Tranny job completed!
 

Well, I got the car back on the road today. I would say it took a good 12 hours total for everything (removal, replacement, flush/fill/drive/drain/refill the fluid) but at least 4 hours of that was turbo related. I ended up breaking a few welds on my Megan manifold and had to weld them up again. I think the way to do it, if you buy one of these things, is just to reweld everything to start with. Maybe pay someone to reinforce the thing. Anyway, I haven't cracked open the tranny yet but here is a picture of the shift knob on the old/new tranny. Both pictures were taken with the car in first gear. Hopefully this will silence the people who said it was operator error when I couldn't find 3rd gear (fingers in there for distance reference)<G>:

Man 12 hrs is one hell of alot of time. I can see a job like that taking time though. Unless you have a good way to get the car off the ground and access to all the perfect tools, big swaps take time. Glad it's working for you.

a transmission swap takes some time. It would definitely take me a good half of a day to do the job. The main reason is that there is always the little hangups, or you get fixated on something during the job. Its never good to rush either. Im glad you got your car going again so quickly.

I've got every tool known to man and a lift ( like this but no wheels - http://www.kwiklift.com/images/mg2.jpg ). The thing that got me is 1 bolt on turbo took 45 minutes. Another took 30 minutes. 45 minutes to get the damn tranny lined up (DAMN!!!!). I just kept running into roadblocks.

That's the kind of thing that always get's me. It took me two hours to change the transmission and gear oil because when I tried to refill it the mechanism i had planned on using for putting the new oil in wouldn't cut it. So there goes an 40 minutes running into town in traffic to get a pump that will work.

Nice little lift by the way. Cool stuff.

With every job of working on cars, the devil is in the details.

Thanks. I bought it about 3 years ago (right AFTER some major work - shocks, brakes, a-arms, etc). I should have bought one of those things years ago. Most people say "Oh, it's not a real lift" but I haven't found anything I can't do on it yet. For those who don't know, you drive up on it like a big ramp and then you use a floor jack to raise the back of it and drop some support legs down. It lifts your car 30".

I laugh when I see those "project car for sale - 95% complete". Hell, that's two more years of work, isn't it?

Even little jobs like changing plugs & wires or checking tire pressure are so much nicer when you can lift the car up to your height, instead of having to bend down.

What is also tremendously helpful is a hydraulic transmission jack. Can't imagine pulling the tranny without one.

man you guys are noobs. I can do a tranny in 30 minutes easy.




Edit: nevermind, tranny = short for transmission. I get it now.

I usually leave the lift in ramp mode. I drive up on it but not too far. This lets me get under the front of the car if I need to and raises the engine up to my level.

I was going to buy a tranny jack the last time I changed a clutch but I didn't. I wish I would have had one this week. I bet it would have saved me 30 minutes and that is a long time when you are already sore from the previous days work.

So i have to ask, what did you think a "Tranny Job" was? :gay:

He said "TRANNY", Not "GRANNY" :gay:

dont judge me.

hey, where did you buy the lift from?

I think I just thought of how to make my own lift.

awesome. my transmission went tits up last night on the PCH, after our anniversary dinner. lack of a two car garage forces me to use a local shop. it's owned by a japanese guy who barely speaks english and i trust him completely. it feels weird letting someone else work on this car, but what can you do?

I'd like to know where you bought the lift from as well. Congrats on getting the tranny done.

Just follow the link (the domain from the picture). I paid $1400 shipped on special. Not sure what the cost is now. They ship it to a frieght company and you need a FULL SIZE truck to pick it up. Two people can set it up in an hour.

This is what it looks like before you lift up the back. My car stays parked uphill like this most of the time:

http://kwiklift.com/carshots/Misc/Image14.jpg