them up full tight with big wrenches, and the rest of the bolts will fly right through with no resistance, including the stater mount bolts.

Once you get the two alignment bolts tight, you can remove the 2x4 underneath and set the engine down, but keep hoist attached to hold the weight so you can jiggle it around a bit as needed. Then install the eight lower engine mount bolts. Use a stubby Phillips screwdriver to align holes and nudge the plates around to get the bolts in. Bolt heads underneath and nuts on top for easiest access. Don't forger to install the engine ground cable across the left side engine mount. All engine mount bolts in place and tight, you can remove the engine hoist. Then install the rest of the bellhousing bolts and starter motor.

The rest of reassembly is the reverse of disassembly, nothing tricky, just grunt work, and it should go pretty fast. Expect to skin few knuckles while installing carburetors and connecting choke and throttle linkages. Always replace the donut gasket ring on the exhaust pipe if that has been disconnected. And always install at least one horizontal brace strap between the exhaust down pipe and the nearby bellhousing bolt. to avoid excess stress on the pipe and manifold when engine is shaking while driving. The original thin steel strap is not strong enough, and it will break, I use a 1/8" thick steel strap for that application (or at least double up on the thin standard straps).