I made a start on swapping out Migalot's transmission on his lovely V6 Elite, today - replacing a clapped out AR25 autobox, with the stronger AR35 model used on the 3.0 / 3.2.
Obviously, safety first, so vehicle supported using 2 x three tonne axle stands:Really important - the back wheels must be chocked for this job! You will be removing the prop-shaft (and gearbox!) so placing the lever in "P" will do nothing........
Next step - removing both catalytic converters (required for access, to get at / remove the gearbox)
Remember, these cars are 20+ years old now, the bolts are OLD and rusty, especially exhaust bolts, and WILL break if you don't use care!
Don't use WD40, it's useless as a lubricant - use either plus-gas, or, PB Blaster (amazing stuff). Saturate the bolts holding the catalytic converters to the exhaust. Also saturate the downpipe to manifold nuts. Walk away for an hour, come back, saturate some more.
Believe it or not, it took me a couple of hours to get all four bolts undone, which hold the cats to the mid-sections. This was with repeated spraying, and gently working them back and forth. I managed to get three out of four out intact, and only broke one, which I will try and extract tomorrow (failing that, I'll drill and rethread it). I was quite pleased to get three - usually, they all break!
Next step was to remove the manifold to downpipe nuts. This is where I ran into the first real concern - they would not budge for love nor money, despite using a 6 sided, correct socket. I think a ham-fisted mechanic has been in there before, because the nuts were somewhat rounded, and eventually, the socket was just spinning.
Thankfully, my old friend, the IWRIN socket set, came to the rescue. These sockets have saved my bacon on more occasions that I care to remember, and are worth their weight in gold. Using these - I managed to get all four off. It made me remember how awkward the nuts are to get at on the DBW engine, due to the pre-cats. Had to use a selection of bars/adapters, but got there in the end:
Anyway, now off with the prop-shaft. The bolts fell in a great position, meaning I could get them all with a short stubby spanner on the bolt head, and a ratchet on the nuts:
Off with the multiplug, which feeds the shift solenoids. Also removing the selector switch plug, and the gear linkage:
We now remove all of the bellhousing bolts APART From one big 19mm bolt on each side, to hold it in my now. There are four 13mm bolts at the bottom, and various ones around the housing, including at the top. I forgot how much of a contortionist you have to be, to get the very top ones!
For the very topmost one, I find that an extension bar is too long, but a socket on the ratchet doesn't fit - so, I made a small extension bar, using two adaptors:
Remove the front drip-tray, to allow access to the crank pulley bolt (this will become clear in a moment).
There is a bung between the engine block and the back of the flex-plate (flywheel). Laying on your back, turn the engine (only ever clockwise!) until you see the first 15mm bolt appear, through this aperture. Undo and remove it. Slowly turn the engine, until the next one appears - and remove it. So on and so forth, until you've got all six. If you go too far, DON'T turn the engine backwards like some shady garages do - keep going clockwise, until it comes around again.
Once you've undone these six bolts, the torque-converter comes away with the gearbox as one unit. This is REALLY important, because leaving the TC bolted to the flywheel will ruin the oil seal of the TC nose, and cause a significant ATF leak.
