Alright i'm probably 12 hours into it and i'm a little stuck at getting this stuff out of the car.

here's some problems i've encountered
1. i didnt know you had to unbolt the pass. side axle from that housing and i was tugging the sh*t out of the end of it and seemd to have dislocated something inside the outter boot.
2. the automatic transmission is too damn fat, its seperated from the engine but it is hitting the side of the engine bay and i cant pull it away from the motor any further to take it out.

What i've decided i'm going to do, since the fsm shows this and i have it on the lift, is just lower both the transmission and engine from the bottom together. The pass side engine mount is pretty hard to dismount but i think i've got it with some extensions and joint connectors on my air tools. What i haven't done yet, is disconnect some lines that come from the firewall and go to the coolant line (a/c?) I never read anything about disconnecting these tubes and i wasnt sure if this was going to mean i had to get my a/c recharged or what. Also i cant seem to find where to disconnect the power steering lines.

anyway, i might figure some of these things out tomorrow, i decided to call it quits early tonight since i was getting irritable and i figured i had done enough for the day. The transmissions weight is sitting on a jack right now.

After seeing how much crap connects to the auto tranny i am wanting a manual transmission that much more...

anyway, if anyone has any suggestions i appreciate them. hopefully tomorrow the engine can come out and possibly start the timing swap.

 

The way I did it was unbolt the 4 torque converter bolts, take out the 2 front crossmember bolts, lower the xmember, and take the tranny out along with the torque converter. It should come out pretty easily this way.

 

when i did it on my buddies i30, we didnt even unbolt the crossmember bolts. just put a jack under the trans and wiggled it, and we were able to get it out

 

torque converter bolts?
im scared to take the engine and tranny down together because i dont have the tools to support all of that weight. the tranny alone sounds like a good idea and i think i'm going to do what you said, try to take some bolts out of the cross member and get the transmission to tilt so i can pull it out.

i also gotta figure out what Mdeezy was telling me about disconnecting the a/c without releasing any of the freeon

 

Take the compressor off the engine and hang it in the engine bay, then remove the engine. Don't disconnect any lines.

I find the easiest way to remove the engine is with the trans attached. Just remove the 4 crossmember bolts, the 2 side mount bolts and lower the engine and trans onto a 4 wheel movers trolley (cheap). Then raise the front of the car and slide the engine and trans out. I have done this 5 or 6 times times now and I can remove or install the engine in less than 30 minutes by myself. Of course once you get it in the work begins but the actual removal or install is quite easy.

 

thats a pretty good idea with the dolley or trolley. I unbolted both side mounts but it looks like passenger side mount hits the wheel well or something if i try to lower it without completely taking it off the timing case, anyway i'll experiment shortly. thanks guys.
anyone know about what i screwed up with that CV joint?

 

alright, i found out my transmission problem. Well, after loosining the front bolts on that beam the transmission appeared to be loose enough to take off, so after a good while of tugging on it i realized the thing was dangling by the damn dip stick tube. So i'm fairly sure that its creased now which isnt a huge deal because i dont even want to put that transmission back in there (although i might have to temporarily).

Right now i'm stuck on trying to get the a/c compressor off because the belts are still on and the belt tensioner is weird...i loosened it all the way and it felt like it started getting tighter...the tension on the belt didnt seem to loosen much at all.

 

i ended up just unbolting the compressor and taking the belt off that way.

my last point of frusteration is the power steering lines, they are extremely hard to get to. they are theo nly thing still attached to the engine, its sitting on a wooden crate ready to have the car raised off it otherwise. i think it would be easier to get to them if i was pulling the engine out of the bay rather than dropping it below...anyone have any suggestions?