tranny removal MK3.1 with a tko

[BigLeo69]

how come the frame wasn't designed to get a tranny out?
the rear crossmember interfere's
has the mk4 been up graded?
and is there any pics of anyone removing the 4" crossmember and making a bolt connection on the crossmember.??
what does it do to the strength on the chassis if this is done?
also some talk about getting it out and turning the tranny 90* seems a pain in the rear for that.
why not move the engine forward and up on blocks, i would think it could be done with the body on and removing the sidepipes, fuel line and rad. hoses

[Bob Cowan]

The MIV has a removable cross member just for this reason. There have ben a few earlier cars modified for this; Gordon Levy has done 3-4 of them.

[BigLeo69]

The MIV has a removable cross member just for this reason. There have ben a few earlier cars modified for this; Gordon Levy has done 3-4 of them.

yep i talked to Gordon he doesn't have any pics though, got the brake line there to contend with and the tranny support. had thoughts of cutting and dishing the crossmember down kind of moonshaping it, i think just that little bit would make it go past it if i raised it up and out.
thanks Bob

[Brian Z]

The Mk3.1 was designed to be able to take the transmission out without removing the engine. The Mk2 kits were different and you could not pull the transmission from the bottom. Are you sure it is an Mk3.1?

[Johnny Suede]

I have a 3.1 with a t5 and was able to remove the tranny with the engine in. Boy was it a pain. After the tranny was disconnected and slid all the way back, removed shifter, I had to remove the clutch and flywheel. I might have taken off the bellhousing as well. Not sure if this would work with your tranny or not.

[BigLeo69]

i am curious from F5R to what they did to the MK4 cross member as Bob has stated and yep its a mk3.1

looking for pics of this mod its a tko i need about 8" to get it back and out w/o removing the BH

i don't have a lift to work off of just laying on the freakin ground to me its a bummer to do
i am ready to swing the drivetrain out, it took me about 3hrs to get everything disconnected by myself.
my Forte tranny is leaking from the topside cover just behind the BH, had some header leaks so removing the drivetrain makes sense.

but for future, i am thinking of cut, grind weld on the cross member
the other thing i thought of in lieu of crossmember is to just remove the fuel line and rad hoses, unbolt tranny, support it, and move the engine forward make some blocks similar to the mounts set the engine on that secure it and remove the tranny, if i have issues in the future to get the clutch out too

[Brian Z]

Try doing this:

Unbolt the transmission from the bell housing.

Push the transmission as far back as you can. If you turn the trans side ways, you can get it farther back.

Unbolt the bellhousing and remove it.

Pull the transmission out forward.

This is the way our engineer Jim suggested. He races a spec racer alot and this is a common proceedure for him.

Best regards,

[BigLeo69]

i pulled the engine, the headers were leaking the hookers 4into4 seal badly. it seams that with a machine staight edge on them they both are turned out to the rear on #4 and #8, i was able to clean up the exhaust leaks on the heads and flat file the headers, i am going with a copper gasket this time the copper only rtv won't seat at the bottom of the headers.
the tranny i took the tko-600 apart this weekend the top-cover isn't machined very well you could see where it was leaking past the anearobic sealant, cleaning up everything took the longest, and punching the roll pins out on the shift rail below the midshifter was fun, i had a telescoping magnet that i cut short and bent it to grab onto the roll pins. i made a temp cover plate to go over the midshifter, after i stab her back in i will remove it and this is where i will dump my new fluid in, would be nice if they made a fill plug there and a peckcock on the old one so when she is at the correct level at the fill on the side it would bleed out, shut her off and cap it. wow another modification.
i also am installing a .047 stainless plate for those of you using the aluminum bellhousing i have come to find out that the input shaft has a bearing below it and the housing doesn't at times hold it in correctly as a solid steel BH would.
it will go in as a precaution but i believe the leak was on the topcover of the main case. got some good pics of it, but posting them is hard to do here for some reason.