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Hoisting the Engine In
w/ "Balance-bar"

Warning - The S14 engine is a heavy object. If it is not properly lifted into the engine bay then there is a possibility that you may be seriously injured. The balance-bar described on this page worked well for my application. But if you attempt to make a similar balance bar for yourself then you alone can ascertain whether or not it is safe.

Hoisting the new engine into the car I decided to install the engine into the car with the transmission still mounted in place. This is sometimes said to be a bit of a pain. But I made the job a bit easier on myself. First, I enlisted the help of Jim Butterworth and Russell Guss. And second, Jim and I designed a homemade "balance-bar".

The balance bar is visible in the photo. It consists of a 24" length of 2"x2" steel angle iron, three large eye-hooks, four carabiners and two short lengths of climbing webbing. The webbing is rated to something like 3000 lbs and is more than strong enough to carry a 250 lb engine. The beauty of a balance-bar is that it allows the engine to be tilted at an angle even while it is entirely supported. For a permanent change in the angle at which the engine hangs one can adjust the length of the eye hooks, which are held onto the angle iron with nuts and washers. This made is much easier to get the input shaft of the tranny to slide into the rear of the crankshaft. It would have been even easier if I had remembered to take the car out of gear first 8^)


A close-up view of the balance-bar The engine hoist, which fit in the back of my GTI !

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