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Floating Engine/Tranny
Unbelievable! I pulled my tranny and exhaust to facilitate 5 spd swap and found out that there were no bolts holding either the motor mounts or the tranny mount to the frame and cross-member. The tranny cross-member was held in place with three loos bolts instead of the eight required. The torque convertor was missing some bolts that hold it to the flywheel. The dust cover for the bottom of the tranny/flywheel was missing. The bolts that hold the forward cross-member were little more that hand tight.
The exhaust itself was missing both bolts on each side behind the cats when I first bought it. I knew it had an exhaust leak but it wasn't even connected to the muffler. I fixed this shortly after buying it. The driver side flange was held on by just one bolt to the header and the other two are too corroded to put a nut on them.
The PO had a "mechanic" work-on/rebuild the original tranny which then failed almost immediately. So, he replaced it with a used Trooper trans. Evidently he just wanted the car out of his shop because the work he did was piss poor. Too bad you can't get someone like this arrested for malpractice. The state in which he left this car was dangerous. I'd like to find out who he is just to write up a review on his business and to the BBB. I shudder to think what could have happened had I off-roaded my VX with nothing but gravity, hoses, and driveshafts holding the engine and transmission to the car. :wtfb::madb::wtfb:
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Thankfully you pulled the tranny now before you ran into bigger problems in the future. Lots of shady people selling used cars...
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You're right on that one Jon. I don't think the PO knew the condition his so called mechanic left the car in. He was up front about telling me the guy did a crappy job and he called him a "ham fisted mechanic" LOL. I don't know if the PO was a member here or not. He is a mechanical engineer and a really nice guy so I just can't believe he knew just how bad of a job that guy did. The car came from Alabama before I bought it in Colorado (and it has mud wasp nests all over the underside). So I guess the mechanic was from there.
I other news I have wrestled the 5 spd almost into position. I think the input shaft is engaged in the clutch but I have yet to get it into the pilot bearing. Took a break and decided to wait until tomorrow. Just about have everything sorted out now. Although the cruise control is still a bit of a mystery. The notes by Buffy and BigMeat have left me a bit confused. Not sure which wires from connector M25 need to go to the clutch switch.
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Success!
5 spd is in! PCM, console, pedal assem: in, in, in. Clutch is bled but I'll probably do it again tomorrow after it settles over night. I still need to put the exhaust in but since I have two broken or stripped studs that I can't get out and I need a new muffler I'm just going to bring it to a local shop. They can heat the manifold and get the studs out. This shop mostly uses FlowMaster as their better replacement. Does anyone have any experience with FlowMaster (no I didn't search)? Man this thing is loud with no exhaust.
Huge amount of thanks to Buffy for his excellent tutorial. This was definitely the biggest project I've ever done on a car. Believe it or not I did this completely solo in my garage. The hardest parts were pulling out the 5 spd and installing the 5 spd with TOD transfer case. Man that thing is heavy! The way I managed to lift it into place was using ratchet straps looped over the frame and under the tranny and TC in a couple of places. And a tranny jack of course. This is also how I managed to pull the tranny out of the Trooper using a ratchet strap to pull on the TC while attached to the rear axle.
Pulling the AR5 from the Trooper
