No experience pulling engines here, but I'm compelled to chime in about lift points. I apologize if it’s all obvious/remedial…

Lifting by straps under the engine or any low point on the engine/tranny is not advisable IMO. To keep the load stable your lift point should be above the center of gravity of the load. Otherwise the load will tend to rotate to bring the CoG to the lowest point unless it is perfectly balanced.

The weights are pretty low, but it’s still worth noting that if you use multiple legs, the load in the leg will increase as the angle of the leg from vertical increases. It’s good practice to keep that angle under 45deg. from vertical to avoid a “piano wire” effect.

If you have enough headroom, perhaps a come-along could be used as one leg of the lift to improvise a load-leveler to alter the angle of the engine/tranny.

Be careful!

-Will
--
850 / Mini

Taking the front panel out or even the complete front end off will be time well spent IMO. Then you'll only need to lift the engine and box a foot or so before you push the car backwards. At the moment, getting enough angle will be hard work especially if you don't have an adjustable angle gizmo with your lift. If you do decide to try it that way it would be worth raising the rear of the car as much as possible. You're already at a disadvantage with the car angled down at the back. I don't think that I'd agree with using the 2 valve cover bolts. Wire strop or strapping under the manifold and engine mounts is much safer.

It's been a long time since I had a 444, almost 40 years. On a 122 I think
I get the front jack points about 14 or 15 inches off the floor, which should
also be enough for a 444, I'd think.
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George Downs, Bartlesville, Heart of the USA!