Day 5, Final prep before pulling the engine: Woke up in the morning thinking about that one stuck bolt on the exhaust manifold and came up with a hair-brain idea... Use a 6-point socket with JB Weld between the socket and the nut, let it set over night and try again before cutting the bolt. So first thing we JB Welded the socket to the nut.
Our prep day was to clear a path for the engine to come out the driver's door. We removed the steering wheel (no air bag was installed on this model), leaving the steering shaft. The door opening was tight and was not wide enough unless we opened the door all the way (160-ish degrees). We removed the driver's side door catch and the outside mirror both that prevented the door from opening more than 90 degrees.
The widest portion of the engine was the valve covers. To give us an extra inch or two, we removed the valve covers.
Worried that something would go wrong, we found an empty box (yes, the box the new shop's toilet came in) slightly larger than the engine is wide and "practice" removing the engine. This was time consuming but we learned how high to bring the engine and how to manipulate the angles. We also learned that the horizontal legs of the cherry picker (engine lift) was conflicting with the blocks under the tires and the engine would hit the bottom of the steering wheel shaft, but by removing the plastic covering, it had room. If we did it again, I would not leave out the practice runs that taught us a lot, not to mention give us confidence for the next day removal.
