[greg]

Re: Nope, won't work.

> Is it possible to remove a piston & rod
> from an L28 engine from the bottom, without
> having to remove the head and/or remove the
> engine?

The pistons won't clear the main bearing caps. Physically impossible. Plus you still have to remove the front cover to get the crank out due to the timing chain. Not that it matter, but you would also never be able to compress the piston rings without putting them in through the top. My suggestion is to pull the whole motor out. Since it's fuel injected I would probably go as far as to even disconnect the harness at the ECM and pull all the motor wiring along with the motor. Once it is out the task is much easier of tearing down the motor. Also much easier to reassemble. Only disconnect what is necessary to pull the motor out of the car, then do the other stuff after the motor is out.
greg
71 240z

 

[greg]

Re: Nope, won't work.

> Thanks, Greg. Had my fingers crossed.

> Can I remove the oil pan at least without
> having to pull the engine?

> Problem is, I only have about an hour or so
> tonight or Friday, not enough time to pull
> the whole engine. I'm dying to look inside
> to see what the heck is broke. Only after I
> see what's broke can I have a clear idea
> which direction I'll go (repair, rebuild,
> replace, etc...).

> -Rob

I'm pretty sure you can remove the pan, but you will still have to lift the engine alittle bit. You will also probably have to turn the motor over by hand as you try to pull the pan so all the crank counterweights can rotate out of the way as you pull the pan. Also, dropping the oil pickup in the pan will help. What went wrong? The only thing you could tell by pulling the pan that you couldn't tell by a compression check or visual methods is condtion of each bearing. Dropped valves, broken pistons/rods, broken timing chain, etc. can all be done without diassembling the motor. Tell us what happened. Was the car running and something happened, has it been sitting for a long time, history unknown, etc? A good compression or leakdown test will tell you all you need to know. Then you can plan from there.
greg