Dropped the automatic on Brian's car

[Pierre]

I never had so much trouble removing a transmission before. We fought for two hours. The bell housing keep hitting the tunnel. We pulled, twisted and yanked. No luck. We disconnected the engine mounts, and cranked the engine up to get maximum tilt. It still wouldn't move. We loosened the subframe which lowered the engine more and it finally came out. ATF EVERYWHERE. But it's out.
Now, we put the 5-speed in.
Any words of wisdom or past experience that could save time and knuckles would be appreciated.

[pappentl]

Can you say a bit more about your setup? I have to do the same when the weather get's warmer (auto to 5-speed swap). Was the front of the car on the ground or raised? I've pulled a few engines with manual transmissions together, but not the auto. TIA.

...tom

[grumpsjr]

The whole car is in the air on stands. I did some poking around on the board but didn't find much in the way of the easiest way to do this. Hopefully putting it all back together will be much easier. I'm tempted to take good notes and expand on the 5-speed conversion faq.

[Mike W.]

I'm guessing you did it with the torque converter still attached to the flywheel? The trick IMO, if there is one, is to unbolt it from the flywheel, lever the TC off the end of the crank as you're slowly removing the tranny and the whole thing will drop off in an inch or inch and a half of travel. With minimal spillage too. It might seem quicker the other way, but it's not.

[Pierre]

This is a 1980 E12 with an automatic we are swapping to a 5-speed. The car is on jack stands. The bottom of the car is a foot and a half to two feet off the ground. We drooped the exhaust, drive shaft, disconnected the tranny cooler lines, drained it, removed the starter and all the bolts attaching the tranny to the block. (We had to take the intake runner #6 out to access the starter bolts. The top 3 bolts (13 mm) and the 17mm bolt on the driver's side were a real test in patience, small hands and scrapes. We removed the coolant lines to the heater core to access those bolts. The tranny would slide back and separate from the engine about 6 inches but would stop moving further back. The bell housing was contacting the tunnel. We rotated the transmission clockwise, counterclockwise, yanked, got drenched in ATF to no avail. So we raised the front of the engine to tilt the whole assembly back. Not enough. We disconnected the motor mounts bottom bolts and raised the engine until the back of the head was contacting the firewall. Still not enough. Finally, we loosened the subframe bolts but kept the bolts in about 4 or 5 threads. The subframe separated from the frame rail about an inch which allowed additional tilting of the motor. We were limited by the firewall and by the oil pan contacting the subframe. We lifted the front end of the motor as far as it would go and that was barely enough for the transmission to sneak out.
We tried using a floor jack to rest the transmission on so that it would not drop on the ground as it came out. That did not work. The jack was bulky, was getting the way and keeping the pad under the pan was not realistic. Besides, having only one floor jack and needing it to jack up the front of the car called for alternative measures. So we got a milk crate, set it under the tranny, and when it finally came off, it landed on the crate. We could then lift it, get the crate out and lower the tranny to the ground and slide it out from under the car.
In this instance, reassembly is NOT the reverse. Pedal box, clutch line, brake fluid reservoir, replace the flywheel, install clutch and pressure plate, replace pilot bearing, remove the PRNDL light board from the cluster, replace the center console, reroute the reverse light switch wiring, and probably a few other items that will become obvious as we reassemble the whole thing.

[grumpsjr]

Mike,

That makes a lot of sense. The minute I read that, I thought "Yeah, that probably would have worked a lot better."

Of course, I'm now encouraged for the reassembly, and the clutch and manual box will hopefully fit "better" than the automatic and TC per how you've described.

Thanks for the input!

[Pierre]

I'm guessing you did it with the torque converter still attached to the flywheel? The trick IMO, if there is one, is to unbolt it from the flywheel, lever the TC off the end of the crank as you're slowly removing the tranny and the whole thing will drop off in an inch or inch and a half of travel. With minimal spillage too. It might seem quicker the other way, but it's not.

WHERE WERE YOU YESTERDAY?????
Thanks for the tidbit. It does sound like it would make it easier to disconnect the TC first. I did not think about it. Live an learn I guess, if I ever have to do this again. I hope not. But it was fun nonetheless.

[Pierre]

Mike,

That makes a lot of sense. The minute I read that, I thought "Yeah, that probably would have worked a lot better."

Of course, I'm now encouraged for the reassembly, and the clutch and manual box will hopefully fit "better" than the automatic and TC per how you've described.

Thanks for the input!

Hey Brian, you can drop the A from the 528iA in your sig. The tranny is officially off it now.
How about Brutus for the E39 as a name? After all, a 4.4 V8 with a 6-speed is a brute.

[grumpsjr]

See updated sig - the 540 is "Gerard"; I'm a fan of the Spanish National Soccer Team.

[Mike W.]

I'm guessing you did it with the torque converter still attached to the flywheel? The trick IMO, if there is one, is to unbolt it from the flywheel, lever the TC off the end of the crank as you're slowly removing the tranny and the whole thing will drop off in an inch or inch and a half of travel. With minimal spillage too. It might seem quicker the other way, but it's not.

WHERE WERE YOU YESTERDAY?????

I was here, LOL, just like usual. No posts about it though.

FWIT, the first engine change I ever did, or played a major role in at least, way back when Nixon was pres, I ended up rolling around in a mix of engine oil, tranny fluid and rusty radiator water. Sure made me look for a better way in the future.

[Pierre]

I'm guessing you did it with the torque converter still attached to the flywheel? The trick IMO, if there is one, is to unbolt it from the flywheel, lever the TC off the end of the crank as you're slowly removing the tranny and the whole thing will drop off in an inch or inch and a half of travel. With minimal spillage too. It might seem quicker the other way, but it's not.

WHERE WERE YOU YESTERDAY?????

I was here, LOL, just like usual. No posts about it though.

FWIT, the first engine change I ever did, or played a major role in at least, way back when Nixon was pres, I ended up rolling around in a mix of engine oil, tranny fluid and rusty radiator water. Sure made me look for a better way in the future.

I didn't post anything. We were in the middle of the muck and did not stop and think about posting a question.
There is something about rolling around in oil, tranny fluid and coolant mixed together. It's disgusting but it is a rite of passage. Only then can you claim to be a wrench.

[RonDwyer]

I found my transmission nearly impossible to remove with the old sagging firewall rubber holding it back. That is all it was.

[Pierre]

In fact, I took a utility knife to it and took out some of it around the starter and at the tunnel firewall area on the driver's side. It helped some but it was still a total bear.
I think it may be a good idea to remove a lot of it out now that the tranny is out. I wonder how much louder the car will become.

[GripGreg]

Since the torque convertor is not there, you should have better access w/o triming anything I hope. You sure picked the wrong time of the year for me to come help. Mostly 'cause of the rain.