I'm putting a transmission in an rx-7 I bought. The car didn't have a tranny when I bought it. I've swapped trannies in other cars before, but they were all front-wheel drive.

I'm doing this in my backyard with the car on jack stands, and I could use as much advise as possible to save time on the install.

The real problem is actually getting the tranny UP there.
Any tips and tricks would be appreciated.

 

heh... i did mine with it on jackstands

Get the car as high as possible on jackstands (trust me, the transmission is impossible to get out if the car isn't higher off the ground than the transmission is tall.
Dropping the tranny is great, just pull it out the front (under the engine bay is how we did it)

Put a board under the new tranny. Use two jackstands, one on the frontal area of the board, anotre on the tailshaft. Jack it up keeping the tailshaft a 1/4 an inch lower.make sure that the jacks are point the right direction so you can easily move both of them at the same time. Meaning they should be parraellel to the the transmission.

mount a couple of the bellhousing mount bolts and let the first jack down. Mount the tranny mount and let the second jack down. you're done.

 

If you can get a friend to help you, this job will be 1000x easier. Unless you're a big guy and can wrestle the tranny up there by resting it on your chest, you'll have to devise a system of jacking it up there as mentioned above. I really recommend finding a friend, my friend and I had it in and bolted up inside of 45 minutes our very first time(TII tranny too, heavier!). Good luck.

Steve

P.S. If you have to do it yourself, I recommend finding the balance point of your tranny(do this by lifting it between your legs, cradling it with your hands, wherever you can manage to get it to balance in your hands is the balance point). When you find the balance point, place the tranny under the car, and lift up the tail end and slide the jack under. Steady it with one hand and jack it up with the other, have a set of jack stands ready to help balance it when it get's higher. Unless your car is WAY off the ground, or your jack is really skinny, this is a reasonably safe way to do it.

 

Thanks guys.
One more question for you. I've gone through the frustration of breaking bolts before, and I don't ever want to do it again. Where can I buy a hardware kit to replace the bolts that connect the tranny to the engine? I went to the dealer, and they couldn't even help me.

If there aren't any cheap places on the internet for ordering OEM stuff like bolts, then if anyone knows part #'s for the 5 (?) bolts that would be cool also.

 

One tip: The engine by itself tends to lean forward on the mounts. It helps to prop or wedge the top of the engine rearward, to get the tranny to line up.

I'm a 59 year old geek, so bench pressing it in was not an option.
I balanced mine on a floor jack by the drain bolt shield. Once you get it jacked up, the tunnel will help you keep it from falling.

 

It helps if the shifter is removed also and if it is not already, the cltch slave cylinder. Just gives you a bit more room to manuver it around.

 

I didnt realize this when I did my own as well. If I would have removed the clutch slave I woulda saved me tons of time. It was holding up the tranny while trying to put it back in. It ended up being the last thing I thought about. Having a friend help is prolly the best idea also.

 

If you don't mind spending money you can get a tranny Jack for under $50 from Harbor Freight.....

They also make an adapter for a floor jack to hold a tranny for under $50

I love mine and was able to drop and reinstall my tranny 3 times now by myself, and I am a fat little 39 year old whom resembles a troll!!! LOL

Tranny Jack $69

GARAGE JACK TRANSMISSION ADAPTER $49

Do a search or wait awhile and check the web page every week... these go on sale pretty often

Good Luck!!!