Ok, i'm up shit creek right now and need some help. I'm doing an engine swap and i rented the hoist and all, but when i unbolted the engine mounts and trans mounts then unbolted the trans from the engine in order to pull the engine out i noticed i don't have enough room to remove the engine.looks like the torque convertor is to big to take out of the trans housing(Auto trans). i know the engine is off the shaft becuase i can move the engine pretty well, but it seems to be just a little shy of comming out. so, do i need to pull the trans also? if so, can anyone guide me in the right direction on the process, or the process of pulling the engine out? thanks a ton guys...

You should be able to get it out without dropping the tranny. You will have to lift it at an angle with the timing belt side up higher than the tranny side. I can't remember the exact angle but play with it a little bit and it should come right out. Now I have never done an auto tranny car personaly but I know that you can do this to the manual tranny cars. Keep going it will come out. If you do decide to drop the tranny you're half way there already, it sounds like you could just pull the axles and drop it out.

What engine are you "swapping" in/out?

Anyways, from where you are right now, from underneath the car:
Remove lower center crossmember (this includes the front motor mount)
Look up where the engine meets the trans, notice metal "hatch"
Remove 2 black engine-tranny brackets (4 large bolts total)
Remove little holder bolt(s) and remove the hatch
Spin the flywheel to access each of the 4 flexplate bolts
Unbolt the flex plate from the torque convertor through that hatch.
Loosen the rear (tranny) motor mount, support the tranny with a jack & wood block
Use a screwdriver to lever the tranny up and away from the flexplate
Jack engine out

It'll scratch up the unibody a little, and the flexplate will go PING when it pops out of the bellhousing, but that won't hurt anything. The flexplate is ... flexible ;) if that helps.

Edit: The reason the engine FEELS unbolted from the trans is because the Torque convertor will just slide right out of the tranny (and bleed fluid everywhere- don't do this) but never clear the bellhousing. You need to detach the flexplate from the torque convertor.

OK.. so right now all i need to do is remove the 4 bolts from the torque convertor (Right).. that's sounds easy enough but how do i keep the flywheel from spinning??..

Well you have to spin the flywheel to get all of them, but you can put a screw driver against the flex plate teeth where the starter is or you can use a prybar at the cam gears. Sorry my orignal advice was not on target I thought you had everything seperated.

Either bolt something to the crankshaft pulley or shove a screwdriver/prybar into the flexplate teeth through the starter hole.

If you have an impact wrench, you don't need to hold anything.

If you had a 5-spd you could put it in 5th gear and step on the brakes.

Edit- Damn you kirby! :cheers

That's for the help guys... i got the 4 bolts loose now just waiting for the engine hoist to arrive.. i bought one so now it;s a waiting game

you still may have some clearance issues like i did. I eventualy LOWERED the engine a few inches, used the "Crysler Harmonic Damper Puller" to pull the crankshaft pulley off, then the motor lifted up without any problems.

i removed my udp aready and it slid out like a charm.
thanks again everyone