This isn't meant to be a type of thread (I leave those to guys like Nick and Calvin) but since the forum has been a little slow today, I figured I would share some of my epxeriences and maybe a few of you will even find some useful information out of this.
-A little bit of background
One of the main components I have not dealt with regarding my car and didn't know the condition of was the clutch. It has always grabbed well and operated as it should. I removed the CDV over a year ago. A few weekends ago I was at Road Atlanta for a track weekend. Since I lived <1 hour away I just stayed at home and drove up both mornings pulling my tire trailer. On the second morning, I noticed my clutch had a hint of slip when I was pulling the trailer to the event. I later did the 2nd to fifth gear WOT test and the RPMs hung up there a little longer than they normally did. Ok, clutch is on its way out.
I did not feel like trying to put it off and hope the clutch would hold out until the winter time. I was worried that it could go all at once and possibly leave me stranded far from home and AAA has a limit to their free towing distance even for plus members. Time to head off this issue before it gets too bad.
-Some preperation stuff
Naturally I did much research and made sure I had purchased things I both needed and wanted to do while I was in there. That is kind of a thread in itself so I will leave that out.
I knew the exhaust bolts might be difficult. I managed to get all three nuts off on the flange closest to the engine. On the far flange, one of the nuts rounded off and one of the studs sheared when I tried to take the nut off. Time to call in the artillery.
I took the car to a friend/shop owner that specializes in Land Cruisers and does all my powder coating for me (one of the co-owners has an E30 he tracks so we often talk as well). He helped me get the ba$tard studs and I put new bolts and nuts on and used antisieze on them (note I did not yet put in new gaskets). After this I really didn't drive the car hardly at all bc I didn't want those bolts to see too much heat as I wasn't planning on replacing them again after a few heat cycles.
-The tear down
Ok so I wish I had pictures for you hear but I was trying to be quick at this point and was running around at the same time. I won't get into detail because there are DIYs out there that take you through this just fine. I will come back to handling the bell housing bolts for the transmission.
-The meat of the project and some "while I was in there"
Ok so there is a whole story behind this project which ultimately lead to me removing and installaing the transmission 4 times (don't be scared by that, I made a bone head mistake which is impossible to make unless you have the specific kit that I'm using) but we aren't going to get into that and those that know don't need to share it (you know who you are ). Needless to say I can pull the trans out pretty quickly now and it actually doesn't bother me that much.
Replacing the selector saft seal was a no brainer since its quick and cheap.
One of the most ideal things you can do with the trans out are the detent pins. The parts aren't too expensive and it will cure that fifth gear lean (I got it when it was cold out but it would have undoubtedly gotten worse).
One of the shift pins on top of the trans (there are 3, held in by freeze plugs, very easy to change them)
The detent pins - here you can see I've already done reverse (see the nice blue cap held in by the snap ring). I'm comparing the sleeve I just removed from the 5th gear detent (the one deformed) to the new one which has only been just started into the well.
You have to deform the old ones to get them out. I tried to use a small slide hammer but the bottom edge was too small for me to be able to get onto. The procedure is to find the gap running down the sleeve (it is small but clean and look carefully and you will see it) and then take a small thin flat head (or your tool of choice) and gently tap it between the cylinder wall and the sleve right at the edge of that gap. BE CAREFUL not to score the cylinder wall (after I managed to get the screw driver started I basically let it center itself as I tapped it in and that worked well). See the DIY of your choice for more directions.
Concerning the orientation of the detent pins (shift pins have no radial orienatation so you can't screw them up), make sure you get it right when you drop them in.
See the beveled edge
The DIY should specify this. You can also manually check my twisting the selector rod while looking into the well. You will see a cam rotate into place and that is where the beveled edge needs to make contact. Also, the detents for reverse and 5th are different (one has a flat beveled edge and one is rounded) and the DIY I had specified which is which. If you somehow ended up with both detents have a flat edge, it will still work (ask me how I know ) but obviously you want the right part.
-A little bit of background
One of the main components I have not dealt with regarding my car and didn't know the condition of was the clutch. It has always grabbed well and operated as it should. I removed the CDV over a year ago. A few weekends ago I was at Road Atlanta for a track weekend. Since I lived <1 hour away I just stayed at home and drove up both mornings pulling my tire trailer. On the second morning, I noticed my clutch had a hint of slip when I was pulling the trailer to the event. I later did the 2nd to fifth gear WOT test and the RPMs hung up there a little longer than they normally did. Ok, clutch is on its way out.
I did not feel like trying to put it off and hope the clutch would hold out until the winter time. I was worried that it could go all at once and possibly leave me stranded far from home and AAA has a limit to their free towing distance even for plus members. Time to head off this issue before it gets too bad.
-Some preperation stuff
Naturally I did much research and made sure I had purchased things I both needed and wanted to do while I was in there. That is kind of a thread in itself so I will leave that out.
I knew the exhaust bolts might be difficult. I managed to get all three nuts off on the flange closest to the engine. On the far flange, one of the nuts rounded off and one of the studs sheared when I tried to take the nut off. Time to call in the artillery.
I took the car to a friend/shop owner that specializes in Land Cruisers and does all my powder coating for me (one of the co-owners has an E30 he tracks so we often talk as well). He helped me get the ba$tard studs and I put new bolts and nuts on and used antisieze on them (note I did not yet put in new gaskets). After this I really didn't drive the car hardly at all bc I didn't want those bolts to see too much heat as I wasn't planning on replacing them again after a few heat cycles.
-The tear down
Ok so I wish I had pictures for you hear but I was trying to be quick at this point and was running around at the same time. I won't get into detail because there are DIYs out there that take you through this just fine. I will come back to handling the bell housing bolts for the transmission.
-The meat of the project and some "while I was in there"
Ok so there is a whole story behind this project which ultimately lead to me removing and installaing the transmission 4 times (don't be scared by that, I made a bone head mistake which is impossible to make unless you have the specific kit that I'm using) but we aren't going to get into that and those that know don't need to share it (you know who you are ). Needless to say I can pull the trans out pretty quickly now and it actually doesn't bother me that much.
Replacing the selector saft seal was a no brainer since its quick and cheap.
One of the most ideal things you can do with the trans out are the detent pins. The parts aren't too expensive and it will cure that fifth gear lean (I got it when it was cold out but it would have undoubtedly gotten worse).
One of the shift pins on top of the trans (there are 3, held in by freeze plugs, very easy to change them)
The detent pins - here you can see I've already done reverse (see the nice blue cap held in by the snap ring). I'm comparing the sleeve I just removed from the 5th gear detent (the one deformed) to the new one which has only been just started into the well.
You have to deform the old ones to get them out. I tried to use a small slide hammer but the bottom edge was too small for me to be able to get onto. The procedure is to find the gap running down the sleeve (it is small but clean and look carefully and you will see it) and then take a small thin flat head (or your tool of choice) and gently tap it between the cylinder wall and the sleve right at the edge of that gap. BE CAREFUL not to score the cylinder wall (after I managed to get the screw driver started I basically let it center itself as I tapped it in and that worked well). See the DIY of your choice for more directions.
Concerning the orientation of the detent pins (shift pins have no radial orienatation so you can't screw them up), make sure you get it right when you drop them in.
See the beveled edge
The DIY should specify this. You can also manually check my twisting the selector rod while looking into the well. You will see a cam rotate into place and that is where the beveled edge needs to make contact. Also, the detents for reverse and 5th are different (one has a flat beveled edge and one is rounded) and the DIY I had specified which is which. If you somehow ended up with both detents have a flat edge, it will still work (ask me how I know ) but obviously you want the right part.
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