Meloman's timeline
#145
07-12-2011, 09:54 PM
Swap WAS done....
SO basically I finally had everything finished up...I bled the clutch slave valve different because the shitty *** autozone one I bought just for time purposes had a plastic valve so that stripped real fast. But I got the pedal stiff and drove it around fine for about 5 miles then the clutch pedal wouldnt come all the way back up in the middle of the intersection, so thats what I get for not bleeding it the right way. So I had to take out the clutch slave to get the bleed valve out, bought an assortment pack of valves and everyone was too small..... So I have to wait till tomorrow morning to get a new valve which really sucks since the cars not even by my house its outside of a buddy's.
Will do a full "thoughts, problems and tips" type post on the swap, I'm just so anxious to actually get it running again!
One question I have though is my driver side front is making a metalic flapping type noise everytime the wheel goes around, gets faster or slower depending on my speed. Theres nothing I can see hitting the axle or the wheel and the axle is brand new and I checked and retightened it with no luck. Any ideas?
SO basically I finally had everything finished up...I bled the clutch slave valve different because the shitty *** autozone one I bought just for time purposes had a plastic valve so that stripped real fast. But I got the pedal stiff and drove it around fine for about 5 miles then the clutch pedal wouldnt come all the way back up in the middle of the intersection, so thats what I get for not bleeding it the right way. So I had to take out the clutch slave to get the bleed valve out, bought an assortment pack of valves and everyone was too small..... So I have to wait till tomorrow morning to get a new valve which really sucks since the cars not even by my house its outside of a buddy's.
Will do a full "thoughts, problems and tips" type post on the swap, I'm just so anxious to actually get it running again!
One question I have though is my driver side front is making a metalic flapping type noise everytime the wheel goes around, gets faster or slower depending on my speed. Theres nothing I can see hitting the axle or the wheel and the axle is brand new and I checked and retightened it with no luck. Any ideas?
#146
07-12-2011, 11:04 PM
Congrats!!!!!! Yea that valve on the slave is a PITA I loosened mine before installing. A good way to bleed the clutch is to pump the clutch at least 10 times then crack open the bleeder as soon as you see fluid close it back up. Repeat until you get the desired stiffness.
#147
07-23-2011, 04:02 PM
Finally I'm going to do this.
5 speed swap
Pictures
VMR Testpipe compared to the normal cat
The hidden TCU (for sale)
Cracked Clutch fork (more on this later)
Old vs New rear main seal
Adapted pilot bearing
And finally... the carnage
Thoughts and advice
First of all I need to give huge props to Papa Dios, who made an excellent write up of the swap and I stayed in contact with throughout the whole process and basically got me through it.
One of my main points of advice would be to plan out and check all your parts before hand, make sure you fully read up on everything and it will end up saving you a lot of time. I lost full days because I did not have the right parts or tools.
1. Make sure you have the correct triple square bits. I found that hardly anyone in my area carried them, and those who did had the wrong size and I needed to order through car quest in the end so I lost a day there
2. If doing this on a 2001 remember to get V6 front axles! For some reason I totally forgot this step and tools were almost thrown as soon as I remembered the axles I got from an 00 1.8 manual did not fit and I had to order the v6 axles so I lost another couple days.
3. A drivers side tranny mount from a v6 is necessary as the 1.8 druvers side tranny mount is set up much differently.
4. CHECK ALL YOUR USED PARTS before putting starting the swap. I found out that the brake rod bolt and bolt retainer on my manual pedals was gone so I needed to swap that over from my auto brake pedal. When putting on my new throw out bearing I found that my clutch fork was cracked right where the bearing attaches, I found out that this part sucks to try and find. Luckily though my neighbor is very good with a welder and the fork looks brand new.
5. This one may or may not seem obvious, but think a few steps ahead what you're trying to do. I had to go back steps because I was trying to put one thing on before something else could go on and that will raise your stress level real fast.
6. Make sure you have another car. This is my daily driver so getting parts was hard and without another car this one consumed my life. It got the car done faster but I had a few 10 hour days and any sign of a normal life was gone haha, so this is a tip to save your sanity more than anything.
