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Got my transmission re-installed yesterday. Took a lot longer than I expected and I am a little sore from the effort, but its in.
I had planned ahead for the install. When I removed the transmission I purchased some bolts with the same thread pattern as two of the transmission bolts, then removed the heads and cut in a groove so I could remove them. I used these headless bolts as "guide pins" to help align the transmission when installing. I had high hopes because I have removed and installed many transmissions over the years. How hard could it be?
So inspired with confidence and my new home-made guide pins, just installed, I placed the transmission mounted to my floor jack in position and raised her up and got her on the guide pins and proceeded to wiggling and pushing and...no go. Hmm...perhaps the angle is off lets check. Yep the rear of the transmission needs to come up a but so I got a bottle jack and placed it on my floor jack to raise the back up to align properly. Now it might have been much easier to use the transmission adapter I got for Christmas from HF if it would have actually fit my floor jack. But this should work.
So back to wiggling and pushing and still no go. Perhaps something is wrong, better drop the transmission back down and check it out. Nope, things look OK...lets try again. Back up, check the up-down alignment and try again. Still no-go. I'm thinking...better check the 986forum to see if there is any advice. And there is but there's no obvious thing I am doing wrong. Just line it up right and it should go in.
So try again lining it up correctly and raising and lowering the transmission at different angles. Now the engine is being supported from above with a support bar perhaps I need to raise it up some. So I jack the engine up slightly the whole time peering at the gap which isn't closing between the engine and transmission to see if things are lining up. It "looks" like it but the transmission still isn't going in. The gap is still about 2 inches I guess. Something must be wrong so I lower the transmission again and check things out. Still looking OK to me. Oh, and I am turning the shaft occasionally in case it is getting caught or not lining up.
Perhaps its the new slave cylinder...makes little sense but heck now I'm getting tired and let's see if removing that helps any. Remove the slave cylinder, jack her back up and align with the alignment pins and proceed to wiggle and cajole and still no-go. As I lay under the car "thinking" about my options the 986forum advice I thought was the best was that if the transmission won't go in, just walk away and come back to it fresh the next day. I'm thinking this is sounding pretty good now. Just leave it for now and come back.
So I take a break and go inside. Grab a soda and sit down and ask the dog what he thinks I should do next. He isn't much on advice so I decide to give it one more try then call it a day. This time I am going to get rid of the alignment pins and just lift up the tranny, align it best I can and give it a try.
Which I did. I get under the car with the transmission aligned best I can tell and give it the heave and surprise, surprise she slides right in. All the way. Yeah! Get all the bolts in and call it a day.
Thanks 986forum!
Guide pin headless bolts into the trash!
Dave in TX
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