Removing the Engine & Transmission from an Esprit S1, S2, and S2.

2
Draft 4, Jan 2, 2018 – Tim Engel, Lotus Owners Oftha North (LOON)
Do Not Reproduce Without permission.

For the Lotus factory version of the Remove & Replace instructions, see these manual pages:
. .
1976-80 Esprit S1-S2 Workshop Manual 1980-87 Esprit S3 and Turbo Service Notes
Section E, Engine, Page 40 Section EA, Engine, Page 41
Sub-Section E.26 - Engine Assembly . Sub-Section EA.25 - Engine Assembly .

The following article used the instructions in the S1-S2 Workshop Manual as a core, then
expanded the content to provide more details as needed to fill in the factory’s instructional gaps.

As a first choice, the engine and gearbox should be removed as a complete assembly.
 Technically, it’s possible to remove either the engine or the transaxle individually. However, if
the intent is to remove them both, then it’s less work/ easier to remove them together as a unit.

 It is possible for the transaxle’s input shaft to become stuck in the pilot (spigot) bearing, or in
the clutch spline. If you attempt to separate the transaxle from the engine before removal
from the car, you can end up with two heavy lumps disconnected but still clinging together, not
willing to go back together, and hanging in mid-air from a hook. Been there, done that, and
it’s not a good place to be. It’s far easier and safer to separate the transaxle from the engine
while the combined lump is resting on the shop floor. Barring any major motivation to remove
either lump alone, always make it your first choice to remove them both together.

To Remove a 907/ 912 from the mid-engined Esprit S1, S2 & S2.2:
The engine / transmission unit is lowered out of the bottom of the car, since a fixed, welded-
in chassis cross-member, and a fixed, molded-in fiberglass boot floor restrict upward access.
It’s ‘possible’ to pull the engine out the top of an S1, S2 or S2.2, but it’s not recommended. I’ve
done it just to be able to say I had tried it, and given the bottom-out option, I won’t do it again.

To Remove a 912 from a S3, or a 910 from Turbo models:

The unit is lifted up and out of the top of the car, since additional chassis tubes pass under
the engine & transaxle, blocking the path downward. On the other hand, the bolt-in chassis
cross member and boot floor are both removable, clearing an easy path upward.

It is strongly recommend that you take the time to mark everything you disconnect. Put
masking tap markers on both sides of every wire/ hose/ pipe connection, then use a felt tip pen
to mark both sides with the same character - like 1 and 1, or A and A. That way re-connecting
everything later will be a simple matter of matching up ID marker flags... no memory involved.

All hardware and parts removed from a single component or area should be placed in the same
zip-closure bag. Write a note on the bag describing the contents and location in the car.

01) Disconnect the battery.

02) Drain the anti-freeze from the cooling system by disconnecting the lower radiator hose.

03) Drain the motor oil from the sump, then replace the plug (with new fiber sealing washer).
04) Remove the tailgate / rear boot hatch. Yes, you can work around it… I’ve done it. But in
the end, you will be very glad you removed it. Doing so is easy with two helpers.

05) Disconnect the Induction System supplemental bits.

 Remove breather hoses (cylinder block, oil filler neck, ARO Valve air duct if present).
 Remove the air filter box / plenum.
 Disconnect fuel line from carbs, drain safely, plug, and hang out of the way.
 Disconnect the throttle and choke cables.

06) Remove the carburetors, and optionally, the intake manifold. This step is not
necessary, but it greatly improves access for many of the following steps.

07) Remove the thermostat housing along with the hose that connects it to the coolant
pipe that passes over the alternator.

08) At the water pump inlet, remove the large coolant hose from the pump inlet to the
coolant pipe through the chassis backbone.

09) Disconnect the 5/8” ID coolant/ heater hose from it’s source connection on either the...
 S1 - Spigot pipe on the coolant runner cast into the bottom side of the intake manifold.
 S2 & S2.2 - Spigot pipe on the Right-Rear corner of the cylinder head.

10) Disconnect the 5/8” ID coolant/ heater return hose from the chassis tube to the water
pump inlet/ return. The exact location of the fitting will change with vintage, but it’s in the
area at the front of the engine/ water pump. Use a little common sense. If it connects to
the water pump inlet hose/ intermediate pipe, which is already disconnected above, then it
doesn’t have to be disconnected... again. Disconnect only those hoses that tether the
engine to the car.

