Has anyone done this without removing the engine? I have read somewhere that it can be done however Haynes says not. Any advice?
Stephen

 

Yeah, it can be done, but the bolts on the bell housing are so close to the body, it's a real pain.
It's like; get the wrench on, turn it one "flat" _ turn the wrench over _ turn another flat _ some of the nuts took 20 minutes to get off.
And usually the fine thread is dirty enough or slightly damaged where you can't spin it off with your bare fingers.
It can be an agonizing and tedious procedure, just getting the bolts out.

I have a really good transmission jack when I did mine.
And you need to get it quite high so you can wheel out the trans. on the jack to clear the car.

 

As JeffR1 says, real pain in the butt. But, can be done.

 

Thanks for that. I'll let you know how I get on. I am going to make a "cradle" to fit on top of my trolley jack. I remember being pinned to the ground once when removing the gearbox from my Volvo Amazon!

 

Good luck, at the time when I did mine they didn't have those hinged ratcheting box end wrenches, so they should be a big help.

 

Recently I planned on dropping the auto in my 3.8 to rebuild and reseal it, this task has since been put on the back burner.

But I initiailly was just going to drop the front suspension setup as a complete unit and then just drop the engine and box as one whilst lifting the car over.

I reckon I could have that done in a matter of hours, having previously removed the front subframe, I know that is only a handful of bolts.

Having then looked at it further, another option would be to support the motor and remove the engine mounts to then drop the motor down an inch or so lower onto the crossmember, this would allow slightly more access to the transmission bellhousing bolts, while still keeping the motor attached and the front suspension in place.

When I get my shed up and running, rather than the carport I currently have, I'm just going to dismantle the front end completely and make it a big expensive project, refresh and powdercoat the front end with all new bushes/joints etc, reseal the motor and tidy it up, rebuild the auto, and repaint the engine bay, along with a rewire too, and any rust repairs while i'm in there, easy weekend job (not)

 

Om my 1960 Mk2 auto we removed the transmission (DG 250) 3 times (and it failed 3 times, due to our ignorance and inability to set it up properly) before biting the bullet and switching to John's car GM 700 R4. All this was done with the engine in situ, without touching anything else but the transmission. A lift and a jack are recommended though.
JP