Is it possible to pull the sump off an EF to replace the rings and big end shells without pulling the engine from the car?
Done this before to freshen up Holdens, Nissans, Toyotas, etc and I know you can get the sump off an XC if you jack the engine up a bit...but I've never worked on a E series before.
On the drive home it was smoking heavily when the foot was put firmly down...and I don't think it is just running rich...
Getting another engine is probably going to blow its budget out as wreckers here seem to want a bit for them...but I can stick some new rings and big ends in pretty cheaply myself which might repreive the car from turning into parts...
I've got an engine crane and a garage but I would rather not pull the engine if I don't have to.

How do you put rings in, when the engine is still in the car, and the sump is removed, but the head is not, and the crank is still there??????
Depending on how much parts are, and time available, would be quicker to get a 2nd hand donk.

Ya have to pull the head too...but I know I can do that with the engine in the car, I don't know if I can pull the sump with the engine still in the car...
Pull head, pull sump, take off big end bolts, shove pistons out through top of block, fit new rings, big ends, hone cylinders to deglaze, clean it out, push pistons back down bore ( with rubber hose over big end bolts to stop scratching crank), refit big end caps, install head, install sump, go for drive.
Done it heaps of times on other stuff.
Cheaper than a wrecker motor and gives a damn good result if your bores and crank are in fair nick.
For $250 in parts I can freshen it up to give it several more years of good driving.
$250 wrecker motor is a gamble...
And ya pull the head etc before ya buy the parts just in case it needs a reborre and crank grind and then it is cheaper to get another motor.

You've got to drop the K Frame to get the sump off completely.
So yeah, doable, the engine is still 'in' the car, you'll obviously have to be holding it up somehow though lol

Depends what you think is easier I guess.

Looks like pulling the engine might be easier than pulling all the stuff off the bottom.
Is it easier to pull motor and box tegether, or just the motor?
On the Volvos I have done a lot of work on it is much easier to pull both at once, but on a few other cars I have worked on you gan get the motor and box apart easier than you can get the box out...I seem to remember on an XF you have to pull the handrbrake workings to pieces to get the gearbox out, but the bellhousing bolts aren't hard to get to...On the Volvos the bellhousing bolts are a pig but dropping the box out is a piece of cake...

I am looking for a workshop manual, but haven't got one yet.