11) Disconnect all cables & wires from the alternator, and remove the alternator.

12) In the engine compartment, disconnect the following wires, hoses, pipes, etc, etc.:
 All water hoses from the engine  Wire to the Temperature Sender Unit
 Vacuum pipe from manifold to  Wire to the Oil pressure Sender unit, or...
Power Brake Servo.  Capillary tube to the Oil Gallery Cover.
 Vacuum pipe from manifold to  Engine earth (ground) strap
ventilation control diaphragms  Wires to the Reverse Switch on transaxle
 Wires to the Starter Solenoid/ Motor  Speedo Drive Cable
 Wires to the Ignition Distributor  Remove cooling system header tank

 If it’s connected to the engine, bell housing, or transaxle, disconnect it.

 See the introductory note about taking the time to bag & mark everything that’s removed.

13) Remove the ignition coil.

14) Remove the starter. This is not necessary, but it makes working room. If the transaxle
is to be removed from the engine later, the starter bolts will be removed then anyway, so
doing it now is not ‘additional’ work... it’s just out of sequence for convenience.
15) Remove the oil filter, unscrew the threaded oil filter extension pipe, and remove the oil
cooler sandwich plate. Drain the oil cooler lines and hang them out of the way

16) Remove the clutch slave cylinder from the clutch housing/ bell housing.
 The alternative is to disconnect the hydraulic hose to the slave cylinder. The downside
to that is it will then be necessary to bleed the system when it’s reconnected.

17) Disconnect the cross-gate cable from the gearbox and the clutch housing abutment.

18) Disconnect the gearshift linkage bar from the selector lever on the transaxle cross-shaft,
and both links from the gear change relay lever.

19) Disconnect the speedo cable from the transmission.

20) Remove rear valance.

21) Remove Exhaust System

 The muffler.  The downpipe.
 The catalytic converter  ie, everything from the exhaust manifold flange
(if present). back.

22) Remove exhaust manifold. This step is optional. Making the engine lighter and smaller
makes it easier to maneuver out of the car. On the other hand, removing the manifold with
the engine in the car is a royal pain - choose your poison.

23) Remove the rear wheels for better access, then disconnect the inner ends of the halfshafts
and let them hang down.

24) Disconnect the handbrake cables.

25) Remove the rear brake calipers and discs. The calipers don’t have to be disconnected
from the hydraulic hoses. Just remove them from their brackets, then use wire or string to
hang them from overhead... like from a coil of the road spring. That way the hydraulic
lines don’t have to be disconnected, and you won’t have to bleed the brakes later. They’re
out of the way, but they’re still hanging there. You have to work around them a little bit,
but it’s not a big deal. If that bothers you, then disconnect the brakes hoses and remove
them. Bleeding is not a big deal, and it will give you a chance to flush the brake lines.

26) Remove the A/C compressor (when fitted) from the engine without disturbing the hoses.
Use wire (clothes hanger) or stout cord to hang it, securing it as high and far to the right as
possible.

27) Remove the engine stay, if fitted. It’s a strut/ brace between the chassis’ rear cross-
member and the air injection pump’s mounting bracket, near the rear of the cylinder head,
top/left of the bell housing. It keeps the engine from moving forward on the weak mounts.

28) Remove the two diagonal braces/ stabilizer bars between the chassis’ rear cross member
and the chassis side tubes.
29) Remove the intake cam cover, along with it’s too-tall oil filler neck and cap.
 Cover the open cam carrier with rags or paper shop towels to keep dirt and debris out.

30) Fit slings and support the weight of the engine/ transmission on suitable tackle.
 Either an engine hoist (‘cherry picker’), or a chain hoist/ come-along hanging from an
appropriate overhead support. The latter could be a rolling gantry hoist frame, a rafter in
the garage, or a tree branch.

 If using an engine hoist, choose a larger model. The larger, 2000 lb lifts are better, not
because you need the lift capacity, but because of the longer lifting boom and the greater
height to it’s ‘arm-pit’. If you roll the lift up behind the car, legs going under the car and
rolling forward until something just touches the back bumper (insert a shop towel pad),
then the arm needs to be high enough to clear the rear of the jacked-up body, and long
enough to reach the mid point of the engine, or a little further. Most 1500 lb lifts don't
have either the height or the reach.

