Pulling Engine on 91 Camry Alltrac

[KevinH]

First I will tell on myself. I bought a 91 Alltrac with a blown engine thinking I could swap it out with a good front wheel drive engine I have in a parts car only to find out that the two engines are different. So then I found another 91 Alltrac with a good engine and slipping trans and then after I bought it I hear that the engine on the Alltrac Camry have to come out the bottom. Is this true or is it just easier? Can the engine be yanked from the topside? If not how do you pull one without a car lift?

[camrygt4]

The engine dose not have to come out the bottom you pull the radiator and radiator support and push the ac condenser forward, than when you pull the motor and trany out you must tilt the transmission tail shaft down at a pretty extreme angle as you pull the motor forward and up to clear the steering rack. Installation is the reverse.Its only easier to drop out the bottom if you have a lift. Iv pulled the engine out of the top on my alltrac many times. I was not aware that the alltrac engine was any different than the two wheel drive engine all the parts interchanges say there the same. I put the old motor from my alltrac in a dead Camry the only thing that i noticed was different was the flywheel and engine to transmission bracing.

[KevinH]

Is it necessary to pull the transmission with the motor or is there a way around that?

[camrygt4]

Yes but pulling the engine with the trany is easier

[white90dx]

The motor can come out the top, but out the bottom is easier. Drop the motor to the ground (with trans) then lift the car off of it. MR2 guys have to do a similar thing...

What did you find different between the motors? I'm not aware of any difference...

-Charlie

[KevinH]

Thanks for the reply Camry and Charlie. I guess when I get around to doing it I will just have to see what works for me but It is nice to know that it will work either way.

I don't know the difference but when I was calling around exploring my options the mechanic at the dealer said they were different blocks and it wouldn't work. He mentioned something about accommodating the transfer case if I remember correctly.

Then when I called the Japanese engine import place they said they were different and a front wheel drive engine wouldn't work.

Now it is possible that they are both wrong but they sounded rather sure of themselves so I assumed what they were telling me was accurate.

[white90dx]

I would think the worst case is some drilling and tapping for a few extra transfer case support bolts on the back of the block. The transfer case will clear the block, no problem.

All other accessories, etc. are the same.

-Charlie

[KevinH]

Well I ended up dropping the motor and everything onto the floor and lifting the car off it. Tail shaft sticks way to far out the back and the bolts holding the center differential are to difficult to reach while in the car. If it was a 2 wheel drive I would try it.
I was able to leave the wiring harness in the engine bay and avoid pulling it out from behind the dash. I am glad I pursued that idea.

[white90dx]

Originally Posted by KevinH

Well I ended up dropping the motor and everything onto the floor and lifting the car off it. Tail shaft sticks way to far out the back and the bolts holding the center differential are to difficult to reach while in the car. If it was a 2 wheel drive I would try it.
I was able to leave the wiring harness in the engine bay and avoid pulling it out from behind the dash. I am glad I pursued that idea.

Glad it worked out. I found that pulling the wiring harness from the interior of the car wasn't very hard. Remove glove box, uplug harness and pull it through the firewall. I had to remove the harness to wire up the new motor anyway, so I had to do that step...

-Charlie

[KevinH]

Charlie, what do you recommend I do to this motor before putting it in the other car?

Here is what I was already planning to do.

-water pump
-timing belt
-new oil pump???
-oil pump seal/o-ring
-crankshaft main seals (don't know how hard these are to fix)
-fix a spark plug hole that gets oil in it
-valve cover gasket looks like it is leaking on the distributor end
-oil pan gasket


Kevin

[da_horse]

there's not oil pan gasket, just a sealant. if you use the toyota one you only have a short time frame to get it bolted up after applying the sealant. does the job nicely.

do your distributor o rings as well

usual spark plugs, and distributor cap and possibly leads depending on how they are

clean out the iscv whilst you have then engine out as well. if you have time clean out the intake manifold of built up crud

change the thermostat as well.

should be nice once its all complete

Cheers

[KevinH]

Horse, what is the iscv?

Also going to have to put this project on hold for a bit. Was coming back from town after buying an engine stand and the tranny on my daily driver (89 camry 4cly. A140L) did not want to shift up at the normal rpms. I kept having to rev it higher and higher then feather the throttle to make it shift up to the next gear. Well long story short, It would just stay in first gear by the time I was home. The last several miles was at 15 MPH on the shoulder of the road. It wasn't slipping, it just wouldn't shift up from first and it did not matter which forward gear was selected. Reverse is fine.

I will check it out tomorow when it is light. Don't be surprised to see a thread on that also.

Thanks for all your advice Horse.

Kevin

[da_horse]

iscv/iacv basically your idle speed/air control valve.
have a read of this page How to: Cleaning Throttle Body -4 Cylinder Engines- With Pictures
basically the same for our cars.

np mate happy to help.