gearbox change?? advice

**stock_vl** · 08-09-2005, 06:57 PM

anybody wanna shed some light on changing gear box's??
anybody done it before?? i wouldnt mind some idea's on this type of thing.
considering doing it by myself....

thanks ppl!

**Bucket** · 08-09-2005, 08:06 PM

auto -> auro, auto ->manual, Manual-> auto or manual -> manual?

**stock_vl** · 08-09-2005, 09:42 PM

auto to manual!
including the clutch etc....

**Bax** · 08-09-2005, 10:45 PM

Make sure you get all the parts.. then if your not competent I'd get a mechanic to drop it out and change it over.

I've never had a transmission out of a vl to be honest. It's something I don't want to tackle. I'm sure its not as hard as I've got myself thinking it is. But we'll find out sooner or later.

**stock_vl** · 08-09-2005, 11:33 PM

yeah im thinking get all the parts i need and have a crack at it!! if i **** up without breaking anything i will take it down the mechanic's!!

**seventh path** · 09-09-2005, 09:16 AM

i done auto to manual.......you have to remove the steering column to change the pedals, disconnect the exhust after the cat to drop the engine back and make sure you get a dummy shaft......otherwise the clutch is a pain to line up!!!!and also the spiggot bush has to be a n/a one....the turbo ones are slightly different as i found out the hard way!

**Bax** · 09-09-2005, 10:19 AM

Whats this dummy shaft business... Can you do a step by step on the entire process? I'll have to do it in about... a months time.

**seventh path** · 09-09-2005, 10:30 AM

yeah....i'll try to!!!!!i'll post it later today

**seventh path** · 09-09-2005, 11:55 AM

first of all.....jack the car up and put it on safety stands(i found it easier if i put the whole car up!!)start by splitting the exhust where the cat is then start removing the auto trans.....torque converter, mounts the usual sorta stuff( make sure that you take the auto selector out).....once you have the auto out, undo the 6mm bolts in the steering column linkage and take off the panels around the steering column inside the cabin. once you have done that, undo the nuts supporting the steering column(one one the firewall and two up near the ignition)and remove the column assembly. then remone the old auto brake pedal and fit the new clutch/brake pedal assy.....refit steering column and fit clutch master cylinder(this bit is a pain cause it a bit awkward)once that is all done, it depends wether or not you have a dummy shaft for the next bit.....if you do, the fit the flywheel and tap the spigot bush in softly and evenly, as they are easy to damage. fit the clutch assy loosley and slide the dummy sahft is(a dummy shaft is a cut off input shaft from a old gear box) and tighten the clutch. if you dont have a dummy shaft ,fit the flywheel and put the clutch assy on a flat surface. with a set of verneers, measure the sides of the clutch so that the friction plate is even all the way around on the pressure plate, then you can get a tool from any auto parts store to hold the assy in place. carefully bolt the clutch assy onto the flywheel. once you have done this, fit the manual gearbox without the shift lever in it to the car and bolt everything up. plug all the sensors in and fit the shift lever and console piece. reconnect the exhust and the slave cylinder, fill and bleed then put the car back on the ground. unplug the auto loom near the brake booster and fit the manual loom(you also have to bridge the neutral start switch on the plug near the booster)....that should be about it.....i have most likely forgotten something cause i did this a while back but if you have any questions then message me!!!

**stock_vl** · 09-09-2005, 05:15 PM

oooh bail on this......

old man can buy his farkin auto for a million doller's i couldnt give a crap!!! then im gunna sell it!!
take a loan and buy a vt or vs.....

meh..... why must i always cop the bullshit!

**jetspin_vn** · 09-09-2005, 09:32 PM

Originally Posted by bextor84

Whats this dummy shaft business... Can you do a step by step on the entire process? I'll have to do it in about... a months time.

Some kit's come with it. For others you need a clutch alignment tool. You use it to keep the drive plate lined up while you tighten the bolts on the housing, so that when you slide the box back in the input shaft will go through the plate and sit in the flywheel properly. It all makes sence if you've done a clutch. The hardest part is man-handling the f****** box back in, esp when you only have one jack and a pair of axle stands!!!

