ok. so last weekend i started to take my transmission out. i didn't make too much progress because 2 of my friend's cars sort of came first. a Volvo S70R with fubar brake lines, and an old turbo FC3S that was running excessively lean. to make a long story short, the only stuff i did to my car was remove all of the stuff attached to the transmission in the engine bay, but the axles were still connected.

today and this weekend i will be finishing the job (hopefully). here is my progress so far today:



it was a little tricky because i've never done it before.


this is how i popped the driver's side CV axle out. i'm demonstrating on the passanger side one. yay, i still get to do it.


that's what the driver's CV axle looks like once it's taken out.


the only thing i broke so far is the driver's side control arm. i really fvcked it up. i thought i had to unbolt that ball joint to remove the axle, but it was stuck. i sprayed WD40 all over it, and it still wouldn't come out so i attacked it with a BFH. TALK ABOUT A BIG MISTAKE. DON'T EVER DO THIS. i mushroomed the threads - the nut doesn't fit on it anymore. i'm such a retard. i need a new control arm.

anyways, more to come.

good job man. Sometimes the best way to learn is to just go out and do it. BTW, you dont have to fully remove the axle from the hub to get the axle out. Disconnect the part of the suspension you did, and the entire wheel assembly will swing out far enough to pop the axle out. Oh yeah, POP the axle out, dont pry it. Maybe you wanted to take the whole thing out out for a reason, this is just as info to others too :)

yeah, i popped it out. i hit the green thingy on one of the edges with a long beefy screwdriver it with my BFH. it was a lot easier than i thought it would be.

then i dropped the transmission. it wasn't that hard, i just had to jiggle it a bit because it was getting hung up here and there.

then i got lazy and declared myself done for the night after i got to this step:

now comes the really fun part:rolleyes
putting it back together!

yeah, i get to do that this weekend. getting the transmission to fit in the engine bay around the new non-modular clutch will be a PITA.

scratch that, getting the transmission back together in itself will be a feat.

i'm also thinking about painting my transmission black, or that funky blue color that howell painted my shortblock. i mean, hell, since it's outside of the car why not? anyone ever done this? i plan on gonna brillo'ing the whole outside like there's no tomorrow to get all of the crap off of it, then i'll throw on a bunch of coats of engine paint on there...

Why not polish it? Just a thought...

-=B-=

polished! i think that would look sick!lots of work. but then you gotta polish and chrome everything else. which wouldn't look as cool or be as cheap. i say paint it with a colorscheme you got goin.

i painted my tranny while it was still in the car... black of course... not too hard and it keeps well too...

WTB: Dodge Omni


http://www.geocities.com/shadyporshe851proof/frame_content/indexframe.html

mods: star stage III clutch + 60mm tb + the normal mods, bass, lights well u get the picture

well, i got my transmission back in one piece. The1Bill came over and gave me a hand. thanks Bill.

here's the cool part. we got it back together in LESS THAN 3 MINUTES. dead serious. the thing went together SO fast. i got it about 1/2" from being closed, then i just ever so slightly tapped one of the shifter rails and the transmission went FOUNK and everything magically went into it's respective race. it wasn't hard at all. i was afraid that it would have taken us hours to get it together after the hell that Bill and i went through about a month and a half ago while trying to get a different NV-T350 to close.

my Spec stage 3 clutch is also bolted up to my engine. it looks GOOD.

unfortunately, i didn't have any time this weekend to finish the job. i'm buying a transmission jack to aid with the alingment of the transmission in the engine bay. it should come this week so when i come home from college next friday i can FINALLY finish this drawn out clutch installation and go to the track/dyno for the first time since late May. expect me to post some 1/4 mile times on the 17th, and dyno numbers on the 18th.

this weekend i fixed the tie rod end that i mushroomed. easy fix.

i took my transmission apart again to locktite the screws on the NSR SID and hardcore torque those screws. in the process i noticed that i actually forgot to place the plastic O ring on the reverse shifter rail. i would have never been able to find my reverse gear if i didn't notice. after i put the SID back in the transmission was re-assembled and sealed with the locktite anerobic sealant in less than 5 minutes. starting to get the hang of this.

i also broke the little plastic tabs on my new throw out bearing while trying to get it in place. $38 from satan. another week of waiting to get my car back on the road. next weekend will mark 1 month of downtime. argh.

has anyone who has installed a non-modular clutch have any hints on how to get the transmission back where it's suppose to be? i've been having a hell of a time trying to move the thing around. i spent probably 2 hours the other day fooling with the thing trying to get it in place. i even tilted the clutch side of the engine down as much as i could to help. i have an engine lift, chains, straps, a transmission jack, and another hydraulic jack ay my disposal and i've been unable to get that thing around the new clutch. it sticks out so far and makes it so hard. help!

