Transmission Swappage Fun

[RobertK]

Almost three months into my project car and we finally got the transmission on the car with some very innovative shade tree mechanic thinking. I'll be sure to post these in the swap thread later on as suggestions.

Using this method took less than 10 mins to implement and saved us an hour of heavy lifting. First we jacked the front of the engine up to angle the back of the engine down. Using a 2x4 we cut a small hole of the transmission drain bolt. Set the transmission on the board and strapped it down with 3 chains of plastic ties. We then found the best balancing point for the transmission which happened to be where the drain bolt was.

Next we sat the transmission on a piece of old carpet. Pulled the carpet under the car. Slid the jack under the car, lifted the transmission onto the jack at the balance point, and jacked the transmission into place. To our luck we were able to line it right up within minutes and stab the transmission onto the engine. Using this method we had the transmission installed within an hours bolts included.

Here's the Pics

[ColdAccord]

i had to go back and forth between the pictures and the text like 5 times to figure out what the fuck you were saying

[RobertK]

That's why I wrote a complete description first.. This is not a how to guide, just a description of the experience I had installing my transmission.

[e30evolution]

i just stand up underneath car and stand on the pedal for the pnuematic tranny jack..... but good story. what was the point on the hole though?

[RobertK]

The transmission drain bolt kep pivoting on the board making it rock left right. Cutting the hole allowed the transmission to sit straight up on the board. Since we don't have anything close to a lift we had to get creative. All we have is four 4 ton jack stands, 1 small jack and one big truck jack.

No car lifts here.. we be keeping it shadetree gangsta style.

[Digitalwave]

You had the car jacked up in the grass?

[RobertK]

No no.. we set the transmission over in the yard because we had previously drained the gear oil out and filled it up with new gear oil.

I'll post some pics of the car jacked up on the driveway later this weekend.