So I have gone in and repaired all the seals on the motor and trans. I have the tranny underneath and ready to bolt up, but now I wonder if the engine pan will fit in there if I bolt the transmission up first. I would go check it myself, but doing this alone in my driveway is a total pain in the ***. So I don't want to raise it up and bolt it up to find out I have to take it all back down.

Thanks

 

should be no problem, hardest part is to put trans shaft in & lining the housing bolts to engine,

 

Yeah, thats a real pain in the ***... Any tips on lining up the trans to engine?? Im using long and strong Zip Ties and inching it in with those..

 

I just did a Transmission/TC install on a friends 03 that blew itself apart thanks to a 14 year old drive shaft.

Make sure the Torque Converter is 100% fully seated into the transmission. Then using a transmission jack guide it up to the back of the engine. You can buy some longer bolts to help align it, or just carefully push it up to the engine until you can get a few bolts started to help align it. Once you get it sitting on the alignment pins DO NOT tighten the bell housing bolts 100% Get them started but DO NOT tighten them all the way. (leave about 2-3mm of the bolt showing before being flush with the engine).

Now remove the lower round inspection plate from the bell housing. I took a small flashlight and shined it into the hole where you get to the Torque Converter Bolts. Then spin the Torque Converter by hand until you see the light from the flashlight shining thru the bolt hole. Then take something and poke thru the hole to make sure it's aligned good. Now take your 13MM socket and either stick some gum into it or some tacky putty because you DO NOT want to drop the Torque Converter bolts into the Flex plate..

Once you get one started spin the crank by hand until you line up the remaining 3. Once all the Torque Converter bolts are installed you can go ahead and tighten down all the bell housing bolts and the torque converter bolts.

The oil pan is designed to come on/off regardless if the transmission is installed or not.

 

“Now take your 13MM socket and either stick some gum into it or some tacky putty because you DO NOT want to drop the Torque Converter bolts into the Flex plate..“
Toilet wax ring is really sticky, I have used this before!