Another question arises while I am doing this..... Do I have to grease the fork and pivot stud and the area where the fork grabs the throw out bearing..... If so what kind of grease should I use.

 

17mm allen on the drain and fill. And I would put a little bit of all purpose grease up there, like wheel bearing grease. Just a thin coat though, you don't want to get it on the clutch.

 

I'd like to thank all of u guys in advance, you guys have been great..... Without u guys I'd be in way over my head

 

Alright stupid question of the day...... does the C-member need to completely come off because the bolts that connect the C-member to the Dana are really stubborn and do not want to budge.

Another one is how do I support the back of the motor there is really nothing to support it... the only thing I see to provide support to the motor is by putting a jack on the Oil pan (not a good Idea), Bell housing (thats coming off and I dont know how well magnesium can support weight), or my Long Tubes (also not a good Idea).

 

Put a block of wood on a jack and place it under the oil pan to support the engine. There really isn't all that much weight on the pan. The motor mounts also hold a good bit of weight too.

The C-beam doesn't have to be fully removed, but the bolts do have to come out in order to move it out of the way enough to allow the tailshaft section to squeeze by.

 

Ok tranny is out and I think I found the set screw for the ball stud.... Do I really need to the pull the bell housing because the back of the ball stud has a hex head so i can torque it down then put the set screw back on.... also how am I supposed to get that C-member back on that was a B**ch trying to wrestle the tranny around that thing it definitely wouldn't come off any other way

 

If you don't plan on doing anything clutch-related, throwout bearing, or a new pilot bearing/bushing then no, it doesn't need to come out.

It's not easy, but it will go back in. You need to have the C-beam pushed over as far as you can get it and then slide the transmission in. That ZF is one heavy mother...

 

Ohh I know its heavy I was benchpressing it today.... Is there a propper adjustment for the pivot stud or is it just torque it down

 

Just torque it down until it bottoms out. It is important to note that the ball stud screws in from the INSIDE of the bellhousing. In order to remove it from the outside without removing the bellhousing you need to turn it CLOCKWISE as if you are screwing it in.

 

I've read that on other posts, but I found that hooking a small pry bar under the lip of the retainer supplied me with all the force I needed to remove it.





I DID actually try the 'take out the top, attach screwdriver with vise grip, and pull with all your might, and all I seemed to do was make my arms pop out a bit. I also discovered that if you don't have the vise grips tight enough on the retainer, it will fly rapidly toward your man parts, and that made me start looking for an alternate way to get this out.

Steven

 

Ok a couple questions on this project....

should I use locktite blue on the threads of the set screw and the ball stud? if I do will it be a PITA to get off later on down the road? will i be able to take it off with a wrench?

What is the procedure to get the C-member and tranny back in the car? It was really tough maneuvering the tranny around C-Member due to lack of room.

 

Locktite Blue is designed to be a serviceable thread locker, meaning it is made to be removed. It will be a little more difficult to remove, but seeing as it's a giant allen size, it shouldn't be a problem for a 1/2" ratchet.

I would look at installing the transmission, then seeing if you can slide the c-beam to the right of the transmission enough to move it back onto the diff, then slide it left onto the transmission. There are also measurements that should be maintained from the top of the C-beam to the trans tunnel, and the right side of the C-beam to the trans tunnel.

If you contact ZFdoc, he has the spacer "blocks". I would also recommend buying the ZFdoc beam clamps. Makes it a ton easier for installation, and it comes with the spacer "blocks".

 

I was thinking about getting the spacer blocks.... but I dont get what you are saying about spacing issues... I would imagine there is only one way for it to go in... I know when I removed the tranny I couldnt sneak the C member around it i had to shift the member to the rear of the car and guide the tranny around it.

 

While ZF Doc is a very knowledgeable guy, the beam plates and spacers are a gimmick in my opinion. The beam plates may make install slightly easier, but provide zero extra stiffness. You dont need the spacers if you have two jacks. Put one jack under the trans and one under the diff and align the two so that all 4 bolts slide up and down and spin easily by hand. Then tighten them and remove the jacks. I have had my trans out several times and use this method to put it back in. The bolts never loosen and the beam does not move.