**pro_gmh** · 09-09-2005, 09:34 PM

Originally Posted by seventh path

yeah....i'll try to!!!!!i'll post it later today

Couldnt ya mod it into dot point form? lol

**Bax** · 09-09-2005, 10:00 PM

Ahh ok.. Just a guide..

I'm sure I've heard of somebody using a broom stick?

**jetspin_vn** · 09-09-2005, 10:03 PM

Meh, if it fits...

**coolngroovy** · 10-09-2005, 08:22 AM

I found it easier to remove the brake booster.At least the holes for the clutch slave cylinder are already there.Have a go mate,It sounds complicated but its not.I didnt know how to bridge the wiring, so i removed the neutral switch from the auto,Put it in park, then coiled the harness in the plenum.Works ok.

**seventh path** · 12-09-2005, 08:51 AM

Originally Posted by adox

Couldnt ya mod it into dot point form? lol

i can if you want.....take more time though......

**seventh path** · 12-09-2005, 08:58 AM

i couldn't put dot form onto the post....so i just included the document into the post!!!

**bangers** · 12-09-2005, 11:19 PM

it's not that hard buddy. i'm halfway through doing it. i'm lucky my mates have hoists. but i did drop the gearbox out of a wreck while it was sitting on the ground and jacked the side of the car to pull it out. just undo the two bolts on the steering column and lower it down don't pull it out, there's a pivot point. there's plenty of room to slide the the pedal box in. I've heard you don't even need to change the ECU, just leave the auto plug unplugged. you'll need a friend to jack the gearbox up while you slide it in place. you'll only do damage to the shafts if you leave it hanging and go to lunch. you will probably need an airgun to remove the flywheel though. IT AIN"T THAT HARD don't go a VT its a CLIT CAR, every C*#T has one. Get a nice VL going mate. mines a N/A and i kick VTs.

**VLACS** · 13-09-2005, 12:42 AM

Originally Posted by bangers

it's not that hard buddy. i'm halfway through doing it. i'm lucky my mates have hoists. but i did drop the gearbox out of a wreck while it was sitting on the ground and jacked the side of the car to pull it out. just undo the two bolts on the steering column and lower it down don't pull it out, there's a pivot point. there's plenty of room to slide the the pedal box in. I've heard you don't even need to change the ECU, just leave the auto plug unplugged. you'll need a friend to jack the gearbox up while you slide it in place. you'll only do damage to the shafts if you leave it hanging and go to lunch. you will probably need an airgun to remove the flywheel though. IT AIN"T THAT HARD don't go a VT its a CLIT CAR, every C*#T has one. Get a nice VL going mate. mines a N/A and i kick VTs.

what engine do you have. and stock vl dont be a soft **** man. id love to do that. but probably not after ive dont it. but oh well. i agree vls are better than vt.

chay · 18-12-2005, 12:39 AM

Go for it f*** the vt

**vlv8vic** · 18-12-2005, 04:42 PM

Originally Posted by jetspin_vl

Some kit's come with it. For others you need a clutch alignment tool. You use it to keep the drive plate lined up while you tighten the bolts on the housing, so that when you slide the box back in the input shaft will go through the plate and sit in the flywheel properly. It all makes sence if you've done a clutch. The hardest part is man-handling the f****** box back in, esp when you only have one jack and a pair of axle stands!!!

have done it that way before as well.
did a dastun box myself, ended up on the bodyboard, with the gearbox on my chest while i manevered the bastard in. Didnt seem too painful til i lifted the box off my chest and my ribs bent back where they should be!
dont reccomend doing it that way with the slightly heavier commy-box.

megee83 · 12-02-2006, 11:12 AM

ive jus changed my clutch over myself, and the number one tip is undo the moth*r f*cking exhuast at the cat!!! this drops the arse o the motor down an makes it oh so much easier to slide that box in an out... seriously, it would have saved me a solid day an a lot of f*cking heartache had i known that before hand. but signed up here now so dont expect that sort o problem again...

megee83 · 12-02-2006, 09:57 PM

I can only speak for the manual, dont know what differences between that an the auto, but jus done it an for those a bit apprehensive i say give it a go, was my first time but easier than i thought an now i know for the next time (god forbid...) So here goes...

