Getting VR6 back into Eurovan - please help

[Technoblau]

Hey, long time listener/first time caller here.

We’ve had the all original motor (24V VR6) out of our ‘01 Eurovan for the last few weeks giving it some much needed attention - new chains and guides, all new gaskets and seals, new water pump/crack pipe/thermostat/etc etc. Now it’s done, bolted up to the trans, and swinging from our harbor freight hoist ready to go back in.

The trouble is, I can’t figure out how to get it in there with the right 15 degree tilt to meet up with the mount holes in the body. No matter how we rig the motor, it hangs straight up and down with the mounts 15 degrees off from where they need to be. We’re also working around the AC lines and compressor which are still on the van - I probably should’ve had the system emptied so I could take them off, which I realize now

While there are lots of great threads about doing chains, swapping motors, etc details about how to actually get the damn thing back in there and mounted up are tough to find. Thanks!
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2001 MV Weekender - Techno Blue - New Chains, Seals and Trans

[soissisc]

You have to attach the chains so that it lifts from the back more than the front. Or kind of lower it down on something on the floor (a jack or milk crate, or block of wood) so that it kind of tips forward enough as you lower it. I always have trouble with the chain from the back of the engine hitting the cowl / body, but it can be done.
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Mark

68 Westy
92 Jetta (oh it is retired)
99 Eurovan
05 NBC
06 Audi A3
72 Westy (I am going to fix it up)

[Technoblau]

[EuroTec]

A lift helps so much with this task....

BUT if you have it raised enough and you can fabricate a dolly like this one, it's possible to lash the engine to the dolly at the proper angle, slide it into the engine bay and lower the van onto it.

This is a pic when I was putting mine back in about a year ago.

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If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

[Technoblau]

Unfortunately, it’s sitting on jack stands in the garage…read thru your thread a bunch of times and it’s got me wishing for a lift. I thought about trying to get it high enough to roll the motor under it with my high lift jack but we’re already just a few inches from the garage ceiling

@EuroTec your signature is mocking me, this was a running van a few weeks ago
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2001 MV Weekender - Techno Blue - New Chains, Seals and Trans

[1994Karuso]

My 2.4D has a similar slant, and like you the van was up on jackstands but with the front completely off (no AC). I got it back in with the cherry picker and a floor jack with wood block on the oil pan and a trolley jack on the transmission. It helps to have a load leveler on the cherry picker to make small adjustments. It's not easy but is possible.

[Technoblau]

[1994Karuso]

The 2.4D has an aluminum pan. I used a piece of wood between it and the jack to spread the load and support it. Most of the weight of the engine is hanging from the hoist. You are just jacking up the pan to shift the angle.

I've jacked on the pan to replace the engine mounts before this (again, only partial weight), so I wasn't worried too much.

eg it looks like EuroTec has most of the weight of the engine on the pan resting on that wooden dolly.

[Technoblau]

[Technoblau]

Just an update - got it back in last night and some of the plumbing is done. Thanks to all for the tips, always appreciate how helpful you guys are on the samba.

That said...somebody hit me over the head the next time I have a bright idea like doing chains and suspension outside in the middle of winter



For anybody who gets stuck like me and finds this thread later, the lift points we used were the tab on the head at the rear passenger's side of the motor and a hook around the frame of the top trans mount on the driver's side.

It's definitely possible to squeeze it back in there with the A/C compressor, evaporator, all the brake hardware, etc. still on the van. Just take it an inch at a time and have a couple sets of hands available. We did something like this: lift it way up over the AC line with the passenger's engine mount off > Roll in and drop it down into the hole > Put on pass mount once its in the hole > lift it back up to make the top mounts go thru their holes > rotate the bottom of the block back to make the bottom mount line up.

For what it's worth, I don't know if this would've been possible without a leveler on the hoist and the hood struts off.
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2001 MV Weekender - Techno Blue - New Chains, Seals and Trans