First off, I tried to search and found a lot on turbos and engine swaps and whatnot. No luck.

Bottom line - is there something out there that attaches to the engine to lift it up without having to remove the intake manifold?

I have a 2000 Silverado with a 4.8L. A cat went out and I installed a set of Dynatech headers with the cats. I'm in an area in Texas where they are required and I would run them anyway. The crossover pipe from the driver's side to the passenger collective needed a lot of motivation to not hit the trans crossmember and not leak. Now that's taken care of, but the passenger side headers are tapping the frame causing false knock and a O2 sensor heater malfunction code...odd, but I changed the sensor and the brand new one says the same thing. Anyway, I figured after 140,000 miles it may have worn out the mounts, so I swapped the tranny mount. Not hard to do, but I think it made it worse because now the tranny is higher. So, to go after the engine mounts...$350 at a shop, or I could rent a lift/engine hoist and do it myself. I actually rented a hoist and brought it home before I read the manual saying there isn't a bracket to hoist the engine on the V8's. It says something about casting lugs but I can't for the lift of me figure out what they are or how they would hoist the engine. So, my question is how do I get the weight off the engine to change the mounts without having to buy the plate that installs where the intake manifold is? I don't really want to strap my headers and lift it by them - is there a better option?

On future mods - I'd like to keep the original engine, and may bore/stroke it to an iron 383. I'm tempted to do a 6.0L swap, but can't convince myself to chunk the 4.8L - sure, I could swap in a low mile unknown 6.0L or even 5.3L engine and keep the headers, but after going to a machine shop and making sure it was solid I'd be in about as much as the 383 - I think. I'd like to go with e fans, I have a cold air intake waiting to go on until after I sit down and play with my new GTech meter and will toy with tuning. Plus bigger tires, after my 2" lift in the front I can get 32s. My dad has a a TrailBlazer SS and wants to do e fans as well and may go with 3.73 gears over the stock 4.10 for better mileage, so I'd get some good use out of the HP Tuner software. If I get all crazy and sneaky I may tune my '03 Z06. I promised the wife I wouldn't tinker with it too much. Anyway, I'm rambling - think you can help?

 

I lifted mine out by bolts into the head. Didn't cause any problems but I also didn't have the manifold on either but the chains might clear like this or else just find a way to spread them apart a little.

 

I wouldn't remove the engine to replace a motor mount. Support the oil pan with a jack, do one side at a time.

 

+1, why make extra work for yourself?

 

I'm not looking to remove the engine - I want a good way to take the weight off of the motor mounts. If you have the full weight of the engine on the oil pan you can collapse or bend it, which can damage your oil pickup. That's bad news.

I had a Grand Prix and there were a couple of brackets designed to support the engine or remove them by. That's what I'm looking for.

I'm thinking I will break down and let someone else do it, which hurts my pride but it may not be worth the headache.

 

I've had my old 4.8 sitting on the oil pan on my concrete garage floor for over a week, and nothing's gone wrong. Lifting it up just enough to get the weight off the mounts should be perfectly fine, just put a block of wood between the jack and oil pan to be safe.

 

Block of wood + floor jack is the way I have done it without issue.

 

I dont think your issue has anything to do with motor mounts. The headers simply do not fit between your frame rails. This is not an isolated issue, not every frame is exactly the same. Every set of headers I've owned has been extremely close on the passenger side frame rail, but never has touched. You might try heating up the passenger side header with a torch and then taking a ratcheting strap around the collector and pulling it towards the driver's side to get it off the frame.

 

Jacking on the solid aluminum oil pan with a block of wood between the jack pad and pan will not collapse or bend the pan...but as GMCtrk mentioned, I doubt that changing the motor mounts will get your headers off of the frame, although some "persuasion" might I got my passenger side header away from the frame by loosening the motor mounts and shifting the engine towards the driver side just enough to give me a c-note of clearance

 

Interesting. Well, it's got over 140,000 miles on it - so replacing the motor mounts won't hurt anything. Replacing the trans mount did seem to make things a bit worse. The old mount was cracked.