Issues I had
Getting the auto tranny physically out of the car was the most testing thing I've ever had to do on a car. Once the bolts were off manuevering it over the subframe seemed like it needed black magic to get it done. I had two jacks and a tranny jack under the tranny trying to get different angles at it, trying to move it past the subframe however possible but it seemed as if every where you moved it it got caught on something else.
When getting out the shift box I initially tried to keep everything exactly how it was, for possible resale purposes mainly. But if you cut your losses here you'll save a TON of time and frustration. Im not even sure how its possible to get it out without breaking at least one of the plastic pieces and once I gave up on trying not to brake anything it really wasnt hard to remove.
Final Thoughts
Overall this job is pretty straight forward, with all the DIY's and such online its very possible. I can honestly say its the biggest job I've ever done and I never got to a point where I wished I didnt start. I wont say its an easy job because its not by no means but is definitely do-able. I also took this time to install my bilstein struts, VMR testpipe and heatshield. Overall everything took me just under 2 weeks, and that was me working mainly by myself on jackstands, with down days waiting for parts and such.
5 speed swap
Pictures
VMR Testpipe compared to the normal cat
The hidden TCU (for sale)
Cracked Clutch fork (more on this later)
Old vs New rear main seal
Adapted pilot bearing
And finally... the carnage
Thoughts and advice
First of all I need to give huge props to Papa Dios, who made an excellent write up of the swap and I stayed in contact with throughout the whole process and basically got me through it.
One of my main points of advice would be to plan out and check all your parts before hand, make sure you fully read up on everything and it will end up saving you a lot of time. I lost full days because I did not have the right parts or tools.
1. Make sure you have the correct triple square bits. I found that hardly anyone in my area carried them, and those who did had the wrong size and I needed to order through car quest in the end so I lost a day there
2. If doing this on a 2001 remember to get V6 front axles! For some reason I totally forgot this step and tools were almost thrown as soon as I remembered the axles I got from an 00 1.8 manual did not fit and I had to order the v6 axles so I lost another couple days.
3. A drivers side tranny mount from a v6 is necessary as the 1.8 druvers side tranny mount is set up much differently.
4. CHECK ALL YOUR USED PARTS before putting starting the swap. I found out that the brake rod bolt and bolt retainer on my manual pedals was gone so I needed to swap that over from my auto brake pedal. When putting on my new throw out bearing I found that my clutch fork was cracked right where the bearing attaches, I found out that this part sucks to try and find. Luckily though my neighbor is very good with a welder and the fork looks brand new.
5. This one may or may not seem obvious, but think a few steps ahead what you're trying to do. I had to go back steps because I was trying to put one thing on before something else could go on and that will raise your stress level real fast.
6. Make sure you have another car. This is my daily driver so getting parts was hard and without another car this one consumed my life. It got the car done faster but I had a few 10 hour days and any sign of a normal life was gone haha, so this is a tip to save your sanity more than anything.
Issues I had
Getting the auto tranny physically out of the car was the most testing thing I've ever had to do on a car. Once the bolts were off manuevering it over the subframe seemed like it needed black magic to get it done. I had two jacks and a tranny jack under the tranny trying to get different angles at it, trying to move it past the subframe however possible but it seemed as if every where you moved it it got caught on something else.
When getting out the shift box I initially tried to keep everything exactly how it was, for possible resale purposes mainly. But if you cut your losses here you'll save a TON of time and frustration. Im not even sure how its possible to get it out without breaking at least one of the plastic pieces and once I gave up on trying not to brake anything it really wasnt hard to remove.
Final Thoughts
Overall this job is pretty straight forward, with all the DIY's and such online its very possible. I can honestly say its the biggest job I've ever done and I never got to a point where I wished I didnt start. I wont say its an easy job because its not by no means but is definitely do-able. I also took this time to install my bilstein struts, VMR testpipe and heatshield. Overall everything took me just under 2 weeks, and that was me working mainly by myself on jackstands, with down days waiting for parts and such.
#148
07-24-2011, 12:36 PM
One of my favorite videos I've ever seen
http://youtu.be/V7KoIsDqds0
And I've been lacking on pictures so heres one of my engine bay, not finished with it yet but its a lot different than the direction I was going before.
http://youtu.be/V7KoIsDqds0
And I've been lacking on pictures so heres one of my engine bay, not finished with it yet but its a lot different than the direction I was going before.
Last edited by meloman; 07-24-2011 at 12:43 PM.
