JDM EJ2

Yeah, so after 2 months I finally rebuilt my 98 Spec JDM ITR S80 N3E transmission. The rebuild took me about 30 minutes tops but it took me 1.5 months to get the parts lol. So heres the problem, a friend and I are trying to mount it back up into the car and for some reason, I can't get the transmission to seat. It seems as if though something is getting caught and I can't seem to wiggle it in. I'm not exactly asking for why its not going in, I'm more or less asking for any techniques you guys use to do this. Its not my first rodeo with this but I've been trying for about an hour and I still can't get it to work. Any ideas or techniques you guys use to get transmissions to seat properly are appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Heres a picture of the gap that I'm working with right now:


My other projects while the car was apart...


Painted the valve cover, what do you think? Also waiting on the whale ***** from Password...

1badteg

have one guy spin the crank and the other wiggle the transmission on. otherwise youre alignment pins could be messed up.

JDM EJ2

I got it all mounted up to where there was about a 1/4 of an inch of gap and it wouldn't budge anymore. From that point I hand tightened the mounting bolts that go around the bell housing and then tightened them using a ratchet going in a criss cross pattern until it seated correctly. Is that OK or did I force something that should have slipped into place?

jadziasman

Only three possibilities I can think of.

1) Starter is interfering with the flywheel - somehow (unlikely)
2) Mainshaft is not going into the pilot bearing somehow (unlikely unless you removed the pressure plate from the flywheel.)
3) Dowel pins on the housing don't line up for some reason (really unlikely)

I had trouble removing my S20 tranny from my D15Z1 with the starter still bolted to the tranny. It would only come off when I unbolted the starter from the tranny altogether.

I put the starter on last after I reinstalled the tranny on the engine. My tranny did not seat for me either - I had to tighten it down the rest of the way with a ratchet - gently. Maybe that's all it is for you too but you say you've done this before so you have more experience than I do - I have done this only once. It didn't take much force for me to tighten that last 1/4". I think the dowel pins are the reason.

JDM EJ2

Yeah, I agree with you about it being the dowel pins because, 1) I have the starter out already, and 2) I didn't take the flywheel off the engine. When I was mounting it up, the dowels didn't want to line up for some reason. I think it was just that the way the engine was sitting... The angle must have been off. I put white lithium grease on the dowels and as I torqued down the bolts, they slid in and now it sits fine...

Now to my next problem. I have the transmission all mounted and bolted down correctly and when I reattached the shift linkage, it throws off the shifter 2 inches up and 2 inches right. I think that is the reason why my synchros went bad originally, the awkward angle of the shift linkage was putting too much stress on certain points internally. Has anyone heard of that/ had problems with shift linkages not lining up correctly? Even when I first swapped the engine in I had the same problem and 2 months later, I had a ruined transmission. Any help or input is appreciated. Thanks.

addiction2bass

ya those dowl pins are a PITA. i had a small pinched side and couldnt straighten it out, ended up not using the one that got messed up.

not sure about your linkage issue tho. if its never fit right.. you sure its the right linkage?

JDM EJ2

Yeah, I got that shift linkage from eBay so it could be wrong. I think I'm just going to man up and buy the Hasport one, I have heard nothing but good things from them.