No clue what I'm trying to show here.. But if you're following along in reverse, maybe you'll know

Showing how I bound up the clutch slave cylinder. now unbinding


Here's my manipulating the goofy slave cylinder.

Here's a rather shitty image showing my (now un)binding up of the shift linkage with a black zip-ty... not good for show and tell, but essentially, you need to ensure that nothing can catch on the trans when you drop it/are fighting it back on. You can bind stuff however you want, just don't bend the slave cylinder's hardline or kink the shift linkage's cables... and HAVE A SPOTTER

Had to pause here because I lost my silicone paste. These days I use Haynes Food Safe silicone grease. It's cheap on amazon, and if you accidentally decide to eat some, it's okay-ish.

Getting shift linkage back near where it goes

Attempting Thai drunken noodles, but vegetarian. Honestly, Thai basil kind of sucks. And the recipe called for waaaay too much. It was a flop.

This'll do for lube

Lubing pins for shift linkage

 

I assume you put the spring's end-tangs in the slots on the arm? Looks like that's where they were on the original parts.

 

Showing pins for the shift linkage. The one my hand is on is hard to see during disassembly


Note the three raised bolts just left of center in this image. They're the mounting bolts for the shift linkage bracket. Now going back on (or coming off )

Clipping this connector back in, whatever it is.

The ball here could use an extra dab of urea grease.

Torquing slave cylinder

Clutch slave cylinder hard line bracket bolt

Torquing backet bolt for the clutch slave cylinder's hardline


Battery tray going back on!

Here's a shot showing the bolts on the underside of the battery tray

Clipping wires back on the battery tray

Clipping the positive battery nonsense back onto the battery tray

 

Yessir! The spring's legs did indeed find their home in the release fork's two little side slots. Whew... I.. am pretty over posting for the night... But we're pretty close. You'll laugh when I get to the CV shafts near the end.

 

Pause to show all the stuff coming together.

Air cleaner bracket mounting down on two little bolts (you gotta zoom, as with most of these images

Torquing air cleaner bracket

Clipping in the clutch slave cylinder's hardline.. I should have done this before bolting it back on..

Air cleaner time!

Shitty picture, but for anyone whose read my work, I like greasing my rubbers when I can. This is "red rubber grease". It's fuel safe and, I'm told, safe for brake fluid too... whatever. It helps me get the intake boot on the throttle body and little PCV pipe back into the airbox

Air cleaner mounting bolt

Here's that little PCV pipe I mentioned. Fucker *needs* lube.. Just a little

Maf wiring clips

MAF connector

Airbox mounting bolt

torquing the airbox mounting bolts

 

Airbox torquing

This. This is why you have a rough idle after you finish adjusting valves, etc. Because of this 5.5mm little shit. The air boot's band/hose clamp

Battery spill tray (I just made that up)

Battery

Battery clamp -- note the little footies

Battery Clamped


And here's my stupid zip-ty nonsense on a cv shaft. Now, these really are exceptional ties -- not your big box store nonsense.. But the profile of their cinching mechanism doesn't fit within the heat shield for the passenger's side, as you'll soon see.


Installing the passenger side cv shaft's heat shield


CV shaft heat shield installed, and here's an arrow pointing to the problem bolt... You have to squeeze your hand between the exhaust and the heat shield and it's just too cramped..

Here's a scuff on the heat shield caused by my former zip ty funny business -- hence why it snapped off. I will be replacing CV shafts some time soon,

CV shaft reinstalled with side profile showing a zip ty I had to trim with a dremel to make fit. ​@bobski

 

The CV shaft splines get lubed with a moly grease. I had a low-fling moly assembly lube from way back when, so I used that, but you can pick up a moly grease from autozone.. I will say though: The assembly lube -- I must've applied it before. When I went to remove the cv shafts for this job, they slid out of the wheel hubs with the push of a few fingers. They were completely unseized.

Getting the spindle through the hub

Brake and abs lines need bolting and clipping, respectively.

I didn't tie up one of my hubs well enough and ripped a ball joint boot -- but if it ripped from that, it was due anyways.. Adding new lower control arms to the shopping list.

Driver's side cv shaft installed -- no spindle nuts yet (the big 32mm socket needing stake nuts that keep your shafts in the hubs. Those *must* be replaced.. new shafts will include them)

Refilling the transmission

Plastic splash guard being installed prematurely.. Save this for later/last

Pre-loading suspension in order to torque the lower strut bolts -- note jack position, avoiding the ball joint.

Here's the mentioned torquing

I should have changed gears to torque the spindle nuts, but instead I installed wheels, lowered the car, torqued, raised the car, removed the wheels, and staked the spindle nuts ... then reinstalled the wheels.

The mentioned nut staking

And I didn't forget oil

 

Metal cowl

Metal cowl installed

Wiper motor

Wiper motor unstalled

Wiper motor connector

Plastic upper cowl

At least four of these broke during install.

Mhm

Wiper fluid line connection, and little black corner clips for the cowl

The hood goes down!

Wipers got slapped on, along with hood hinge covers.

 

Done. Well...

Now done. (also, radio code.)

Leg spacing -- there's some room for error here, because you can angle the wood crossmembers more or less. I also made the wood crossmembers be ~33" in hopes of making these more adaptable for other vehicles...

