Yesterday was my second time replacing an FD clutch and I tried some new things this time to stab the transmission and it worked like a champ. Last time we just bench pressed it up there and monkeyed around with it for quite a while to get it to line up.

This time we did the following:
1.) Took a spare jack we had and made a tranny jack out of it by replacing the cup with a piece of 9 x 12 plywood (3/4"). Bolted it to the jack through the cup hole using a 1/2" bolt.
2.) We then spaced the passenger side of the tranny up another 3/4" to get the right clocking angle for the tranny (the pan on the bottom isn't parallel to the ground but is instead angled towards the drain).
3.) We then secured the tranny to the new ghetto fab trany jack using a ratcheing tie down. This allowed us to focus on stabbing the tranny as opposed to worrying about cracking our heads open if the tranny fell off the jack.
4.) Rotated the engine back by placing a 2" x 4" under the oil pan and GENTLY jacking it up. When you consider that the engine mounts are on the back housing and all the engine weight is forward of that, it means that the engine wants to rotate forward with the tranny off and makes it harder to line the tranny up. An alternate method for rotating the engine back down is to use the strut tower brace and secure it to the engine pull ring by the alternator.
5.) Buy some long **** M10 x 1.25 thread bolts and use them as guide pins to slide the tranny in place. Once the tranny is very close to alignment (but not stabbed) you can take the bolts and secure them through the tranny into the rear of the engine and use them as dowel pins to make sure everything is lined up 100% perfect. If you can't find longer bolts, you can actually use the 2 really long bolts that you already took out (1 to mount the tranny to the rear of the engine and 1 to mount the starter to the tranny).

After doing all that, the tranny literally just slid right in. We couldn't believe how easy it was. It took us about 10 minutes to get it all fully stabbed. This compares to about 40 minutes the time before. May have taken more time to prep but it was much less exhausting and stressful.

Hope this helps somebody.

 

I would never jack up the oil pan on these motors, the pan is so fragile and the seal is so prone to leaking that putting that kind of pressure on the pan isn't a very good idea. Next time I'd use an engine hoist and lift the front of the engine from the top.

 

I got good results using a ratchet strap down around underneath the TS housing and up to the strut bar to keep the engine supported up front while the trans was out, and to jack it into position to reinstall the trans. Of course if you have access to an engine hoist that's even better. You don't want to leave the engine hanging off its mounts while the trans is out.

 

howard coleman had a great thread on this. This was the thread I was referring to. Not sure if it helps....

https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generation-specific-1993-2002-16/transmission-removal-so-easy-if-you-know-how-596595/

 

Working at a dealer does have it's benefits...A lift and tranny jack for me!

 

Line up the clutch disc properly and it will slide right in. Use a pastic alignment tool and you'll usually be cursing for hours.

How to align it properly? Spare input shaft or measuring from outside of f-wheel with the depth measurement end of a caliper.

 

Try turning the input shaft a little bit. A couple times I've had it just a notch of where it wouldn't slide in.