Taking out 7afe engine! Have some questions! Options

[Brandroid94]

So some background:

About a month and a half ago, my engine started to make a very loud knocking noise on the way to my gf's parent's house for dinner. It would stall when I didn't push on the gas and stall while driving. I got there safe and had her dad look at it. We checked oil and everything we could without taking it apart and couldn't find anything. We drove it back home and it stalled and wouldn't turn back on about a block away. I have since ordered a new engine and all day yesterday we worked on getting the current engine pulled. We have pretty much everything pulled so far but are running into problems (especially since we are doing it from the ground on jack stands).


We are very close to pulling it out but we are wanting to NOT pull the transmission. He was saying that if we could get to the flywheel bolts we could pull the engine block off and when we put the new engine in all we have to do is line it up. This is my first EVER project and his first Toyota. I was wondering if you lovely ladies and gentlemen could help us with this task and kind of tell me if we can pull the engine out without the trans and simply line the new engine up.

Any help on what could make this swap easier would be fantastic! Our plan, when we pull the engine out, is to switch the working (and better looking) parts from the current engine and put them on the new engine.