Engine into Bus, Part III

Simply put, the ALH TDI engine from a 1998 VW New Beetle is in. Once the hole was cut, it was a matter of jacking it up into the air, and hooking it up. I'll give greater detail below, but this was a huge "diamond" on the project plan. Now that the engine and bus are a single unit, I can roll the bus into the garage for the Winter. I need to re-assess what I'm going to do next, but the huge blocking task has been completed.

So, how'd I do it?

Because I haven't built a wooden jack adapter yet, it wasn't as easy as the next and all future ones will be. I tilted the engine as much as I safely could with stacked 2x4's on the ATV jack arms, but I couldn't get it all the way to 15*. So, I put a 2-ton rolling jack under the front (front is front) of the transaxle and the ATV jack is working the engine. I slowly jacked up the unit to just under the rear transaxle mounts. At this point, the lack of a hole was previously getting in the way. Now that there's a huge opening, I was able to get the engine that little bit higher. To be fair, the barrier wasa a support beam running under the ceiling, not the ceiling itself. I probably could have made the engine fit just by removingthe beam (in retrospect). Regardless, it would have made the rest of these efforts much more difficult had the ceiling remained.

Between shoving and manipulating the angle of the engine/transaxle unit with the jacks, I was able to slide the left (driver's) side bolt through. Much more angle playing, and I was finally able to thread the bolt through the mount-nut on the rear side of the mount.

Next, I switched around the ATV jack a little bit by lifting the engine (with my hands/arms) and moving the jack with my foot. This would have been a great time for a neighbor to stop by to ask what I was up to. No such luck. So, with a little good fortune, I was able to get the engine cranking back up again. With the right side rising, the left was relatively still, but I was losing control of the pitch. The front of the transaxle was getting far too high, so I couldn't slide the bolt through. New tack: lower the engine a little bit until I can attach the transaxle front mount. I connected it loosely - enough to hold the transaxle level, but it still allowed movement. Then, I moved the jack again, this time so that as I cranked it up, it would move with the rotation a little better (jack was parallel with the rear bumper). Upwent the engine right into the mount. I was able to thread the second bolt pretty easily after that.

So, now the engine is in. I lowered the jacks and danced around my driveway. By now, it had gotten dark, but I was able to snap a few pictures with flashlights, cliplights and dwindling daylight. I need a rear engine mount still, but I can do that on my schedule. In the meantime, I can focus on detailing the next steps and determine the order based on interest, desire and dependence instead of what needs to be done because the bus is sitting in the driveway.