Floating Engine/Tranny

[bartmanS4]

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.

[bartmanS4]

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