Well I am changing out my tranny and I am running into a few problems that I was hoping some of the guru's here might be able to help with.

1) I cannot locate the damn bracket that holds the dip stick tube in place...any ideas?
2) after removal of the drive shaft, torque-converter to flexplate bolts, torque -arm, and crossmember the tranny should tip backwards and fall slightly....enough so that the oil cooler lines and the top bell-housing bolts can be reached. Again....this is not the case.

Does anyone have any ideas that could help me out?

BTW this is a 88 GTA with the 700r4

 

the bolt for the dipstick bracket should be at about 2o clock looking at the fly wheel and for not dropping down did you remove the starter?and check to make sure that you got all the torque convertor bolts Hope this helps you out i feel for you if your doing it without a lift everytime i do one i swear ill never do it without a lift Later:rockon:

 

sorry top bell housing bolts and top starter bolts are bi@#$ i use a long 1/2" ext with a universal to get to them and the starter well get comfy cuz on most (i havent had the displeasure of removing mine off my 84 berlinetta yet )you can only get a 1/8th of aturn on later

 

There are two bellhousing bolts at the top of the tranny. The dipstick tube bolts to the bolt on the right.

As soon as you take the crossmember down, the tranny should tilt. The crossmember is the first thing I remove because it makes getting to the torque arm bolts easier. However, I don't have the exhaust mount on the side of the tailhousing, which if you have that, it may be hanging you up.

 

Well, I dont think that removing the starter will help. It is bolted on to the engine and with the bellhousing bolts still in place the tranny and the engine should tilt back far enough to reach the cooling lines. As for the dipstick tube I cant even see a bracket for it. But I have heard 2 different stories...1 is that it is press fit. 2 that it is a bracket on the bell housing. But again, I dont see any brackets and I can see the tube pretty clearly.

Does anyone else agree that the chiltons manual and the hayes lack in alot of ways?

 

The bolt that holds the dipstick in place is the top bellhousing bolt on the passenger side. It is common for people to leave the dipstick tube unbolted or to even cut the tab off. The dipstick isn't really "pressed" in but it is sort of a press fit and will come out with a little friendly assistance. The bellhousing bolts come out pretty easily, though you'll need a lengthy extension to get to some of them. The cooler lines should be accessible with some wrench work also.

It takes time but everything comes out pretty easily.

Good luck though and try to keep your patience

 

Yeah its connected at the top pass side bellhousing bolt. Unbolt that bolt and you should be able to pull it out. It isnt that hard. Getting the bellhousing bolts off with longtubes isnt to fun tho. Then I finally got them all and dropped it and guess what...wedged itself right between the headers...after some cursing and throwing of tools I unbolted the headers and WAM the tranny fell LOL. I didnt care anyways.

Took me MAYBE 6 hours to pull the tranny and I have never done it. It really isnt that bad,.