MatraSport Forum

could anyone tel me how to take out the engine . my top gasket is no god,,,smoke comming out of the breathing hose and a little oil in the water in the coling system,,,,
i suppose il have to take out the engine , it should have a vaterpump as wel.
how do i do.................
with regards karsten ???

Sorry to hear you are having problems  :(

I have been through the process a few times by now.

Don't know if you have a 1.6 or 2.2, but the process is pretty much the same anyway!

You will need to take off the anti roll bar, disconnect all wires and hoses from the engine (you don't need to take off the brake hoses or hand brake cable, so don't).
Then jack up the rear if you don't have an autolift handy?
Take off the wheels, and screw out the centre nut holding the drive shaft. You will need a large "spanner" for this (if my memory is correct 36mm) and an assistent activating the brake pedal.

Now you are at the critical point, and praying to the automotive god's should be done  ;)
After praying grab you spanners and loosen the 2 bolts securing the rear trailing arms. The bolts are prone to rust to the bush's in the trailing arm.
If so I can recommend an electric "hack saw" to cut the bolt(s) and a hydraulic press afterwards to change the bushes...
Unfortunately there is no way around taking the rear trailing arms off (I have tried a thing or two, even taking the diff off the gearbox), but when this have been done once, and the bush/bolt have been greased at assembly they come off without much effort...

When the trailing arms are off, you can easily remove the driveshafts (they are simply pushed into the gearbox differential).
From here it's pretty much straight forward.
Check that you have disconnected all wires, hoses and linkage to gearbox and carb. (remember the hydraulic clutch as well).

When everything else is removed take off the generator (it's a no go if not removed on the 1.6) then the 3rd engine mount (at the bottom keeping the engine from rotating).
Now lower the car so that you can "jack up" the engine and undo the 2 final engine mounts.
When these are removed you should be able to slowly lift the car without the engine  :D

If you need pictures let me know, I have been through the procedure last week  ;)

If everything works out fine, and your trailing arms comes right off you should be able to do the job in 3-5- hours.  :)

Hope the above is usefull... let us know how you get on?

Hi Teknob
If you "only" need to take off the top and change the waterpump this can be done with the 2.2 engine in place.
You will have to place the engine on a jack loosen some of the engine mounts which will allowe you to move the engine a little bit.  I have done it myself.

Taking off the rear trailing arms can be very cumbersom. I have also done that myself.

regards andgood luck

Hans

thanks for the answers.
i understand i dont take the engine up ill take it down???
it is a 2,2 murena ive got
and il have to lokk at the clutch as wel so il think it wil be the eaysy way to take it al of . the arms have ben of and greased so..........thanks
   with regards
karsten

Karsten, how is the manifold/solex carb problem going for you...?

it is fixed with the original carp some new gaskets and a cleaning........
i think my problem is the top gasket ,,oil smel komming out of the  breating hose made it smel avful  and migth make the engine go bad ,i hope a new top gasket vil solve this smelly problem ...or else......new pistons :o
the odd manifold was custumised to the neiman dobbel carb......

Yes, that's the only way out.
See if you can get in touch with Finn in Ramløse. He has done the job two times. Or you can take a look at the photo series of what we did in July:
http://gallery.dinsen.net/v/biler/Murena/schlachtfest/

Note that the trailing arms were off before we started.

- Anders

... We really tore that poor thing apart didn't we??....


May it rest in peace...  ;D

yes you did inded.........
i wont be that awful ......but i can se that i have to buy me a truck

thanks from :o
karsten ;D

No you shouldn't use a forklift truck - we scrapped the chassis later on, so we were'nt trying to be kind to it. We actually didn't damage it, but the forklift truck could well have bent the bottom of the trunk. So the way to do it is to put the rear on tall stands.

- Anders

No.. but it did have some corrosion many places if I remember correctly

Sure, but my point was that the forklift truk is useable, but not recommendable for a car that is supposed to survive. This particular chassis went to a scrap yard a month later.

A forklift is a very helpfull thing to take out the engine. Done it several times.

You can use the forklift to lower the engine to the floor, next lift the chassis with the forklift. Easy as that.

But be very carefull! First you need extended forks. Without extended forks, forget it.
Second: use wooden blocks to protect the chassis, and make sure you lift the chassis beams and/or the pieces which is holding the rear trailing arms.
Third: Keep the center of gravity in mind. From my experience if there is no weight of the engine, lift it under the chassis beams as close the rear as possible. With the weight of the engine, lift it with one fork onder the trailing-arms-holder.

Forklifts? I love it!
(http://www.maztra.nl/bestanden/B07.JPG)

(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y96/matramurena/wp.jpg)

do you lift the car on the trailingarms each at one time and then place stands under. or how do you lift it so high?

You must be thinking about the moment when you have the engine released from the body, but still kept in place somehow. I suppose you will be able to lift either side of the car at a time using a single hydraulic jack and a pair of tall axle stands, but it is probably easier to do if you have two large hydraulic jacks and an engine hoist which you can use to lower the engine to the ground before starting to lift the car.

- Anders

By the way... did you get any further towards solving your engine trouble Bart?

I am thinking about taking my engine out (1.6) so I can more easily do some rust repairs.  I see that part of the process is to remove the rear trailing arms.

Presumably one can reattach the trailing arms once the engine is out so as to keep the car rolling and able to be put on a trailer to take to the panel beater?  I would expect that the drive shafts would have to be suspended with straps or something to keep the car rolling?

regards
Ron Murrell
Sydney

You only need to remove the left hand trailing arm.  You can then raise the rear of the car and pull the engine and gearbox complete through the left hand wheel arch.  I don't see any reason why you can't replace the arm to move the car, provided you tie up the drive shafts to stop them trailing on the ground.

You can easily reassemble the trailing arm and then move the car around. Just make sure you raise the drive-shafts with a strap and that they can turn freely.

(http://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss126/matra-v6/07112009266.jpg)

(http://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss126/matra-v6/07112009268.jpg)

Lowering the engine out of the bay I think is easiest by laying a big heavy wooden bar with two large threaded rods in it over the engine-bay. At the bottom you attach eyes to which you strap the engine with  a decent strap, at the top you need large rings and nuts so you can slowly raise/lower the engine.

(http://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss126/matra-v6/100_8666.jpg)

Works also with the Murena engine...

matramurena: how long this will take?

My way is to demounting both rear axles with having a car up on two jacks and then I move down on them till it lies on the crankcase. Than I simply demount all 3 silentblocs and move car up again - than simply take out the engine. It all takes 3 hours also with mounting back the rear axles - and 2 hours from this time is for demounting both S carburetors  :D

nice idea with the big screws :-)
dont forget to dismantle the alternater before dropping the engine. it will be to close to the shield for fueltank

It's easier to just remove the left hand arm and pull the engine out through the wheel arch because you don't have to lift the rear of the car so high.