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[Help] Any Magical Tips for the Top Bell Housing Bolt
Hello everyone,
I'm 9/10s of the way to pulling my C4S Cabrio's transmission to do a clutch job, but am absolutely stumped on how to reach the top bell housing bolt. At this point I'm pretty sure I've tried every combination of u-joints and extensions known to man. I've already dropped the transmission/engine to the crossmember, and I can touch the bolt from the drivers side with my hand with some clever mechanic yoga, but can't get a ratchet setup to work. Anyone have any magical tips on how to get to this? I've tried cursing, but that failed.
Sorry I can't help but I pictured this in my mind's eye and I feel your pain. I have been there on other repairs. Good luck. There's a service manual floating around on the net somewhere that might help.
I'll be honest, I'm a couple of minutes away from pulling the rear seats and Debbie drilling a hole through the rear firewall. Going to leave the car on jackstands for now and grab some better extensions + wobble extensions in the morning. Hopefully I can hack something together.
Last edited by cptn_majestic; 05-05-2022 at 12:33 AM.
Have you considered removing or loosening the rear engine mounts to drop the motor down a couple of inches, this might just give you the clearance you need to get in there.
One of the members here has a link to the 991 service manual. I downloaded it as a PDF but its 300+MB and i can't attach it here. Message me your e-mail and i'll try to send it to you.
@awittig I actually am following something that looks like an FSM, but the one I have is OK at best as it skips some steps and doesn't contain everything. Either way, I definitely want to check out the one you have. Thanks!
Edit: I don't seem to have permissions to PM yet. Any chance can you start a thread with me? Thanks!
Last edited by cptn_majestic; 05-05-2022 at 01:34 PM.
Have you considered removing or loosening the rear engine mounts to drop the motor down a couple of inches, this might just give you the clearance you need to get in there.
Do you mean dropping the cross member between the engine and transmission?
Do you mean dropping the cross member between the engine and transmission?
I think he means the engine mounts way in the back that attach to the engine carrier. If you haven't done that already. You access the nuts from underneath and use a tranny jack to support the oil pan and drop it that way.
Update: It is possible to get at the bolt with some witchcraft, and only dropping the engine/transmission with the transmission jack to the crossmember. I used a u-joint connected to a fixed extension (so the end doesn't fall off), connected to a limited motion u-joint, connected to another fixed extension, connected to a short wobble extension. This did require another set of hands to accomplish. Basically, I fed the extension up the passenger side of the transmission, with the rear side near the transmission oil cooler, until my wife could reach it from the drivers side. She had her hand up near where the clutch slave cylinder is, and kergiggled the extension end onto the bolt and held it there as I cranked away.
I hope this helps someone going forward with their own DIY transmission pull.
Update: It is possible to get at the bolt with some witchcraft, and only dropping the engine/transmission with the transmission jack to the crossmember. I used a u-joint connected to a fixed extension (so the end doesn't fall off), connected to a limited motion u-joint, connected to another fixed extension, connected to a short wobble extension. This did require another set of hands to accomplish. Basically, I fed the extension up the passenger side of the transmission, with the rear side near the transmission oil cooler, until my wife could reach it from the drivers side. She had her hand up near where the clutch slave cylinder is, and kergiggled the extension end onto the bolt and held it there as I cranked away.
I hope this helps someone going forward with their own DIY transmission pull.
Awesome ; I'm assuming not being able to cuss the bolt out with the wife there must have made it extra-harder, but glad to hear you did it.
Update, I managed to completely remove and reinstall the transmission without dropping the engine past the crossmember. Big takeaways, get a helper for the top bolt on the transmission, remove and reinstall both the B+ line and the clutch slave cylinder while the transmission is dropping/lifting, use a second transmission jack to keep the engine oriented right, buy two of every extension known to man, and prepare to invent some curse words.
05-04-2022, 10:35 PM
[Help] Any Magical Tips for the Top Bell Housing Bolt
; I'm assuming not being able to cuss the bolt out with the wife there must have made it extra-harder, but glad to hear you did it.