1 - Up on some steady stands, chock the wheels if any are left on the ground, handbrake on firm etc. 4 stands better than 2 but i did mine on just the front two, can get a bit squeezy though. Also take off the FR wheel, you'll free up an access point that will come in handy to get in an out, also to bleed the clutch later. Slip the wheel back under the car so if it does fall, at least you only f*ck a mag an not your legs. Disconnect the battery.
2 - Disconnect and remove the shift lever. To do this you'll have to take off the centre console, handbrake handle, gearknob an boot etc, til you get down and can remove the top circlip, then it will just lift out. Straight forward. Stuff in a clean bit of rag but dont sweep any sh*t into the hole in the process...
3 - Drain the oil from the box, have a look at the drain plug, theres a magnet there that will give you an indication of any bits of metal you've worn off, if you're seeing excessive/chunky bits of steel, then its up to you what to do, thats a different problem all together. Catch as much oil as you can and wipe up what you dont, or else your gonna be lyin in it for a while yet...
4 - Disconnect the slave cyl, you *can* remove it completely by disconnecting the line runnin from the master cyl at the top or bottom (your choice). Theres a dust boot on the slave cyl; if you peel that back an theres oil, take the whole thing out an check/replace the piston seals. You might get a bit of oil here as it runs down from the master cylinder too (if you disconnect the line). If not jus leave it hooked up an stash to the side out of the way. Don't disconnect it from the master cyl unless you have to, or its jus more work when you have to go and bleed the system later.
5 - Remove all of the electrical plugs into the gearbox, theres 3 from memory, but make sure you get em all. Also i think they all look diff an the leads only reach so far, so pretty hard to mix up, tag or tape in order if you have to.
6 - Unplug the electrical leads to, undo and remove the starter motor.
7 - Remove the bolts connectin the tail shaft to the diff. Mark across the two halves of that bracket you about to undo first, so that you can just line it straight back up when it comes time to whack it all back together. Also all the bolts hookin the centre bearin to the bracket, and that bracket to the body have to come out. The tail shaft should jus ease out towards the rear from the back o the box now. You might get a bit of oil out the back of the gearbox if its not level here so be prepared for that one, it doesnt taste good. Theres also a little sleeve on the back of the gearbox to stop shit goin in there, dont squash it, its pretty thin but not to hard to beat it back out if you do - put it one side.
8 - Put a jack with some wood to spread the weight, under the back of the motor. Dont jack it up or youll squash the sump, but jus have it there while you disconnect the exhaust at the cat. This will allow the back of the motor to come down at your pace, instead of almost smashing the fan through the cowlin like i did, it drops pretty far.
9 - Now the bolts holdin the top of the box on. You'll have to get at them from the engine bay, grab a torch an you should spot em, one on each side. Then back under the car and unscrew the rest. You dont want to leave the gearbox hangin like this to long as all the weights now on the input shaft, an you can bend it. You can lower the jack under the motor now and slide the gearbox out an thats that! Should slide out without to much hassle, if it gets caught up jus make sure your not jaggin on the body anywhere, give it a wiggle etc. If its bein a real b*tch an you plan on replacin the clutch anyway, jam a small pinch bar/screwie in there an lever it a bit. Best to have a mate to help you here, or a well placed jack, or else make sure you eat you weetbixs that morn, she's fairly weighty... If you lower it onto an old rug/similar instead of straight on the concrete you can jus pull it out from under the car now without scuffin it up.
10 - To remove the clutch, jus undo all the bolts, evenly in a diagonal pattern. You can spin the flywheel to get to the ones at the top, jus have to fight the compression a bit. Done!

