exactly how high should i get the car off the ground to remove the tranny?

it'll be my first time doing this and i have jack stands and ramps at my disposal so...

the most ive ever done is take apart my entire intake to replace injectors and throttle body, with no problems.

 

get it as high as you can using jack stands.

 

You need to keep it low enough to reach the tranny with a transmission jack and high enough to roll the jack+transmission out from under the body of the car.

 

I don't think I would get it as high as possible with the jackstands, they seem more unstable to me at the top few clicks. Whatever you do make sure to do so safely. I've done it though in my old turbo 2 on jackstands and I did not need the jack stands fully extended. Actually I thought I remember driving the front wheels onto ramps and lifting the back onto stands, although I've been on a lift for so long that I don't remember?.

 

Have you handled a transmission before?
It's about 75 lbs and you will need to maneuver the input shaft out of the clutch disc.

I've pulled them and laid them on my chest, but you may want a friend or two to help you out.

You want to be able to comfortably crawl in and out from under the car... Measure the bellhousing from side to side, as it's about the same height since it's round... Maybe a little taller.

Add a few inches to that and you should be golden.

 

What he said. The FC may be one of the easiest manual transmissions to pull. You really only need to put the front on stands. (Read as: Bare minimum, such as if you only have two stands at your disposal.)

It really shouldn't take you more than an hour or two since this is your first one. After doing it a couple times you should be able to pull it in about half an hour to forty-five minutes.

Good luck and have fun.

 

srry for the delay in response but thanks for all of the advice.

no, i've never messed with my transmission before except for changing mounts two weeks ago which may have lead to a problem some where up front; https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-generation-specific-1986-1992-17/problems-vibrations-889099/
the measuring technique mentioned by Pele sounds good.
how long does the input shaft go into the clutch, just to get an idea of what to look forward to? although ill probably feel it when extracting.

ill definitely be taking it nice and easy, this is the thread that originaly made me confident of doing it myself; https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...ight=vibration

i should be able to do it this saturday or sunday

 

everything went great removing the transmission.

 

Easy, wasn't it?

Only hard part about it is getting it back in, getting the input shaft lined up right with the pilot bearing.

 

yep, fun too

if it can be put in words, what would be a good method to use in getting the tranny aligned just right?

i was thinking that when i got the input shaft in i could maybe slide some bolts in up front and at the same time put two back in the crossmember/mount. then carefully take the bolts back out from where it bolts up to the engine and slightly move the tranny up and down to see how much play there is, while making one mark on the tranny and two on the engine (highest and lowest points in relation to the amount of play), then line up the mark on the tranny between the two on the engine. and same for side to side.
just an idea, ive never done this so...

of course i will have someone else directly below the tranny with two hands moving the tranny directly up n down and side to side.

not to mention that im still trying to get the flywheel nut off so i can get it resurfaced. im going to be letting it soak overnight with pb blast to help with loosining. i was able to borrow the tool from craftsman (2-1/8 socket with a 1/2" connector that has the long bar that slides back and forth + my braker-bar)

should i do any extra bracing of the engine to keep me from twisting it too much when loosining the flywheel or will it be fine?

 

Once the input shaft is in, the bell housing and rear iron surface will be flush. Just have someone hold the transmission in place long enough to get all of the bell housing bolts in, then snug them down & finally tighten it up all the way. Make the crossmember bolts the last thing you do to ensure the bell housing bolts are all going to tighten up without binding.

The flywheel nut is on there at about 350 ft. lbs., so it's going to take some damn good leverage from under the car. I wouldn't worry about the engine mounts, but you might start to wonder how stable the jack stands are. A downward motion it probably all you'll be able to manage anyhow.

 

i dont want to sound too dumb, but when you say "tighten up without binding", binding meaning that all bolts tighten perfectly with the bell housing flush up against the engine all the way around and the bolts not having to pull the two together?.

yeah ive basically have these 3 angels to work with: / | \ when trying to loosen the nut. and i plan on trying to secure with two more jackstands if possible and/or i have some cinder blocks that will be able to catch the car if anything does happen (right now its rear wheels on ramps and front on jackstands)

 

Yeah, you never want to pull the bellhousing on with the bolts. Get them taken care of, then worry about securing the crossmember.

 

when I changed my trans it was only me and my friend.
We both took each end of the trans and pulled it apart from the engine, but when we put it together I lifted it on my knee while under the car and shimmy it in by myself, and I am a pretty big guy (43inch chest)

We had all 4 wheels on another set of rims, so the car was about 18-20 inches from the ground to the pinch weld of the car. We had to find a way to stop the car from moving on the rim since relying on just the parking brake is chancing it a little too much, so I took some 2x4 and stuff them in between the rims so the tire will not move anywhere keeping the car still.

You might need to tilt the front of the engine a little bit upwards to put the trans back in if the trans hit the trans tunnel. I had solid mounts so I had to loosen them up a little bit.

Since the car is up, you might as well also check the diff mounts also and replace if neccesary while you are still under there, and check other things also.

 

I'm so fortunate to have access to a 3/4" impact gun, man it makes the task of removing the flywheel nut practically non-existant! If I didn't have that gun to use, I probably would have been trying to figure it out for 2-3 days, but it only took me 5 minutes with the impact.

Well when lining the input shaft up, just be persistant because it's usually a bitch, but sometimes it just slips right in so easily?! You gotta be pretty rough with it and it usually takes a lot of energy, so after it goes in and you get a bolt in, it's a good time to take a break. haha.

 

For the input shaft, it also helps to leave the transmission in gear... Any gear, it doesn't matter.

If the input shaft isn't going into the clutch disc properly, give the output shaft a slight turn as you're pushing the transmission into the engine.

 

I think I've had more trouble getting the nose of the input shaft into the pilot bearing than getting the splines to line up. If you're the slightest bit off-angle, that sucker will not go forward the last ~1/2". Cursing and trying over and over again will usually follow.

 

If this is an n/a engine, your lucky there light. I just swapped over to a TII transmission.. wow, the leg and knee does/does not work. It's heavy... I mean heavy I only weigh 130lbs.

You know when your in the input shaft. Another thing when you have the input shaft into the hole, life up on the rear of the transmission and then it will just slide in. Also the trans will have nasty gaps between the block and trans.

 

weak asses, i do it by myself and im 5 feet.

 

haha, when I took mine out I didn't have the jackstands high enough (my jack didn't go that high....) so I just pushed it to the back of the transmission tunnel and it stayed there until I put it back in.

 

haha.......seriously???
5 feet?