Dougs951S

I've pulled the transmission from my car plenty of times and just now realized today that I had been putting the two long horizontal support bracket bolts in backwards. That is, I've always had the bolt heads facing toward the fuel filter. I tried to correct this today and could not figure out how they went in the other orientation, which is probably what led me to assume the other way was correct in the first place. One seems like it will go in but I was changing them around one at a time to make it easier on myself. The other bolt closer to the front of the transmission, ( and the front of the car ) I can't seem to figure out how to slip past the shift linkage. There doesnt appear to be enough clearance. I tried in neutral and in every gear and just couldnt get the bolt in. I did not want to force it. Do I have to disconnect the shift linkage to put these bolts back in properly? Thanks in advance

V2Rocket

You will probably have to disconnect the linkage to slide the bolts in. Once in place you will see the holes are hex-shaped to hold the bolt still while you tighten the nut.

When you remove the trans in the future (by removing the nuts!), driving the bolts out of the mount until they touch the shift linkage is sufficient to remove the mount from the trans. I like to use a small, long-shank allen socket.

Dougs951S

Can I just pop off the single bolt holding the rod to the linkage and then pop it into 1st to pull the rod forward, or will I need to completely disassemble it?