To put it all back in, jus reverse that lot, but pay attention to the following;

1 - Replace the bearin out of your gearbox with the new one in your clutch kit if thats what you doin. Be careful puttin the new one on. Do it slowly and evenly. Dont hit any bearing directly with a hammer! Doesnt really need to be said but never know... Find something that fits the bearing centre, and lightly tap it evenly into place. The bearin has a front and a back, so put it in the same way as the old one came out.
2 - The clutch driven plate may have a rust coating on it that will need to be cleaned off. Be careful what you use to do this, see details on the box your new clutch came in, should let you know if this is the case.
3 - Grab the pressure plate an clutch assembly, hold it in place against the flywheel an screw all the bolts in handtight. All these bolts have sprung washers i think, replace them all if real old ie squashed down, or some are missing. Here comes the bit with the alignment tool. I didnt have one an worked jus fine, but basically anything the same size as the input shaft will do, (this is the splined rod hanging out of the gearbox that runs through the clutch assembly). A cut off broom handle will do fine, or your finger... Anyways all i did was hold the pressure plate in place, and slowly tighten up the clutch assembly bolts to the flywheel. Once it's tight enough to hold the pressure plate in place but still allows it to move with a little coaxing, worry about alignin it. it is very important to tighten the clutch assy evenly in a diagonal pattern, or you may damage the sprung 'fingers' on your new clutch. (ie say you looking at a clock, tighten up in this pattern 12, 4, 8, 2, 6, 10, 3, 7, 11, 5, 9, 1... then back to 12 if you get me) I know this is a pain in the arse but its important.
3 - The clutch assy bolts, gearbox housing mount bolts, slave clyinder mounting bolts etc all have specified trq settings. The only ones i would really worry about are the clutch assy ones, you want these all even or the sprung fingers wont be. The others not gonna be so important, but if you got a trq. wrench handy then you may as well do it all properly. I cant remember the figures off the top o my head, but will be home in a week if anyone wants then, guess ill double check this then when i have the manual in front of me.
4 - If you have any troubles getting the box back on, check to see that the pressure plate is in the right position, you can see the edge of it all the way around, give it a eyeball/measure if you need. Bolt it all back together etc.
5 - You'll have to bleed the clutch now, fill up the reservoir in the master cylinder with some fresh hydrualic oil, attach a bleeder tube to the bleeder valve, which is the screw on the slave cyl lookin like its not doin anythin, and submerse the end in a bottle with some hydrualic oil in it. Theres most likely gonna be a few empty stubbies lying round by now so jus rinse one out, they perfect... (you can buy small clear hose from bunnings for a bleeder tube). Have someone jus steadily pump the clutch a half dozen times, an hold it down to the floor. Release the bleeder screw by giving it a 1/2 or 1/4 turn or somethin, air should come out, mayb some oil. Close it and then release the pedal. Repeat that pump open-close release-pedal bit until no more air is comin out. This should be somewhere around the time you see the nice fresh oil, you may have to top up the reservoir a couple times, keep an eye on it.
6 - Once the pedal is nice an firm, no more air etc, thats bout it... done. You should see the slave cyl workin against the lever hangin out of the bottom of the box when the clutch is pressed, an of course, be able to shift gears with no clash.

Hope that all make sense, if anyone sees anything wrong in there, or you know a better way to do, let me know so i can change it. Dont want to pass bad practice on to any poor sucker who takes my advice...

**dan_man31** · 13-02-2006, 05:57 PM

doin the auto in the vl is one hell of a hard job started on it sunday arvo and by 9.30 we had only just got the auto sitting in huge job taking it out best to get the car as high as possible all 4 wheels helped a lot but getting to those 2 bellhousing bolts at the top of the trans prooved the hardest until we had to put them back in all up was 5 or 6 long extenstions to reach up there
if ur gonna do it get someone else :P it totally sucks i still have to re attach the tailshaft and put the last few things on and then its done

goodluck to the person who is putting the manual in that woulda bin even more fun

if anyone wants help with their auto --> auto conversion send me an email i can help as much as possible

danmanmac@yahoo.com. au

thanks

**SMOKN_LJ** · 18-03-2006, 11:04 PM

im in the middle of doin the auto to manual conversion, one thing i found was that you have to remove the bush in the crank that centers the torque converter or you wont be able to put the spigot bush in. I found the auto came out easier than the manual as the manual has to be turned to remove

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