Just wanted to say thanks for this write up! Just finished the clutch swap on my car and I haven’t really done one before and this broke it down great. I also didn’t want to yank the subframe and deal with the new bolts and alignment and everything else that comes with it so I just yanked the trans by itself like you on jack stands. It took me a couple hours to go from all bolts out to transmission out from under the car by myself and I didn’t lose any fluid.
But putting it back in I rotated it a bit to speed up the process and ended up losing a small amount of fluid from the passenger side axle flange. So I’ll probably drain the whole thing and replace the fluid on my next free weekend.
***Note: I got the trans out by myself but it would extremely helpful to get a helping hand for this and will also save time. I got a second pair of hands for putting the trans back up into th bay and mated up with the motor and it took an hour. Everything else was pretty easy by myself. A helper is nice for taking out the axle flange bolts and axle bolts though just to hold he brake down.
One thing that wasn’t mentioned that I overlooked and fucked up was keep an eye your exhaust hanger just below the turbo. I lowered the engine a few inches to get he trans out and forgot to take it off and ended up breaking it. But thanks again! Feels crazy to shift effortlessly again and not have any slipping.
If anyone is like me and is reading this in the future, it took me 48 hours total from start to finish, but that includes sleeping and eating and shit. So figure at least 2 full days if you don’t have a ton of experience or a massive shop with lifts and air tools. Also, one thing I either looked over or never r as on any tutorials is you need a 9mm 12 sided socket for the pressure plate bolts.
I saved the $30 on a flywheel holder and just placed a 3/8” socket extension into one of the holes in the block and placed a pry bar from the subframe, resting in the extensions and the other need placed into the teeth of the flywheel. Worked perfectly.