Car engine changes made simple- don't do it!

I made a discovery today while preparing to remove the engine from my boy's Ford Tempo that just about made me jump for joy. I've had the car in the driveway since February and I bought a used motor a month ago in preparation to removing the bad engine and replacing it with the used one. I actually moved the car into the carport probably 3 or 4 weeks ago but the work has been slow based upon my back injuries, lousy weather and our vacation. And I really haven't had my heart in this project so it was turning into something I had to do rather than something I wanted to do, so I've been dragging my feet instead of jumping in hard to get it done.

But the engine was almost ready to be removed and today I finally got around to taking the new motor out of the back of the truck and parked it on the slab near where I'm working. Reading the Haynes manual, it says to remove the engine and transmission out through the bottom of the car which seemed like a lot of extra work to me. So I was investigating today to see if there was room to separate the engine and transmission in the car and just lifting out the engine.

That investigation got me to looking closely and then I discovered that my work was done! I'm going no further with this car except for a phone call or two to have it taken away to the scrap yard. Look what I found-

I thought I discovered a crack in the subframe that holds up the front of the car but no- not a crack. Look at this picture taken from underneath-

Somebody cut that frame! It looks like somebody else during this car's past decided more clearance was needed to remove the engine and so they cut the subframe and hammered out the needed clearance! There's a welded patch panel on the outside-

but made no effort to weld the cuts they made on the inside of the subframe.

That's just dangerous. I don't have the skills to weld it myself and the ca's not worth paying somebody else to repair that much damage. So my job is done. I'm going to try to sell the engine on KSL classifieds and have the car hauled away for scrap.

It also pretty much confirms that the only way to get the engine out of the car is with the transmission attached and out through the bottom, just like the book says! There are more pictures here and as always, click the thumbnail pictures above to see the full sized pictures.

UPDATE: After talking with my dad today, who spent several years selling Ford car parts at numerous dealers, I think I know why this subframe was cut. I don't think it was done to pull the engine out but rather to replace the harmonic damper on the front of the crankshaft. He says they used to sell these parts regularly as they were prone to failure. Since the engine didn't show any other signs of previous replacement, I believe that's the answer. Somebody cut a clearance hole so they could get the damper off the crankshaft. It doesn't matter, the car is still junk!