Stubborn E51 install - Aw11

[McFly 11]

So I am about half way through converting my old auto aw11 to manual and make the unpleasant discovery that I am not as good at mechanical stuff as I had hoped but things have gone well until now...

The new manual box is about 1.5 inches away from being bolted on. Currently I am stuck trying to get the gearbox spline to slot into the new clutch. This is as close as I got (see pictures below) before spending a lot of time jimmying around and getting nowhere.

Is there any easier or more reliable way of lining it up?

I was using a transmission saddle but gave up and got a crane instead (it seemed a worthwhile investment) so please take this into account

Cheers,
Luke



Ps: Plenty of beer and financial compensation for anyone in the south Brisbane area who can offer physical assistance!

[frostyadonis]

i also had trouble slotting in my box on my ae82 4age, bloody half an hour. when it finally slides in have at least 2 housing bolts handy before cracking open the champaine
lesson#2907

[Cuzzo]

Is it in gear?

Sometimes helps aligning the shaft.

So is the shaft engaged already? Did align the clutch with an aligning tool or screw driver?

[frostyadonis]

on my ae82 4age the input shaft has no spigot contact. i just centralised the clutch plate to the pressure plate then used my eye gauge and made sure the diaghram springs and the clutch plate slot were in centre line (after bolting it up of coarse)

[cambelt]

Best to manover it with yr hands from underneath ,with it hanging from the crane its hard to feel where it wants to go.
Sometimes you just have to call it a fuxxing cxxt , they can be a bitch at times.
Dave

[lexsmaz]

As Dave said ... But also make sure the box is aligned squarely to the back of the motor, as in the the main faces are both parallel to one another, if its cock eyed as in hanging down at the back you wont have a hope .. Sometimes you can give it a bit of a jiggle as you are trying to get them together, ( basically wobbling slightly the very back of the box up & down ), it sometimes helps ..

Rob ..

[TooF]

sounds silly but you havent got something obstructing it from the top ? hose ? bracket etc ? antyhing that is sitting between the block and the box preventing it from going together... wouldnt be the first time ive seen it

[Drifty Midship]

I was going to attempt this on Monday with only 2 jacks.... scared now.

[McFly 11]

Is it in gear?

Sometimes helps aligning the shaft.

So is the shaft engaged already? Did align the clutch with an aligning tool or screw driver?

I'm pretty sure the box was in neutral actually... Will definitely chuck it in gear first. The allignment was done with a wooden dowel

sounds silly but you havent got something obstructing it from the top ? hose ? bracket etc ? antyhing that is sitting between the block and the box preventing it from going together... wouldnt be the first time ive seen it

Sound silly? Not really! I'm pretty sure all is clear but I will double-check before I go any further.

Thanks everyone for your wisdom and advice. I will be picking this up again very soon!

I was going to attempt this on Monday with only 2 jacks.... scared now.

I started with 2 large trolly jacks (1 with tranny saddle). Getting the big lumpy auto box out wasn't a problem... The getting-back-in part is proving a little tricky for a novice like me though

[aw11gte]

Ive done a few AW11 boxes now and none of them have gone in easily. If shes all lined up and nothing in between the box and block, try to get some threads started on at least one of the bolts, once you do you will get more bolts in and it will slide it straight in.
Good luck with it all, my first one, half hour to get it out and about 3 hours to get the bastard back in.

[McFly 11]

Hi fellas She's all good! (pic to come)

A couple of big plumbing disasters kept me around the domus so I only got to the box today. It took an hour at most to check everything was all clear (it was) and make sure the box was dead-on (it wasn't quite) and fix it up.

With a bit of a jiggle on the crank and a LOT of shoving it came close enough to slip a longer mounting bolt through and draw the box together. After that it was easy enough to get the next couple in and it all came together from there

Thanks for all your valuable advice gentlemen!

[McFly 11]

One more query though... Has anyone got a set of e51->4agze bolts they wanna sell?

I knew all but one of the auto box bolts would be no good for the e51 install as the castings are different and the auto ones are too short.

The only replacements I could find for 2 of the 3 missing ones were generic "high tensile" hexagon head (not flange) bolts with a torque stamping says 8 (there was a couple of letters after that too). This suggests they should be strong enough the torquing spec in the BGB but is surely a bit below the strength of the originals (I don't actually know what the originals were).

Worse though, is the 12mm bolt just below the starter motor, which I couldn't find a working replacement for... so I figure finding a second had set may be the go

[aw11gte]

Good to hear you got it all in ok.
How did you go with the mounts? Any trouble lining them up, ive heard mixed reports from going auto to manual, and c series to e series.

[McFly 11]

Mounting wasn't an issue, as it turned out because I had the right parts handy I suspect most of the E51 mounting brackets are different to the ones on the C52 box though - but I will have to double-check next time I get to work on the '2.

The rear engine mount bracket is definitely different on the E51 compared to the SC auto (which I recall was actually stamped AT). Fortunately an E51 bracket was supplied with the box along with a top mount bracket which looked very similar to the auto one (but I never properly compared them before it went).

The front mount bracket was not supplied with the E51 but I robbed the auto one and it fitted almost perfectly All the insulators from the auto then bolted up as if it were always a manual!

[adamaw11]

well done!

I'm guessing the shafts for the SC auto line up fine for the E51 then right?