After removing the engine and transmission from the frame I need to mount the engine on my engine stand and do some work on the transmission. This necessitates removing the transmission from the engine block.
I began by draining the transmission oil. Before removing the drain plug it is always a good idea to make sure you can remove the fill plug in order to be able to refill the transmission. The fill plug was located towards the back of the bellhousing on the driver's side. I removed it with no problem using a 20 mm socket. Then I replaced it again.
The drain plug was located underneath the bellhousing, also towards the rear. I removed it using my 1/2" drive ratchet with no socket.
This picture is out of focus, but it shows the drain plug after I removed it. The plug is magnetized to catch any metal shavings or metal dust that grind off the gears when the transmission is operating. Mine had a few rather large chunks of metal and lots of shavings attached to it. As I've said before, the shifting was
very sloppy on the car when I drove it. I cleaned off the plug and replaced it after the oil had drained.
The transmission bellhousing is connected into the engine block by a grand total of six bolts. Four of these are large bolts around the perimeter of the bellhousing. I removed each of these using a 9/16" socket.
The other two are smaller bolts at the bottom of the bellhousing. I removed these using a 1/2" socket and a 1/2" wrench to hold the bolts from spinning.
At this point the transmission was disconnected but didn't want to come free. The starter was bolted into the bellhousing from the front, so I decided to remove it in case that was what was holding the two pieces together. The starter is just held on with two bolts which I removed using a 14 mm socket.
The starter came right off with those bolts removed. You can see below, right the gear on the starter motor that engages the teeth around the edge of the flywheel to get the car started.
A couple of taps with the mallet and a bit of prying and I heard that satisfying "thunk" of the transmission coming off the engine.
I slid the transmission off the crankshaft and put is aside for now.
The pressure plate and clutch disc were held in place by six bolts that I removed using a 13 mm socket. The flywheel wants to turn when you try to loosen these bolts, but I was able to either (1) hold the flywheel in place using downward force at the time I turned the wrench or (2) use a quick bump on the wrench to work the bolt loose while inertia held the flywheel in place.
You can see how worn the clutch disc is. I think a new clutch is in order when I put this all back together. Below, left is a shot of the flywheel.
