very important note on removing tranny.

[e_nough]

hi

i just pulled out my tranny to get it rebuilt. what a task that was. if you ever do this leave the bellhousing bolts in but loosened a bit and then remove the two mounting bolts that hold it to the car. in my experience you will never get those two bolts to free up with all those 6 degrees of freedom going on. you need to leave the bellhousing bolts in to eliminate some of those degrees of freedom.

note i was using a simle jack.


most instructions on the web and in the haynes manual dont explain this

[e_nough]

another important note.

i came up with a method of making a "control bar" so you can manuver the tranny from the rear end of the car and you dont have to be under there to hold on to it. this was very helpful in the lowering and final steps and i plan to use this on the installation.

to make the jig just get 2 2x4's about 3ft long and screw them together in an L shape. you are going to put one leg under the tranny parallel to the drive shaft. then strap the 2x4 to the tranny using some of those "trucker" tie down straps with the ratchets to tighten the straps. you may need to put a little block of 2x4 between the tranny and the long 2x4 just behind the connections for the cv joints. strap that thing on there really tight. now just center the jack under the tranny center of gravity somewhere on the 2x4. this takes a few tries to get the right spot.

now with this contraption you can move the tranny around whereever you need it to go using a really long lever arm so its not so darn heavy and you can make small adjustments to its position. oh, yeah, the other piece of the L shape is just to hold onto to give you some leverage.

good luck.

let me know if you try this.

[e_nough]

if you are taking your tranny in to get rebuilt, take off the side plate, the one with 10 or so bolts holding it on and take a look at the ring and pinion, this way you will know if the mechanic is full of it when he (she EOE) tells you that you need a knew one. you are looking for normal shaped teeth, not pieces in the bottom. there will be some very tiny shavings (like a tiny metal splinter that you get in your finger), which is normal. also you can see the wear on the teeth there will be a different shine and texture to the area of the tooth that has ben in contact with the other teeth. you should have this shinny texture in the middle of each tooth and it shouldnt be on the edges, if it is then your bearings and/or shims that hold the ring and pinion in place are out of whack.

good luck.