 

what procedure do you use to get the c-member up though.... I noticed there is no room to get the C-member around the tranny and rear. can you walk me through step by step how you get the tranny and the c-member back where they need to be.

 

Need to move it backwards

 

For starters I remove the c-beam completely before taking out the transmission. To install, I make sure that the engine is supported by a block of wood and a jack under the oil pan. Let the engine tilt backwards as much as possible, without letting anything on the engine come in contact with the firewall. With the engine tilted and the shifter in the 3rd gear position, use another jack or a friend to help lift the trans into place. Make sure it rests up against the bellhousing fully before putting the bolts in. Do not try to draw it in using the bolts. If it feels like it is hung up on something, it may be that the clutch is no longer in line, and the input shaft isnt going into the pilot bearing. To fix this, have someone press the clutch pedal while you wiggle/push the trans into place. Once the transmission is bolted into place, use another jack to support the trans/engine combo and remove the other from the engine. You can now slide the c beam on the transmission and put the driveshaft in, but push the c beam in as far forward as possible and a little off to the side. Now using the jack under the trans, jack up until you can slide the other side of the c beam over the differential. Get it to the point where you can get at least one bolt in the trans and one in the diff. Now, using the jack that was holding the engine, jack up the diff and trans until both are in line with each other. You will know when both are inline when all 4 bolts can slide in and out easily and and turn by hand. If just one is difficult than something is not aligned correctly. It may take some time to play with both jacks, but it is cheaper than the spacer/c beam plates. Once you have all the bolts in freely, tighten them all down and remove the jacks.

 

Thank you for the detailed write-up.... I will have to try it this way.

 

Do not use the castrol bmw crap. That stuff is for bmw's not your transmission. The transmission synchros actually needs a small amount of friction to operate properly and the syncromesh type stuff has the proper additives.

You live in the NE and if you have a day where you get up and the trans temp is at 50F, then its pure he!! to shift.

In my case, the gearshift lever wouldnt physically move into the next gear at WOT. I had to abort drag strip runs because of this.

ZFdoc had me replace the clutch hydraulics - same issue. Next advice was to rebuild the trans at a cost of thousands. No thanks.

I refilled the trans fluid with gm syncromesh and the problem went away. Lots of bronze flecks in the oil when I drained it also.

Im now running amsoil syncromesh and have had similar good results with this stuff.

Some advice I have:

If you want a short-throw shifter. Now's the time to do it. Ive had good lucks with the Hurst short throw shifter.

Beam plates are not a gimmick, in the sense they make it easier to install the c-beam.

Use a little bit (dont want it slinging onto your clutch) of grey moly? grease on your pivot ball / clutch fork. Also, if you must remove that, make sure you loc-tite it back in. Dont want that backing off.

I had issues with my c-beam where it loosened up because I didnt tighten it up enough. It will be real obvious if this happens - your shifter will move up/ down about an 1" when you accel / deccel. Mine apparently needed tightened more than the FSM specs.

Im not sure what clutch / flywheel you are using, but Ive had great luck with the SPEC stage 3+ / aluminum louis fidanza (12 lb) flywheel.

I had a SPEC stage 2 kevlar clutch in there. It worked great, but one day the center just blew out on it and had me walking on the side of the freeway. (93 6speed..old combo... 350 rwhp / 350 rwtq).

Also be aware of the chinese throwout bearings. I havent heard of any failures, but they seem 'sloppier' than the 'USA' ones. If the throwout bearing you have says 'china' on it, you might want to hunt for a USA made one or even reuse your old one (provided it says Made in USA).

Good luck.

 

I originally embarked on this journey because my clutch fork was hyper-extending into the pressure plate because the pivot stud backed out a lot and the set screw fell off. I recovered the set screw once I separated the tranny from the bellhousing. I inspected the clutch assy. as well as everything else, cleaned everything else, re-greased everything, and now I am waiting for my new reverse light switch, amzoil syncro-mesh fluid (3 quarts so I can get the appropriate 2.2quarts), and slave cylinder (because I noticed mine was leaking). I already have a short throw "Hurst" shifter that was installed eight years ago and 40k miles with my Fidanza alum fly wheel and Carolina Stage III clutch.... Which all seem to have plenty of life left.