k so i just got my new stall from jegs and the tranny shop wants 200 to install it. i dont have that kinda cash so im gonna do it myself. i have never taken a tranny out but im not completely car stupid but any help you can give or any special tips to help out would be kick ****.

thankya

 

check this out.. its for a 4thgen, but its 95% applicable to a thirdgen as well. Ignore the part about dropping your exhaust, not necessary.

http://www.kyfbodies.org/tech/trans_swap/trans.html

other things to keep in mind.. I'm going to ramble a little here:


use a tranny jack. Rent one, or get one off of ebay. They make tranny jack adapters, it is basically a cradle that attaches to your normal jack, it has a chain to wrap around the tranny. Makes life much easier. Don't try to balance it on a floor jack, bad bad things can happen, namely getting body parts crushed underneath a falling a tranny (which weighs over 200lbs full of fluid and with a converter in front) or smashing the pan open as it hits the ground. Bottom line.. use a tranny jack.

use a long 2 foot extension to get at the upper bellhousing bolts. I tried getting to them from the engine bay, impossible for me.

have some penetrating oil nearby.

when you get to the torque arm removal, loosen the nuts on the 3 15mm bolts first, then once the tranny is lowered a little you can get the 13mm bolt out. this bolt holds the clamshell mount together. MAKE SURE your rear jackstands are under the subframe, not the rear axle, for the rear axle will move when you are removing the torque arm from the clamshell mount. Just let the torque arm rest against the bottom of the car, it doesn't have all that much spring force on it, just don't get your hand caught in there and you will be fine.

driveshaft... 4 bolts, real easy. you'll need to put the car in neutral and turn the wheels so you can get at all 4 bolts. You may need a little 'influence' courtesy of a hammer, to get the driveshaft out. Push, or hammer it toward the transmission, and it will slide a little further into the tranny, then you can pull it back out.

rags.. have lots and lots of shop rags on hand. Buy 3 or 4 rolls just to be safe.

Use a 1/2" line wrench on the tranny cooler lines where they go into the tranny. These can be a little bit of a pain.

You have two options with the TV cable. Remove it at the throttle body end, or remove it at the tranny end. Since removing it at the TB end doesn't involve tranny fluid in my face, I removed it at the TB end.

If you can, remove the distributor cap, it could break when the engine tilts backwards, which happens when everything holding the tranny up (torque arm and tranny mount) are removed. Leave a jack under the tranny at all times so it's not completely hanging on the engine.

To keep the flexplate from rotating as you remove the 3 bolts holding it to the converter, clamp a vise grip on to it and turn it. The vise grip will hit the bellhousing and stop the flexplate from turning. You'll have to do this 3 times, for each of the 3 bolts.

Don't forget to remove the dipstick. It's a press fit, no bolt.

Any other questions? Don't hesitate to ask. Search the archives for more help, too.

 

Some things to expand on what MrJ mentioned....

Before you remove the driveshaft, clean the trans yoke's exterior. Lube the outside of the trans yoke with trans fluid, and wipe all the dirt off, then wipe the exterior with trans fluid again. When you use a prybar to move the driveshaft into the trans, any dirt on the trans yoke could hurt the seal. So get rid of the dirt, and then put some trans fluid on that yoke before removing the d-shaft.

I made a trans jack adapter for my floorjack with some wood, but a transjack is by far the easiest way to do things!!

Take note of the description for "seating the torque convertor" on that website! If you slide the TC on, and you only engage the outer splines, and not the second set, you'll ruin the TC and trans input shaft with one turn of the ignition key! How can you make sure the TC is seated? (I've typed this up so many times before...)

1. After undoing your flywheel-to-TC bolts, and Before dropping the trans, take notice of the original TC. See how you can slide it back away from the flywheel, and then, forward so it rests against the flywheel? It can slide back and forth on the input shaft.

2. When putting the trans back up, if the TC is mashed firmly against the flywheel, you did NOT engage the second set of splines!! The TC should not be mashed against the flywheel. It should be able to slide freely back and forth along the input shaft of the trans, just as it could before you dropped the trans.

Fill the TC with a quart or two of trans fluid before installing it. Pour it into the TC, and let the fluid slowly drain in.

Use 1/2" drive tools... not the thin 3/8" drive that's in socket sets. A thin 3/8" extension will "twist up" and absorb the torque you put onto the breaker bar (large rachet handle without the ratchet). I was using the 3/8" stuff for hours, and only undid two bolts- my dad drove me to Sears so we could get a 2 foot 1/2" extension- when I got home, I had the other 4 bolts out in under a half hour.

Search for messages by me (TomP) about "transmission" on the V6 Forum. I posted the exact sequence of tools that I used to remove the trans from a V6; I imagine a V8 is very similar.

Don't forget to re-anchor the dipstick through the bellhousing bolt, if your engine uses that method. You might want to pick up a torque wrench if you don't have one.

I followed the Haynes 82-92 Firebird (or Camaro) manual for the procedure on dropping the transmission... it worked fine.