Have fun with the clutch chatter on that spec. Granted I only drive highway miles but the thing STILL chatters slightly for me.

Well a buddy of mine forgot to take the motor mount bracket off of my tranny when we installed my CM Stage 4. We spent 5 hours trying and then we noticed that one of the motor mount studs was making contact with the mounting point on the car. We took it off and had the transmission on in 15 mintues.:rolleyes

hmmmm... thanks for the tip. i'll make sure that they're all out of the way, i think i left the front one on for some reason...

anyways, i have some more pictures. here they are:

a picture of my new setup. looks pretty good if you asked me!


my dog owned herself by wrapping her leash around a few units of shrubbery. i couldn't resist taking an "owned" picture.


a nice M3 at my favorite Dunkin' Donuts


another M3, saw them left that day for some reason...


some say that the reason that their transmission "rattles" was because they didn't grease up the TOB enough, so i went overboard.


that is all.

Just be sure none of that grease travels up into the clutch. Talk about a slipping clutch...

With all the work you just did, I'd think it'd be better to rattle a little than to slip.

around 10:00 Friday night, my HRC turbocharged 2GNT started up for the first time in 5 weeks. no leaks, no funny noizes, nothing. i was pretty amazed.

i'd like to thank MotoFool for hooking me up with my clutch, The1Bill for being avaiable to ask oddball questions like "what's the size and thread of this bolt" at odd hours of the day and night, and Dino for sending me a whole bunch of part numbers for misc. bolts that i broke during the installation.

now, for the technical.

good:
-the new clutch rocks. it grabs about 1/3 of the way up on the total clutch travel, and it feels good. very minor clutch chatter in 1st gear when starting from a stop, it's not as bad as i thought it would be.
-the new flywheel also rocks. the engine revs a LOT easier in neuteral and i definately feel an overall torque increace.
-i didn't have to play with the slave cylinder with washers like other people with the non-modular setup have. guess i got lucky there.
-i don't get the "rock in a tin can" rattling noize like a lot of other people have got after changing their clutch. guess i got lucky there too.

bad:
-i didn't know what i was getting myself into when doing the whole non-modular conversion. it was a PAIN IN THE ASS to get the transmission bolted back to the block. the flywheel/pressure plate sticks out so far it makes it almost impossible to move anything around in there.

ugly:
-i can only hold about 8 psi of boost right now, then the clutch slips. i'm guessing that there's still some crud on the flywheel or the pressure plate or something that needs to be burned off. i did the best job i could of cleaning the surfaces off with brake parts cleaner before i bolted up the whole assembly, but whatever. i guess it just needs some time and a few hundred miles to get all broken in.
-the clutch pedal is REALLY light. like feather light. it feels like i don't have a clutch. Bill says that once the springs inside of the clutch assembly are broken in it will get firm again.

that is all.

eee gads...thats a bit too much greese there..a small amount is all you really need. You would be surprised how easily that can travel up to the clutch disk facings..hopefully that is not why your clutch is slipping..if it is, that greese will ruin your facings..new clutches need broken in. Dont get on it that much. Drive it normal, and dont slip it hard with high rpm. I would really aviod putting much boost on it for a good couple hundred miles..Most clutches like around 500-700 miles for good break in. Some say you dont need to break in a ceramic clutch. That is false. The clutch builder I have been working with, who has built custom clutches for many, many years, says the ceramic needs broken in,just like any other clutch. Just go easy on it, and pray its not the greese :)

yeah, that picture of the TOB is old - it fell out when i took apart the transmission a 2nd time to locktite the little bolts holding the NSR LSD together. during this process, i broke the clips that hold the TOB to the clutch fork, so i tried to fix the stupid little clips with no success, so i removed all of the grease and put it back and pretended that everything was ok.

after driving it to and back from U-Mass Amherst this weekend the pedal has become more firm, and i'm getting less and less chatter in 1st gear. seems to be where it all happens. so far there's about 200 miles on it, and it feels a lot better than it did 2 days ago.