A milestone has been reached: Last night I removed the automatic transmission from Dirty. It took quite a bit of wiggling, since the tripod housing was still stuck in the transaxle, but after about 45 minutes, I was able to bust it loose from the K-member, engine, and core support. I also found that as soon as I took the bolts out, all the rubber in the transmission mount just disintegrated. So that’s shot.
Now that the transmission is out, I can do some of the things that I lacked space for:
- replace the BOV
- Clean up the engine bay
- Find the marker light wiring
- Re-attach the exhaust to the downpipe
- Hook up the heater hoses to the heater box
Other prep work I need to do:
- Get and install the bobble relocate bracket
- Get and replace the axle seals
- Get new sway bar end links and bushings
- Figure out something to do about the ball joint boots
- Get new tie rod boots
- Get new cotter pins
- Get replacement motor mounts (the ones from the SOHC should work) and fill them
- Clean up the transmission
Then I’ll be ready to attach the 5spd to the motor and put everything back together.