Monty,
Lots of possibilities, most are bad. Before I say anything else, I will warn
you to be sure that the following have been disconnected:
speedometer cable
ground strap
clutch cylinder (I prefer to start lifting the engine, then remove the two
bolts holding the cylinder to the trans and the pin through the fork and
leave the hydraulics intact)
These are the three that get forgotten until too late a lot of times.
The usual recommendation is to use the studs where the valve cover attaches.
Many Spridget engines have been pulled using those studs without a problem.
I still don't like it. But if I were to do that, I would take a piece of
large angle iron, drill one side of it so that it could be bolted securely
to the studs with a minimum possibility of flexing under load, then make
several holes on the other side of the angle for the crane hook. Another
possible approach, if the chains come off of your balancer, is to attach
the balancer to the angle iron using the holes where the chains would
attach.
I have a crane, but no balancer. What I used on my 72 last time was a Harbor
Freight 2" nylon strap from one of their hold-downs. I attached the hook to
the crane hook, passed the strap behind the bellhousing then back through
the crane hook, then behind the harmonic balancer and then tied a loop in
the end to put over the crane hook. Sort of a figure 8. This allowed me to
lift the engine and trans quite easily and to tilt it at will to any angle I
wanted. It stayed at whatever angle I put it to. Just be aware that a nylon
strap can disintegrate quite quickly (so I am told) if it gets nicked.
David Lieb
1972 RWA Midget
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