Tips to help remove the auto tranny before a 5 speed install?

Bmachine

Bmachine

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I've been reading seemingly dozens of threads on the 5 speed conversion.

One theme that keeps coming back (most notoriously from Don!) is how much of a pain it is to remove the slushbox. Any tips for making that job slightly easier, especially considering this will be done on jack stands? A floor jack for support of course... What else would help?

Someone was mentioning removing the motor mount bolts and tilting the whole engine up at the front for better access to the tranny bolts in the back...

Thank you.
 
Yes on the tilt; you don't have to completely remove the nuts holding the mounts. I just loosened them on both the top and bottom of the mounts. Be sure to remove the fan before you do that so it doesn't hit the radiator. I used a second floor jack and a block of wood on the front of the oil pan to move the engine upwards.

I found the easiest way to remove most of the bolts that hold the tranny to the engine is from behind the transmission using a 20 inch extension. I would find a helper to assist with the actual tranny removal; it is heavy and cumbersome and keeping it on the floor jack is key. Make sure the car itself is jacked up high enough to remove the tranny on the floor jack once it is out of the car. Unless you have lots and lots of jacks it will be difficult to further raise the car if you have the tranny on a floor jack with another floor jack holding up the front of the engine.

If you haven't already gone to the smaller fixed magnet starter, do that as part of the project. It will never be easier.
 
Thanks Chris. Great info. Great point about getting enough room in there for move the tranny out while it sits on the jack. Maybe I should put my jack stands on blocks before setting them up.

I wonder f it would be worth it to get a transmission jack.... like this job:

http://www.harborfreight.com/450-lb-capacity-transmission-jack-39178.html

I considered the starter exchange indeed. But since I will do an engine swap in the next year or so, I thought I would wait and see if whatever motor I find comes with a later model starter already.
 
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Bmachine said:
I wonder f it would be worth it to get a transmission jack.... like this job:

http://www.harborfreight.com/450-lb-capacity-transmission-jack-39178.html
Click to expand...
I picked one of these up ( with the standard 20% off coupon) and it helped considerably in my instance. It was nice to be able to roll it around and be able to tilt it slightly in the confines of being under the car at jack stand height.. I was changing from a 260 5 speed to a 265 ....and FWIW I put the belhousing on the engine first and slid the tranny into it as a number of people had recommended. The bummer is the 265 ended up having a bad 4th gear syncro so its going to have to come back out soon. Learned my lesson on buying a used tranny with out being able to confirm the "It shifts fine" part of the ad.
 
I have the HF tranny jack. Totally worth it. Critical to use when mating the new tranny to the engine, especially when on jackstands like I did mine.
 
Bo, I'm going to go the other way for a moment, can you find a local mechanic who will remove it for you? Allot easier and may even be cheaper. Note, the torque converter holds about 2 full quarts of oil and it WILL spill everywhere! Do you need a 5 speed? I may have yet another (an acquaintance is closing his shop). Good luck though whichever way you go. Transmission changes without a lift are tough.

Peter
 
Peter Coomaraswamy said:
Bo, I'm going to go the other way for a moment, can you find a local mechanic who will remove it for you? Allot easier and may even be cheaper. Note, the torque converter holds about 2 full quarts of oil and it WILL spill everywhere! Do you need a 5 speed? I may have yet another (an acquaintance is closing his shop). Good luck though whichever way you go. Transmission changes without a lift are tough.

Peter
Click to expand...

Thanks very much Peter. PM sent
 
I made a ramp the length of the car and about the height of the ramps you buy at parts store out of 3"+8" metal channel with a plate at the end so you can't drive past it.Bolted it to the garage floor and this made it easy to roll under for the process+no twisting of the car body due to floor stands. I store my car on it today, makes easy oil changes. I also welded a plate to my floor jack to bolt 5 speed to and you could roll it around ( had a tight budget from the wife :). This process took me about 5-6 weeks working on it in the evening and a little on the weekend. Having the car up was a big help for me because I did the whole thing by myself except 1 bolt on master cylinder next to firewall that my wife held so I could start the nut. Hope this helps and good luck.
 
Thanks Tim! Great tip there. After reading it, I remembered your thread on your conversion from a while back. I'm going to link it here so it is all under the same thread title in case someone else does a search. Chock full of good tips from all the pros on the forum:

http://www.e9coupe.com/forum/threads/tranny-conversion.15672/

PS: Do you by any chance have a photo of your ramp. Maybe with and without the car on it?
 
Another solid vote for the transmission jack from HF. I bought one and used it to both remove and install the differential. Made that a very easy and safe task.
 
Yes good point I also used mine for the entire diff/axles/trailing arms assembly.

Gary Knox said:
Another solid vote for the transmission jack from HF. I bought one and used it to both remove and install the differential. Made that a very easy and safe task.
Click to expand...
 
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