I'm trying to pull the stock 287 out of my 55 Pontiac while leaving the Trans in the car. So far I've got everything disconnected; all hoses and wires, engine mounts, flywheel to torque converter bolts, bell housing to engine bolts and bell housing to trans bolts. The motor is free but the bell housing is getting caught on the torque converter. I cant seem to find any way that lets me get it free. Is there something I'm missing? Or should I have just pulled it engine and trans attached?
Pull them both together. Disconnecting the engine from the trans is a bit more complicated on these old injuns as compared to their later brethren. On my '59 389 I separated the engine from the trans by unbolting the aluminum trans bell from the iron bell housing attached to the block. I know the '55 trans is a bit different, but you can see it's not just a 'pull it straight back' kind of deal. Raising the engine with my hoist was the easiest way to accomplish this, after pulling the trans back just enough to disengage the six torus studs from the flexplate.
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