 Approaching from the side of the car may not require as much reach, but the roof rear
quarter abutments (sails) are too high for just about ‘any’ engine hoist to reach over.

31) Connect a balancing bar (‘load leveler’ / ‘equalizer’) between the hoist’s lifting hook and
whatever lifting sling is fashioned on the engine, such that the suspended load can be
tilted fore-n-aft (tail low / tail high) as required.

32) Attach a lifting sling to the engine & transaxle assembly. The many options include, but
are not limited to:
 Use a wide, heavy duty ‘tow’ strap, and loop it down one side of the engine, under the
sump, and back up the other side. Route it behind available bolt heads and/ or brackets
to keep it sliding off the front of the engine when the engine is tilted tail-down. Bring the
two ends together at the front hook on the load equalizer (see item 31, above).
 From the rear of the equalizer, either:
 Connect a heavy duty nylon load strap to a top bell housing bolt, or…
 Use a longer strap to go down, loop under the transaxle, and back up to the equalizer,
 Use two longer straps to go down, loop under each of the transaxle’s output shaft
housings individually, and back up to the equalizer’s rear hook. This method also
offers anti-rotation stability to the load.

 Use the mounting hole & bolt for the alternator tension bar at the front of the block, plus
a threaded bell housing hole & bolt at the back of the engine. Wrap a stabilizing (anti-
rotation) strap around the bottom of the exhaust side of the head, engaging the manifold
or the manifold studs to keep the strap from sliding off.

 Or, the Zenith-Stromberg intake manifold is quite strong. Connect a wide ‘tow’ strap to
the equalizer’s front hook, then go down past the front of the intake manifold, under it’s
length, and back up past it’s rear edge. Repeat the loop, doing several laps as required
to use up any excess strap length, then up to the equalizer’s rear hook. Shift the strap
loops as required to get the front & rear vertical strands about equal length... or tail low.
  NEVER attempt to lift via the later 910’s fuel injection intake manifold. Both F-inj
manifolds (Bosch & GMP4) are weak, prone to cracking, and are supported by a bolt-on
strut that is a late after-thought / Band-Aid fix. Don’t even lean on them while working on
the engine. The F-inj manifolds are both stupid-expensive to replace, and unobtainium.
Treat them well.

 All lifting straps used must have metal fittings… ie, hooks, buckles, etc. Some
‘cargo hold-down straps’ have plastic fittings, and are not to be trusted for this task.

33) Take up the slack in the lifting hoist. Don’t lift yet, just apply some upward pressure.

34) Release the transmission mountings from the brackets on the S1-S2-S2.2 chassis.
 For ease of later replacement, make note the number of shims (washers) and their
placement between transmission & chassis mounting brackets, and/or between the
mounting “L” bracket and the interior of the U-section chassis cross-member.

 Access to those bolts & nuts can be challenging. The alternative is to disconnect the “L”
brackets from the chassis cross-member. One way or another, disconnect the transaxle
mounts from the chassis. Both options are inconvenient, there is no easy way.

 The left “L” bracket hangs down in the removal-path of the cylinder head. The actual
extraction of the engine will go much more easily if (…ie, requires that…) you take the
time to remove that “L” bracket before proceeding. Once you’ve gone that far, removing
the right one is a minor extra step, and really opens up the path.

 Place a floor jack under lower cross member (bar under transaxle to which the susp’n
lower link attaches) and lift to ‘relieve’ the pressure on the transaxle mounting bolts.

35) Remove the two transmission mounting bolts

36) Remove the nuts & bolts securing the engine mounts to the chassis.

37) Remove right-hand/ intake-side engine mounting bolts from the engine block to the
mounting leg…
 Disconnect the braided ground strap from the engine side (either side) of the mount.
 Remove the right-hand engine mounting’s steel leg/ strut from the engine, along with it’s
triangular spacer plate… bag-n-tag together.
 Removing the left-hand engine mount leg/ strut would be a plus. However, access is
more difficult, and overall, removing it would add more effort than it saved. Go for it.

38) At this point, this may be redundant… but lift the engine free of it’s mounts. Don’t go for
altitude… just free of the mounts.

39) Move the engine back, while simultaneously using the load leveler to tilt the engine/
transaxle unit tail end down, and lowering it. Continue to incrementally move it back, tilt
and lower.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The preceding steps are a liberally enhanced version of what appears in the 1976-80 Esprit S1-
S2 Workshop Manual. The following notes just expand upon those steps.