These can be about 1/8" shorter, no taller 😅 On one side you have to go over the brake fluid reservoir, so legs are a necessity. I did also use a spirit bubble and set the leg heights so that the contraption sits level.


Measuring from the back. This is a fixed length.. I have an additional 1.5" on the back for my angle aluminum -- you can mount your bracket on the inboard side if you wish and ditch that extra length (which may give you better hood corner clearance!)
This goofy measurement here centers the brace on the engine's lifting point, so you want it near dead-on.. Otherwise removing mounts will prompt a potentially dangerous shift

Your call on fastener size and length.

Clutch engagement is smooth and vibration-free, despite reuse of the old flywheel. I think my centering the pilot bearing damn near perfect will really pay me back long-term.
I haven't checked yet to see if the crank seal is leaking.. I hope not.

Oh yeah. I took the splash guard off so I could manually turn over the engine a few times before starting, hoping to get some oil to the crank seal.

So.. Yeah. Items you'll need but didn't think of:

• (extra) high temp urea grease
• a bunch of bolts for your transmission mounts and lower strut mounts (or not)
• Spindle Nuts for your CV shafts P/N: 90305-692-010-NUT, SPINDLE (22MM)
• 10 and, I think, 17mm 12 point sockets
• a three or four point engine support brace thingy (or a modified 2 point)
• CV/transmission output shaft seals (left and right) P/N's: 91205-PL3-A01 and 91206-PHR-003 (I can't remember which is left and right)
• Engine output shaft Rear Main/Engine Oil seal P/N: 91214-RNB-A01
• Careful fuckery to remove the engine seal (no bigger than #6 size screw, appropriate drill bit)
• A 98mm O.D. thing to drive said seal (not a readily available size.. check the pvc section at your local big box, or else jars at your local grocery)
• silicone grease
• moly grease
• A new shift Clutch Release Fork and boot!!!!!!!
• feeler gauges to check seal and pilot bearing depth and evenness
• A single M8x1.25x30mm "grade" CLASS 10.9 or higher bolt for lifting the engine... actually, it may be a 1.5 thread pitch. get both and, ideally, a lifting eye.
• 20mm socket for driving the pilot bearing (uncommon size)
• "OEM Tools" branded flywheel holder, or equivalent of same design
• Moderate pain tolerance

Credit to @bobski for catching erroneous terminology that would make procurement of needed parts most unpleasant.

 

Well done, sir!

Called the "Rear Main Seal".
"Rear" being the transmission-end of the engine, from the days when engines were put in the engine bay long-ways, (longitudinal mounted engine) with the transmission under the firewall, driving the rear wheels. Fits and most modern passenger cars have transverse mounted engines (across the engine bay) and front wheel drive, but the longitudinal terminology stuck. Cylinders are also numbered "front" (end with the accessory drive belt) to "back" (end with the transmission). "Main" because it's on the crankshaft, and "Seal" because it's keeping stuff where it's supposed to be.

You mean "Clutch Fork". Shift forks are their own thing, inside the transmission. Looking at the shifter, when you push the lever forwards or back to select a gear, you're moving one of the shift forks in the transmission. When you move the shift lever left or right on the center neutral "bar" of the shift pattern, you're changing which shift fork you're operating.

Metric bolts use "class" instead of the imperial "grade". They both describe bolt strength, but have their own strength-groupings.

 

Now for closure


A branch fell and had me up on a wet, leaf covered roof at 1:30a.m... and then again, when I could actually see.

It wasn't even rotten. The thick-gauged old gutters snapped a sizeable, wet oak branch. How's about that?

work and worries aside, it was a real pretty morning.

Now for contrast, here's a moisture fouled cv shaft.. Did I show this off yet?

Some bearing wear

And some cup wear

And some nobby thing wear.

And how you can accidentally blow rollers out of these bearings with compressed air.

Repacked and back in service, just for now.


thanks for coming along for the ride, folks.. I'm finally shutting up. If you've got questions, send 'em before all this gets forgotten.

 

I know you're correct on each count here, but if I go back and change it now, someone may assume an inaccurate level of competence. I know -- I'll just credit you. (and add in part numbers when I collect the receipts.

In addition to these catches, I really appreciate your help back there with the main seal. Not sure how it is for others, but it seems to me that there's always an "uh-oh" event on these bigger jobs. It was nice having that helping hand, and a timely one at that. I think I owe you a few beers at least

 

@Pyts Very well done and a great service to the forum. Thank you, sir.

 

Thanks, sir! This may well be my last write-up, too. I need to start filling my time with things that make money, "or else".
But I love thorough write-ups. Besides avoiding need for a rewind button, they also exclude sensory "distractions" like sound and motion. A hybrid format would be lovely. I would've particularly enjoyed getting video of transmission removal and installation, but my friend was once again preoccupied steadying my creeper.
Well, anyways. I'm real grateful I got to do this. And it was only fun because I got to share it (besides the bit of risk/pain adrenaline). So yeah, thank you too.

Up next, I need to replace damaged wheels on a sliding glass door which no longer sits level, repair/replace our range hood's ducting which was mysteriously cut short in the attic by a previous owner despite having an appropriate roof cap. And uh.. Oh. Plumbing, including both supply and corroded cast iron drains buried beneath our foundation... At some point I may get to replace the rotted fascia boards of our eaves, too.
Better get moving

 

I'd like to nominate this thread for a sticky. Thank you for your detailed, and regular contributions to the community.