AaronBryan

Disclaimer- this write up was pieced together from Bently's, xr4tic's write up, and my own personal experience. It is presented merely as guide, and may not be totally accurate. I am not responsible for anything that may happen as a result of using this guide.

Tools

It may be easier to list tools I DIDN'T use (all of these things are not necessary)

-Transmission jack (all you need is two, preferably three, people for the lowering and raising of the tranny)
-Lift
-Short wrenches

Some "special" tools I DID use

-Wobble extensions (I got mine from ACE hardware, a 9' 6' and 3' extension help SOOO much, may also be called swivel extension)
-Torque wrench (mainly for the flywheel and pressure plate bolts, its hard to fit one of these suckers anywhere else)
-Jack stands (a MUST, and a good investment anyway)
-Impact wrench (you'll probably need it for the pressure plate and flywheel bolts because you'll just turn the engine with a conventional ratchet instead of loosening the bolts)
-Air ratchet (not a must, but it made it easier)
-Floor jack (while a transmission jack isn't needed, a regular floor jack is a must)
-Breaker bar (a two foot piece of pipe)
-6mm and 8mm allen sockets and wrenches
-Thread lock (for all the bolts on the axles and flywheel)
-Wire (used to hold the air box, AC unit, and driveshaft up and out of the way)
T-40 Torx
8mm "star bit" (I forget what its really called, but it looks like a 12 pt. T-40 torx. It's for the drive axles)

The obvious (if you don't own these, stop now)

-Metric socket set
-Metric wrench set
-5/8 SAE wrench (5/8 = 16mm)
-5/8 SAE socket (5/8 = 16mm)

Any other tools that you may need you'll probably already have or be able to send someone to the hardware store to pick up in the middle of the project (screwdriver, allen wrench, vise grips, extra wrench or socket)


Before you start

If you are planning on using your stock flywheel, find a place in your area that can resurface it. Since our cars use dual mass flywheels very few shops can resurface them. It took me 3 days on the phone to finally track down a shop within driving distance that could do it.

Allow enough time to do the job. It took me roughly 15 hours to fully complete the job. I had a lot of help from my Dad, and even some help from my brother when it came to putting bolts back it. This is no small job, so read this write up carefully and then decide if and when you're going to do this job.


Procedure


Before you get the front wheels off the ground

1) Remove belly pan, and belly pan bracket
2) Back rear wheels onto ramps (If you're only going to jack stands on the front, disregard this step)
3) Disconnect battery
4) Disconnect coolant tank, this is done to gain access to transmission to engine bolts
- 3 Philips head screws on the top
- plug on the bottom
- top hose to engine
- leave the big hose on and swivel the whole tank out of the way
5) Remove air box, this is done to gain access to cat to turbo bolts (I sort of made up my own way but Bently's says..)
- Disconnect wires/and harness connectors
At solenoid valve for wastegate bypass regulator valve
At evaporative emission canister purge regulator valve
At power output stage
- Disconnect hoses and remove air cleaner housing
6) Remove all the transmission to engine bolts accessible from the top
7) Loosen bolts on the passenger wheel

Jack up front of car and place your jack stands. Be careful not to put them in the way. Where I had them (Picutre) worked out very nicely

8) Remove passenger side wheel
9) Remove heat shield between the exhaust and drive axle, three 6mm allen head bolts
10) Make sure the cat has enough clearance for the transmission. There are 2 ways to do this. I took the downpipe off and then just loosened the bolts holding the cat to the Turbo. I did this to avoid having to take out the O2 sensors. If you have an O2 sensor wrench you can take the O2 sensors out (good luck getting to the lower one) and then remove the cat and downpipe as one piece. The downpipe to cat
11) Break the remaining engine to transmission bolts
12) Remove the drive axle bolts. These bolts use that 8mm star bit, but you can get them out with a T-40 torx
13) Remove the driveshaft bolts. These are 6mm allen bolts and you'll have to jack the rear end up and turn a wheel to have easy access to all 6.
14) Remove the starter. There are 2 long bolts that's go into the tranny and a little 6mm allen towards the front of the car that holds a bracket with all the electrical stuff. I stripped the 6mm allen and was forced to loosen the tensioner and drop the AC unit to get it out. You may want to do this anyway, because as it turns out, it's probably the easiest way.
15) Remove the shift linkage, a 10mm bolt and an 8mm allen
16) Remove the RPM sensor (my car didn't have one, so I'm not really sure were it would be)
17) Disconnect the speed sensor and reverse lights, these are just electrical connectors on the driver side on the tranny
18) Take a break
19) Put slight pressure on the tranny with a jack
20) Remove the two transmission support brackets. Remove them both from the transmission and the frame and take then out. This will make dropping and reinstalling the tranny a lot easier.
21) Remove all the transmission to engine bolts you have previously broken free
22) Pull the transmission back just far enough for the input shaft to clear the fingers on the pressure plate
23) Drop the tranny just enough to gain access to the clutch slave cylinder
24) Remove the 6mm allen bolt on the cylinder and pull it towards the back of the car, it'll take some doing, but it'll come out
25) Do one last check to make sure everything is clear and then lower the transmission
26) Do a dance
27) Pose with your foot on the fresh kill holding some sort of weapon (I have a good picture to go along with this one)
28) Get your impact wrench out
29) Remove the six 6mm allen bolts from the pressure plate. Be careful that the clutch doesn't fall out and hit you in the face, and also be careful that the pressure plate doesn't spring off at you. It shouldn't, but just be careful
30) Remove the six 17mm bolts from the flywheel, again, be careful not to the let it fall and hit the floor


Installing

Nothing big here, everything just goes on the way it came off. But I do have some cautions.

1) Be very patient while putting the transmission back on
2) Any bolts that have red or blue stuff in the threads need thread lock. These are mainly the bolts on spinning parts, i.e. the driveshaft, drive axles, and flywheel.
3) Torque the flywheel and pressure plate bolts to the proper fl/lbs and make sure you go in a star pattern, just like tightening the lugs on your wheels
4) Line the flywheel and pressure plate up correctly, they only go on one way
5) Be very patient while putting the transmission back on
6) While the tranny is going back on make sure you put the starter back, you won't be able to jam it back in after the transmission is all bolted up.
7) The same goes for the slave cylinder, put it back while you have good access to the hole it goes in.
8) Get some people to help you guide the input shaft back into the flywheel, it's a lot easier to have a se of eyes on it from every angle, you don't want to get this far and then bend a pressure plate finger
9) Make sure you have someone watch the wires and hoses that run in the back of the engine. I almost pinched them in-between the engine and transmission while putting the tranny back on.
10) More than likely the tranny won't just "slip" right back in. You'll have to get a couple bolts started and pull the engine and transmission together with the bolts
11) Be very patient while putting the transmission back on

AaronBryan

ehh, nevermind, I'll get the pics in it a repost later. This is a waste of time withou the pictures

Trey R

"a 9' 6' and 3' extension " Feet, or inches?

skabaru

REALLY LONG ONES!

CTMechE

They come in 3 sizes... wee, not so wee, and FRIGGIN' HUGE!

RKA

DO NOT CLICK THE LINK IN MY SIG!!!<ul><li><a href="http://new-cars.2004-search.net/">http://new-cars.2004-search.net/</a</li></ul>