Just a couple of people round to help. Shaun and I did the last few engine bay jobs the night before: brake servo heat shield etc. Then in the morning we fitted the gearbox (numerous times) and had to shave a small bit off the opening in the bellhousing for the clutch release arm. We also noticed that the slave cylinder bracket that came with the engine is a bit wonky and not really in line with the release arm (below), so that's a job for another day.
Well anyway. The engine and gearbox combined is probably around 300kg, which is way too much for Max's crane at full reach so we had the following solution:
More friends were employed with another crane the same as Max's and an enormous metal bar between the two. I learned from the forum that other people who have fitted Chevy engines with Getrag gearboxes have had to grind off the rear mount to clear the chassis. We fitted a landrover engine mount on a nice handy flat piece of the structure, reasonably central. The offending mount is on the other side but we found to our pleasant surprise it didn't have to be bodged.
All in all it was fairly easy. The straps at the rear of the engine were on ratchets so the angle of the engine could be controlled. We rolled the car forwards and after a bit of superhuman strength on the gearbox to get the whole thing in the right place (before we realised we had about 5 trolley jacks doing nothing) it all went fairly well. Currently the engine is mounted but the gearbox is resting on a plate across the chassis. We have got the height of the gearbox correct (so the carb sits flat) but its final alignment will be determined by what makes the prop shaft the straightest.
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