The biggest mistake I see is people trying to remove the engine harness from the engine....don't there are some things that need to be disconnected but you should pull the engine harness with the engine. It actually took me 2 1/2 hours to pull the engine and that was counting the time I spent taking photos but you are going to find rusty bits especially tranny C clips that are going to slow you down so probably 3 hours is a good time to shoot for. # 1 Remove the battery & drain any fluids you want to drain # 2 Remove the AFM & box & mounting bracket Unhook the diagnostic port Unplug the firewall resistor Unplug the coil and unplug the high tension cable # 3 Unbolt the fusebox & unplug the plugs from the engine wiring harness, you don't need to unplug the engine bay wiring harness # 4 Unplug the igniter # 5 Remove the the 2 tranny cables from their shifter arms Disconnect the 2 tranny cables from the tranny (2 C clips) Disconnect the flexible clutch line from the top of the tranny (1 C clip) and detach it from the hard line to the slave cylinder Disconnect the fuel line from the fuel filter Disconnect the throttle cable # 5a Forgot the fuel return line while I was on this side # 6 Disconnect the rad hoses # 6a Remove the rad, you don't really have to you can just disconnect the hoses but you'll have alot more room to work when raising the engine if you do # 7 Unbolt the power steering reservoir and drain it and disconnect the line that goes to the cooling tube, if you have cruise control you need to unplug the wire that goes to it # 8 Unplug the windshield wiper motor and all the other plugs in the area Disconnect the power steering high pressure line # 9 Unbolt the wiring harness where it enters the firewall Remove the vacuum line on the intake manifold If your lucky you should have spent about an hour to do all that. Now we need to jack the vehicle up but first # 10 Remove the cotter pin Loosen the 30mm nut Loosen the 5 wheel nuts Repeat for the other front wheel # 11 Remove the 2 nuts & 1 bolt that hold the ball joint to the lower control arm Insert a prybar & seperate the control arm from the ball joint Repeat for the other front wheel Heres another shot of the prybar pushing down on the lower control arm # 12 Pull the hub out to remove the half shaft Repeat for the other front wheel # 13 Pry the halfshaft out of the tranny, you may need to whack the prybar with a hammer to pop it out # 14 Remove this cross member # 15 Unbolt the front & rear engine mounts from this cross member # 16 Remove 2 bolts from this bracket and remove this halfshaft # 17 The exhaust should be attached to a bracket under the engine that needs to be removed # 18 Unplug the O2 sensor if you have one down here # 19 Unbolt your downpipe # 20 Unplug the ECU and 2 other plugs # 21 Gather up all your wiring and your ready to pull the engine I have to move a jackstand to get my hoist in place So I'll put the little red 1 farther back so I can get rid of the big yellow 1 Hook up your hoist & take up any slack # 22 remove the bolts for the drivers & passenger side mounts Then unbolt the tranny mount from the tranny, you don't really have to but it will give you more room I even remove the plate under the mount # 23 Start raising the engine and you'll have lots of room to disconnect the heater hose on the firewall and disconnect the other heater hose at the shut off valve And thats it......as you raise the engine try to keep the front of the engine towards the front of the car and the tranny towards the back of the car It also helps to have an engine leveler as it helps to have the front of the engine higher than the tranny side as you raise the engine. and out and on the ground in 2 1/2 hours
good write up! the only thing though. whay are you against pulling the loom before the motor? i have always just unplugge the loom and left it connected through the firewall. never been a problem (although injectors are fidly) and i can have the loom seperated in about 15minutes
Because I would have to unplug - 4 fuel injectors -1 cold start injector - 2 nasty plugs under the TVIS - 1 throtle body - 1 distributor - 2 nasty plugs on the water outlet - 2 more plugs on the water outlet - 1 tranny plug - pull the starter so you can unplug 1 cable and unbolt 1 cable - unplug 1 altenator plug and unbolt the other cable - unplug the water inlet sensor - unplug AC Then you have to unbolt the wiring harness cover that goes over the valve covers Then if your harness is installed corectly you have to detach it from the engine/intake manifold at 4 spots (another pain in the ass job) and then you have to pull it all through the intake manifold to seperate it from the engine. Thats a lot of work which is much easier to do when the engine is out. So I'd rather just unplug the ECU and I think its the cruise control and starter relay. I highly doubt their is any job that is easier to do with the engine installed, so I'll do as much of my work as possible after I have gained easy access to the engine.
This is amazing! Love watching how these things are done! Makes me feel like I can undergo a swap myself...well maybe. You make it look easy haha. Any stubborn bolts and threaded bolts you went through? No difficulties? EDIT: One more question. Was it that easy?
well my loom doesnt connect to the intake or valve covers (did away with that useless un-necessary crap ages ago) I guess we will just have to agree to dissagree re the loom. i think its about as much effort either way as with your way you have to unbolt extra stuff. but IMO its quicker just unplugging the plugs the only thing i think is a pain is pulling the loom through past the inlet manifold. but you will still have to do that PIA job after its out anyway. either way. as said awesome write up. well done
I think the world record for an engine swap on a beetle is under 2 min? Nice write-up, I agree with Rev re the RHD engine harness. The LHD has 2 things going for it - 1)Brake master exposed 2)Easy loom removal On the RHD it's a total pita to remove the harness with the motor and would take me 2x as long to get the motor out I've thought about fitting a connector near the manifold but there's the 2 heavy gauge charge wires to worry about.
i did my swap out in under 2 hours.........3sfe...and yes i left the wiring harness connected to the motor.....but i didnt remove the axles at all, i just broke them and re greased them......didnt take out rad or power steering....came out like butter....but i also had three friends and a case of beer.........so by the time we actually got to work on pulling the engine, after the case of beers....then i would say it took 5 hours for my first time...but only 2 on the actual removal.
this is a great write up! I don't suppose there is a write up to reinstall in like 4 hours from the top?
