I've had a spare VE 5spd transmission that I picked up a few months ago along with a spare VE engine for my spring project(s). Well the other day in my boredom I cracked open the transmission to see what work would be needed on it.

I wasnt able to find much searching google but I came across a 4th gen guy (motorvate.ca - I think he's a member here) who worked on his own. The main thing I took from that is to look for 'spalling' on the bearings, and I see none on mine.

The transmisssion was leaking though and looks to have been previously opened up. I want to get this transmission in tip-top/like new shape and would like to do it myself. Beyond spalling, what else would I look for? I see no cracked or chipped or visibly worn gears or anything like that. How many of you guys have replaced your own bearings or more? Thoughts?

 

Those are the obvious ones. You should also check for excess metal shavings in tranny case, as well as stress marks on the main bearings. It's a good time to also replace the main seals.

S

 

If the tranny has more than about 50k miles on it, just suck it up and replace the input and main shaft bearings on it. the diff bearings are usually not a problem on the 3rd gen, so I wouldn't mess with them.

you can see some pics when I did it here:
http://mattblehm.com/pics/car/tranny/