“Remove the engine and transmission unit to a suitable work surface”. That sounds so easy.

The engine doesn't go straight down and out the bottom of the S1-S2-S2.2. There is a chassis
tube that crosses side-to-side under the engine, just forward of the deep part of the sump. That
chassis tube prevents the engine from simply going down.

So, slide the engine back, then down. Well, okay, the back edge of the engine bay opening in
the boot floor is too close to allow the engine to simply go straight back far enough to clear the
chassis tube. So that doesn't work as easily as it first sounds, either.

While the intake cam cover will “just” slide under the chassis cross-member, it's tall oil filler
neck won’t. So first remove the intake cam cover in order to create the vertical clearance
needed for the engine to slide back, down & out.
 Cover the open-top intake cam carrier with shop-rags or plastic film (a trash bag) to keep dirt
and debris from entering the engine. This is particularly important when a freshly rebuilt,
clean engine is being installed… ie, the reverse of this document.

Use a load equalizer that allows the engine/ transmission unit to be tilted as required. Lift the
engine off the rubber mounts. Then tilt the engine tail end down while simultaneously moving it
back and lowering it. With the bottom of the sump almost sliding on the chassis’ bottom cross-
tube (ie, low as possible), and the engine going down and back at just the right angle (trial &
error, adjust on the fly), the top of the intake cam carrier will "just' clear under the rear edge of
the opening in the boot floor, and under the chassis’ upper cross-member. It’s snug, but it
works.

However, at that tilt-angle and the down-n-back trajectory, the back end of the transaxle will run
into the shop floor if the car is at anything close to normal ride height. In order to make it all
work, the back end of the car must be jacked up quite high to begin with… before you actually
start to lower the engine out of the car. The height of the engine hoist’s boom will limit how high
the back of the car can go… initially.

Then, after the engine is out and sitting on either the shop floor or a ‘deck’ built on the legs of
the engine hoist (see below), and all the lifting straps disconnected, the rear of the car will have
to be raised even higher to allow the lump to be dragged/ rolled out from under the car.

The body’s rear valence hangs down well below the actual bottom of the body tub’s boot floor
and the rear bumper. Removing the rear valance and the exhaust/ muffler will clear a path out
the back without having to jack-up the car up far enough to get the bottom edge of the valence
up over the top of the engine. That would be way too high, don’t go there, remove the valence.

Prep the engine hoist by building a deck on its legs. That can be as simple as a piece of
¾” plywood attached to the bottom side of the hoist’s legs, and held in place with a few large C-
clamps (Harbor Freight, or Northern Tool & Hydraulics). The plywood can even be replaced by
a few crosswise lengths of 2x_ lumber, if that’s all you have. It doesn’t have to be complicated,
just ‘something’ that the engine & transaxle can rest upon. Be creative.
The hoist’s legs reach forward beyond the boom’s lifting hook. As the engine is lowered out of
the car, it can be put down on the shop floor… but then you have to figure out how to drag that
heavy lump out from under the car. OR, simply add a deck surface onto the legs that the lump
can rest upon. Then lower the engine & transaxle onto the deck, disconnect all the lifting
straps, and roll the hoist out from under the car, complete with the engine and transaxle. Easy.

Attaching the ‘deck’ to the bottom side of the legs allows the engine to ride just that few inches
lower. That is just that much less that the car must be jacked up in order to clear the engine as
it rolls out from under the car. You’ll appreciate the small difference when you get to that part.

All that means jacking the car well up into the air… but where do you place the jack stands?
The portion of the body tub’s floor between the rear wheel wells and the firewall, and under the
fuel tanks is quite thick and strong, especially right along the box-section’s edges/ vertical
walls. Tall jack stands can be placed there to support the raised body. Just put a piece of
lumber between the jack stand and fiberglass to act as a ‘cushion’ and spread out the stress.

Finally, place a small floor jack in the crotch of the engine hoist's legs before rolling it all under
the car. Use the jack to catch and control the back end of the transaxle while the lump is being
lowered out of the car. It's not 'necessary' if you have a good load leveler, it’s just nice to have
that one extra degree of control once everything is unbolted and hanging from the hook.

Good luck,
Tim Engel Lotus Owners Oftha North (LOON)

I hesitate to say this, but “Installation is the reverse of removal”. Famous Lotus saying.