When Gibbo says bellhousing bolts, I suspect he means the ones that tie into the sump pan.
Yes for us lot with equipment, it would be easier to take the engine out but unless Gibbo goes out and buys an engine crane, that's not going to happen.
For limited tools and a bit more u bolting, he's doing well.
Yes it is the three 10mm torx (e-bit 10mm) bolts which go through the bell housing into the sump pan, what an absolute pain they were to get off especially the one that you cannot get to, but they are all off now.
Removing the engine from the car would be a huge job due to the hydraulic lines and I've got the car pretty high up in the air, jack stands extended to maximum so quite a bit of room.
If I struggle once it is all apart several people have offered to come and help with the shell installation and are fully aware that they will be doing upside down in a driveway.
I've got pretty much everything out the way now, radiatior fan gone, car had no viscous fan or housing which saves some work, plugs are out, most of underside of car is all undone.
All I need to do now is undo engine mounts, disconnect oil cooler, oil return lines, steering pump etc and then undo subframe bolts but not take them full out which supposedly lowers subframe enough to give good access. Hopefully going to tackle that at weekend as am back in work now and weather for most of this week looks miserable, hope its dry at weekend and I shall try to be at the point where the sump pan is off and visually inspect, then put it back on and wait for new parts to arrive.
Done loads of mechanical work but I would shy away from messing with the engine internals. You only need to make one mistake and that's all your hard work and moneys up in smoke.
