Thanks to everyone who sent procedures and advice. My replacement manual transmission (reportedly recently rebuilt) went in the '85 today. With the help of my father and his friend's lift, it wasn't too bad. About seven hours including some standing arouind time. Here are the things that were most difficult: A little hard to maneuver, but not too bad. Van was on a drive-on lift, with braces across with jacks for the engine and trans. As many have discussed today, the clutch lever was very difficult to get off the shaft. Using levers and pullers did nothing. My father's friend got it red hot with a welding torch and it finally came off. It bent the cross shaft, but fortunately we weren't re-using it- it was on the replacement trans. Upper starter bolt was a pain, but do-able. Forgot to check on starter bushing. Peeked back in and didn't see one, but didn't want to hold things up on re-assembly. I think it can live without one for a while, and will pull starter and install bushing later. Reverse light switch on new trans was slightly different. Old one had bare terminals, and a "normal/large" size. New one had plastic surrounding smaller terminals, which the old wires/terminals wouldn't have fit. Re-used old switch, which was working fine. But now back-up lights are on all the time. Was too late in the evening to diagnose, so pulled a wire off the switch. Will check operation of switch and go from there. All in all, wasn't too bad. Glad I did it and saved money over a professional mechanic. If I had good garage spaceof my own, I might try more. May have to replace engine with good used one in the next year or two- might try that, too. Ed in CT |
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