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Originally posted by bill h:
Make a 6 by 8 inch 5/16 inch steel plate with 4 holes to attach to the two rear carb bolts, the distributor clamp hole and the 5/16 threaded hole on the left side behind the carb. Bolt a strip of angle iron to the plate with its long dimension running front to back. Drill a 3/8� hole in the vertical flange of the angle about 1 inch behind the rear carb bolts. That is the center of gravity for a 454 and th400 together with only the water pump attached. Make a U shaped steel bar with 3/8� holes in each ear to attach to the hole in the angle with a 3/8� bolt of high quality. Drill a �� hole in the center of the U and stick a �� threaded rod through it. Attach the rod with two nuts inside the U and one outside the U.

Remove all accessories except water pump. This is easier with the radiator removed, but you can just remove the fan shroud.
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Lay timbers on each side of the motor well. I used 4 by 6. Cut a 4 by 4 to fit tightly between the floor and the frame on each side. This will cause the frame to take the force of lifting rather than the floor. Lay a 2 inch square �� wall steel tube across the timbers. Drill a � inch hole in the middle and insert the threaded rod. Use a couple of washers and a coupling nut on top of the bar and plenty of motorcycle chain lube on the washers and threads. Place a piece of PVC sprinkler pipe over the threads as a grease guard. A coupling nut is a long nut used for coupling two threaded rods together. Lots of threads there, to spread out the load. Use enough timbers to allow the engine to be raised 2 or 3 inches to remove mounts.

When all is attached and centered, take up the load and loosen motor mounts. Make notes and mark positions for installation. Then raise some more and remove mounts. Remove crossmembers and drop engine and trans together. The crossmenmber that supports the rear of the trans can be slid rearward after unbolting.. You can either use a floor jack, a pile of timbers of diminishing height, or a chain from engine over the bar, but use some kind of back up device while lowering engine or working while engine is hanging..

After the engine is lowered somewhat, attach a PAW PAT-1100 engine dolley to the motor mount holes threaded into the block. I used the PAW dolly as it attaches to the block sides and allows the tranny to stay attached to the engine. It will support both the eng and tranny on the ground. www.pawengineparts.com With this dolly, you will need your bumper to be 29 or 30� off the ground for clearance to roll the engine out.

If any of this is unclear, a picture is worth a thousand words, so send me your fax number and I will send drawing. If you don�t have a fax, go to www.efax.com and they will give you a fax number for free. Anything faxed to you will show up in your E mail as an attachment. Or I can arm-wrestle my scanner into submission and send it as a file.