J160 disassembly - Altezza 6 speed

[oldeskewltoy]

Howdy folks! We just started disassembly of an SXE10 Altezza 6 speed in order to adapt it to an AE71 liftback with 4A-GE. Since there aren't too many of these in the States, we turn to you guys down under to see if anyone has pulled one apart.

The factory manual calls for dissassembling the tailhousing to get to the main case, then disassembling the main case to get the bellhousing off. We just need to remove the bellhousing (and included front seal plate) to fit our LEEN 4A-GE adapter and seal plate. Can we start at the front and just pull the bellhousing off? We started down that road but it seems to be hung up just enough that we don't want to break something forcing it, but we don't want to do a full teardown if we can pop the bell off by just using a slightly bigger hammer or a little bit more muscle.

And yes, we do have all the bolts out and we do have the snap rings off the front of both the shafts (inside the bell.)

Thanks in advance for any help!

[oldeskewltoy]

a bit of wiggle, and a bit of tapping and the case came free. There was one bolt that goes through the side of the case and holds a shaft firm that also had to be removed.