Hello all you C5 guys. I loaf over on the low rent forum (C4) but I've got a question. A friend of mine has a 2000 Vette with the manual tranny and another friend has a auto repair business. The 2000 Vette has transmission problems and the owner wants to change it out. He has about 7 or 8 feet of stuff that's supposed to go under the car.

He has the transmission, torque tube and a box of parts. My garage buddy will do the job and I'll help. I build engines and transmissions, setup differentials and basically I have some pretty strong mechanical troubleshooting and repair abilities.

The garage guy wants to know about how long it will take to change out the transmission. We don't have a FSM and for this one job would rather not purchase one. (Although we will if necessary)The owner of the Vette doesn't have enough mechanical or electrical skilz to warrant him getting one. Wiper blade change would be a major job to him.

How long should it take to change out the transmission and do we just change the tranny or the whole assembly. We'll probably put in a clutch, pressure plate and bearing while we're in there.

I have changed the clutch on a similar vehicle......my 1980 Porsche 928 and had no problems. What do you all think this should take time wise. Thanks guys but I'm lost here. This is one of those Kentucky buddy, buddy jobs. The man with the Vette owns a body shop, I need about 1500 bucks worth of body work done to my 1989 Silverado and the garage guy owes me. He doesn't build engines and I do.

He replaced an engine in a 2003 Ford Lightning and I rebuilt it and we sold it complete for $4500.00. Those Ford guys are nuts.


Everyone will be busy but we're just trying to limit the amount of cash that changes hands. Thanks for any help and Merry Christmas.

 

I think you are setting yourself up for failure(or problems at the very least), by not have a service manual at your disposal......especially considering you have ZERO experience with this platform.

Good luck

 

Service Manual would be helpful. This'll give you a good idea: http://www.cajundude.com/dopeinstall.doc

I'd say plan for 4 - 6 hours on a lift. I've done it on jackstands and it took 8 or 9 hours the first time...

 

That's not too bad at all. Do you pull the torque tube also or just the tranny? Also going to put in a clutch, PP and TOB. Any suggestions on which ones. Not looking for extra performance just something about like stock. The one in there should be OK but while I'm at it, I may as well change it.

Is it necessary to change everything like the old days or can just the clutch disk and the TOB be changed. Is it OK to resurface the flywheel or do we change it? Sorry about the questions but inquiring minds want to know.

Thanks, that's the same reply that I'd typically give someone else but I really am pretty good at this stuff. As your screen name implies, maybe I'm just "Lucky".

 

Wow, that's impressive. I'm not very sharp with these cars , so I always recommend the service manual (for people like me), that do not possess the extensive wisdom you obviously do.

 

Uhhhhhh. I think I remember the saying, "the pride comes before the fall" or something like that. You came on this forum seeking advice and wisdom from experienced people. Lucky is not only "lucky" but he has a wealth of knowledge that you seriously do not even know you do not have. Lucky FREELY gives his technical expertise to all that ask nicely. But, he suffers no fools and he is seldom, if ever, wrong. I would highly suggest you do as several people have suggested not the least of which is Lucky and buy a service manual. You might skate through this R&R without a hitch but not likely. You might even learn something.

 

Thanks guys, FSM it is.......just in case. I have them for my Impala SS and my 1995 Vert, I just hated to buy it for this one job because the owner of the Vette is a bit strapped right now. He's got a lot of money tied up in insurance company parts for the wrecks he's fixing.

I'll just bite the bullet and purchase it for myself. I didn't mean to sound like a know-it-all and I use the forums and their members' knowledge base quite a bit. I always appreciate the help. Since I retired a few months back I've been pretty busy helping some local folks with their car problems and maybe I was getting a bit cocky.

The mechanical/electrical aspect of cars has been my hobby for many years and although I try to be humble I rarely get into trouble. I keep forgetting that you all do not know me. This forum makes us all too much like one big, happy disjointed family. On an unrelated note.....a few years ago a friend has disassembled a Hasselblad camera because it wouldn't work. He put all the parts in a box and asked me if I could help him out. This was before the internet. Every screw was removed and there were over 250 parts in this box. I reassembled the camera and in the process, found the original problem..........with no prints or drawings. He's still using this large format camera.

Thanks again for all the help. I'll tell the owner it should take a couple of days and go from there.

I do occasionally get lucky.

 

Easiest way and best is to remove the trans and rear diff as one assembly--on either an A4 or a 6-speed--removing the "rear cradle" 1st is not that tough---only 4 big bolts hold the wholw cradle on anyway !!!!! requires removal of exhaust---seperating the rear lower ball joints only---taking apart the shocks/toe arms/trans mount/wiring/linkage/clutch
I have removed an entire rear diff and trans assembly on an A4 in one hour on jackstands in my garage !!!!---The rusty exhaust took the longest to get apart !

 

You'll have to pull the torque tube as well to replace the clutch. Just take the whole drivetrain and rear cradle out as one assembly. The clutch you should get depends entirely on your performance goals in the future. If you're going to stay stock a lot of guys on here like the LS7 clutch. You should also replace the pilot bearing while you're at it. The throw out bearing is attached to the slave cylinder which should also be replaced. Check the condition of the composite torque tube couplers. They do fail eventually and it's a lot easier just to drop the drivetrain once. I guess you could resurface the flywheel but if you're going to go through all that I'd just get a new one. Buy a clutch and flywheel together so you know they're balanced.

 

I did this job alone in a grassy driveway on jackstands and ramps. It took 3 weekends - about 5 hours a day. Dope's writeup is all you need for this one. The FSM has this job all spread out and looking like a NASA project. Print out Dope's 3 pages and go. Get lots of sandwich bags and Sharpie pens to keep the little parts together and you'll be fine. It's very straightfoward.

Hardest part was getting it up in the air safely so I would feel comfortable working under it.

Watch the way the brake lines run and how they move when you drop the cradle/rear. You will need to set it up that way when putting it together or you'll have to drop it again to get the brake lines right. (This could be why it took the 3rd weekend)

 

I personally prefer to drop the suspension first, then unbolt the transmission from the torque tube to drop the trans & differential together. It is easier to line it back up on the install if you install it the same way. More steps, but it was better for me and seems to save time in the long run. Follow the posted installs as stated earlier. If you have specific questions, I may be able to guide you the rest of the way and post additional pictures for you.

 

Get an ALLDATA DIY account. Not as detailed as the FSM but it's better than nothing.

http://www.alldatadiy.com/?gclid=COG...FRhCgwod2BlOZw

 

I pulled mine the first time without a FSM. Seriously, this car isn't that hard to get apart if you have good mechanical abilities. It's all pretty straightforward stuff, you unbolt parts and it comes apart pretty much like any other car. The drivetrain is a little unique so search and find some pics of cars with the drivetrain pulled and you'll see what you have to do.

There are about 3 comments I'd make that might catch you.

You have to pull the console apart and remove the shifter so it's not catching as you drop the drivetrain. Easiest is to just pull the 4 bolts and take the shifter off the "shifter box". You would have to take apart the bolt at the back of the shifter box if you seperate the trans and torque tube. Search here for shifter alignment so you get it back together right.

Watch how much you lower the drivetrain because the engine can come up against the firewall and damage the firewall. There is a pic on the torque tube with this warning.

I personally found it easier to put the torque tube in by itself. The whole assembly was just not letting me easily hit the pilot bearing. You can just lift it into place and with one hand on the back of the torque tube you can just wiggle it around till it slides in. I don't see how it makes any difference assembly time wise because you will likely seperate the trans and tube anyways while it's apart.

Peter