OK, I've got the bottom 10 bolts out. Rave says take out the bottom 12, then raise the engine, remove the motor mounts, drop the engine down lower than it would normally be, and then remove the top two bolts. But I can't figure out for the life of me how to get the two bolts out that are right below the top two bolts. Anyone have experience and/or suggestions? I'm thinking about going ahead and removing the motor mounts and see if dropping the engine will let me get to those bolts too...but it seems like everytime I think I know something that RAVE doesn't, I am proven wrong!

 

Just in case anyone else comes across this in the future, it was easier to get the 3rd and 4th bolts out after dropping the engine down after removing the motor mounts (RAVE recommends doing this, but implies it's only necessary for the top two bolts). In either case, it was a huge PITA.

I'm planning to NOT put these two bolts back in when I reinstall the engine. There are 14 bolts total around the tranny housing, and I would think excluding two of them would be OK. What do you guys think?

 

I found out the same thing you did when I did my swap, the engine has to be lowered to get the top four bolts out, not just the top two. I also considered leaving those bolts out when i reinstalled, but once you get the hang of it and have a helper, it's really not that bad. And you never know those extra bolts may really be needed if your bouncing around offroad, or maybe not, I have no idea, but I put them all back in.

 

Once the engine is lowered you can take the top two out from above, and the next lower two from underneath. I think the ones from underneath I've used a universal to get to them, but can't remember for sure, I wasn't paying that much attention.

 

I got them out from the top once I dropped the engine mountings, I used a flat spanner. I had to pull the engine to the right to get to the bolts on the left side. All in all a major pita. When I install I will try the reverse, install the top 2 first and then as many as I can get to from the top before working from the bottom.