S14 Transmission Removal: Best Method w/o Engine Removal, or is that the key?

[brianglawson]

Hey guys, I'm suspecting i have a bad Throwout Bearing. Nasty, whirling/grinding noise when the clutch is depressed and gears are being worked (i.e., in reverse, or even just driving in shifts.)

It is a less than year old Spec Stage 3 Clutch kit with only around 4-5,000 miles on it. The car is a 1997 S14 with an S15 SR20 mated to an S14 5speed.

I figure it is the TOB, but i assume the best way to find out is to take it apart and make sure i dont need other parts before i make the order. I need to get this back on the road asap, as the wife and I are about to sell one of our DD's and will be a car down while we search for a replacement.

I have a garage to work in, and have a fair selection of tools, I also have a good family friend up the street who will let me borrow anything i need in terms of pullers/etc... that actually has a shop.

My situation, I have jackstands, ramps, a hydraulic floor jack and two little rack jacks (air jacks). Given my situation, what is the best method?

I would prefer to leave the engine in (i'd like to pull it one day to do away with that OEM single stage red paint they use on Ultra Red cars, but now is not a good time to paint the Engine bay)....

Is it reasonably feasible to pull the transmission without the engine? If so, what will i be in for? Dropping the subframe? tilting the engine?

How high in the air will i need to have the car to physically get the transmission out? How much will it weigh? I know on my 1969 Firebird, i could physically lift the Muncie 4Speed without much problem; Hell, i could set it on my chest without much to worry about....

What's my best route??? I could borrow an engine hoist if it came to it, but i really would like to avoid that... my garage space is limited...

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/brianglawson/1997%20Nissan%20Silvia/DSC_0518.jpg (http://s12.photobucket.com/user/brianglawson/media/1997%20Nissan%20Silvia/DSC_0518.jpg.html)

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/brianglawson/1997%20Nissan%20Silvia/20141031_102319.jpg (http://s12.photobucket.com/user/brianglawson/media/1997%20Nissan%20Silvia/20141031_102319.jpg.html)

as you can see, my space is a bit limited.

Also, will an OEM Throwout bearing work with a Spec Stage 3 kit??? if the shitty spec bearings are the problem, I'd rather not reuse them.

[Prok0]

Its not difficult to do with the motor in the car, it makes it easier having a lift, but you can do it on the ground.

Just get the car up on jack stands, drain trans, remove driveshaft, remove the shifter, remove trans mount, remove transmission lower harness, get the motor to tilt back and use some long extensions to bang the bellhousing mount bolts off and slide it on back.

OEM bearing will work on a Spec SN333 clutch

If you have new or very stiff motor mounts you could place a small piece of wood under the oil pan and use a floor jack to place a little pressure under the front of the pan to tilt the motor back further to make trans removal easier, just be careful if you need to do that to not dent the pan.

[ultimateirving]

Getting her out I would say is the easy part. It's gonna be a lot more difficult to line things up underneath the car and have any leverage to push the transmission input shaft into the clutch. It may sound hard but I don't think pulling the engine is hard either

[Dboyizmlg]

I hate putting trans on while the engine is still in car.
Maybe because I'm a small guy with not too much muscle..? Lol
Much easier with engine out

[g14novak]

Doing it either way sucks but its easier but more time to pull the whole engine and change the clutch/tob that way. When I did my clutch (s13 with kade), I jacked the car up very high (higher than the jack could go by itself, I used a low profile jack with 3 2x4s stacked up) to have the car high enough to slide the trans out. Hardest part was getting the trans back in. I ended up having to loosen the engine mount bolts to let the engine tilt enough to get the trans back on. I wish you luck, its a huge pain in the dick job just to replace an inexpensive part. I'd highly recommend changing that spec clutch for something higher quality unless you want to drop the trans again in a year or so. I hear no good things about spec clutches and even worse things about the throwout bearings they supply.

[TheRealSy90]

Taking the trans out is easy, getting the input shaft to line up and slide into the clutch when reinstalling the trans is the hard part. It's actually easier to remove the whole engine and do it out of the car.

It's faster to do it under the car, but definitely not easier.

[blackmags91]

Its a bitch either way.. But I did a clutch job on my SR recently without removing the motor, in my tiny ass garage. I did it once just to say that I can, but unless I have my own shop or a ballin garage ill pay someone to do it from now on.

If I can get it done then you can though. Dont do the tranny pull and reinstall portion by yourself if you can help it. Get your buddy there for those parts atleast.

[derass]

have the car high enough to slide the trans out. Hardest part was getting the trans back in. I ended up having to loosen the engine mount bolts to let the engine tilt enough to get the trans back on.

This is what I was going to say. To expand on the tilting part: the motor and trans need to be tilted before removal. If its not, once unbolted, the trans will hit the tunnel as you're sliding it back. Loosen the upper and lower nut on each of the motor mount all the way but DO NOT remove them. If the motor mounts come out of the bracket or subframe during this process, you are in for even more of a headache getting them back in. So once the mounts are loosened, use a jack and small piece of wood under the front part of the oil pan (I know, I know. Just be gentle) to tilt the motor as far as it will go, the back of the valve cover will almost touch the firewall. Then you will have enough room to slide the trans back. It definitely helps having two people under the car to remove and replace the trans. The rest is easy.

[crunkride]

My 0.02, pull the entire engine and trans together; lining the input shaft of the trans to the crank as mentioned above is difficult otherwise. Lastly ...transmission input shaft bearings can also be the culprit of the noise you experience. Both stop making noise when you disengage clutch (depress pedal), because the throw out gets pressure applied to it and it goes quiet, just as the input shaft baring goes quiet because it stops spinning. *check both*

[brndck]

personally i have done clutch jobs on quite a few s-chassis, by removing the trans while leaving the engine in place. I find it makes it much easier if i loosen both the engine cradle/crossmember bolts, as well as the engine mount bolts, to give more wiggle room.

also, when reinstalling the trans, i've found it easiest to stab the trans back in place if you rotate the trans at least 90 degrees clockwise (top of trans moves towards passengers side 90 deg)

[bmaddock]

I've done a few myself as well. Definitely not hard just requires a lot of extensions to get to the bellhousing bolts. Also loosen up those motor mounts, it can help to have it tilt.

The only hard part is exactly what others described, reinstalling the transmission. The trick is to aim the starter hump downward and then try stabbing it back in. then rotate the trans and reinstall.

[az_240]

personally i have done clutch jobs on quite a few s-chassis, by removing the trans while leaving the engine in place. I find it makes it much easier if i loosen both the engine cradle/crossmember bolts, as well as the engine mount bolts, to give more wiggle room.

also, when reinstalling the trans, i've found it easiest to stab the trans back in place if you rotate the trans at least 90 degrees clockwise (top of trans moves towards passengers side 90 deg)

Do this and get a friend or two to help... it's not that bad. Might help if you clear out your work space a little though.

[aaron.nueva]

Easiest way of you don't want to remove the engine is to just do the process


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[aaron.nueva]

Drain tranny fluid, take out driveshaft, take out all the bolts from the bell housing, undo all the sensors then crossmember then slide it out


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