There's a reason I'm not a mechanic.

[Brent Mills]

Ok, I spent something near 13 hrs today farting around with getting the engine in the car. There's the first problem...It's not in the car yet. I literally spent 8 hrs trying to mate the friggin toploader to the friggin engine. Problem one....I had the stupid clutch disc turned around backwards so there was about a 1/4 inch that I couldn't close up. I spent so much time jockying the damn thing around trying to get it in there (I did use an alignment tool, so that wasn't the problem), thoroughly exhausting myself (I'm hating life right now; sore!). So dreadfully I pulled the thing back out (didn't want to because it took me so much energy and time to get it to the point I did that I figured I would just setting myself back. Anyway, separted the two, checked the alignment again, all good...Hmmmm....Measured the spline, then measured from the crank to the outer edge of the spline on the disc, and whalla, 1/4 inch too far out. CRAP!!! Got it sorted and proceeded to futz with getting the damn thing mated (sucked not having a tranny jack (had to balance on a floor jack=not fun). Finally got it and the day was over.

I really hope tomorrow goes more smoothly.....I have little doubt that it won't.

Thanks for listening.

[Excaliber]

Yeah buddy, I been there with the floor jack used as a tranny jack! I have spent many a day and/or night fighting some aggravating mechanical project. On occasion giving up for the night and in the morning it dawning on me,,,,,"Oh man, I had the friggin clutch plate backward all that time!" Or some other "little" thing, perhaps the distributor in 180 degrees out and spending HOURS trying to figure out why the motor won't start! Ha ha, yeah, your little episode do bring back some memories!

These days, a little older and a little more "tired" I'm surprised to find: I get as much enjoyment in "directing" various workers in a project as I did actually doing the "hands on" myself in years past.

Now you, being a "young man", have many years ahead of hand to hand combat with your Cobra. Enjoy every minute of it while you can, the good, the bad and the ugly will eventually all add up to a "job well done" in the fullness of time.

Ernie

[Hal Copple]

a life spent re-doing car things ins not wasted. The experience is valuable, and worth passing down to one's offspring, like a mentor teaches the next generation. If i weren't tinkering with my car, i would probably be napping on the sofa, so being upright in a garage, properly greasy, is a far better way to spend one's life.

My most frustrating thing years ago, was when i pulled the rear axles out of my AWD Mitsu Turbo Eclipse, said axles having two sets of spines, and found i could not for the life of me get the axle back into to seat in the second set of spines.

Several days, many hours, no go. Finally, filed a "V" on the end set of spines, and voila, it would snap right in. From then on, i could pull and replace my rear axles in about a half a can of beer's time.

What separates the pros from the amateurs is that the latter have done it once before.

As we say in Medicine, "see one, do one, teach one."

[Cal Metal]

Done the floor jack thing, thinking we could get the tranny up and in without losing any fluid. Created a scene in the garage with 90W oil that made the Exxon Valdez disaster look like a school yard picnic.

Hal is right. As long as those mistakes don't cause personal harm, the experience is always invaluable.

[Cobra20646]

Part of being a shade tree mechanic is learning from your mistakes. After each job, you're wiser and more prepared for the next trip under the hood. The other part, is knowing you're going to make mistakes .... and hopefully they won't be costly or break any bones!
Hang in there bud, there's light at the end of the tunnel...... and it's not the head light of a fast freight!!

- Jim -

PS.. you didn't mention it, but a way to "hang" the tranny while installing it, is to cut the "hex" end off of some "long" bolts (2 each) and screw them into the bell housing. Use the jack to get it started on the "studs" and you'll have a better chance of getting things to mate up..... not to mention more room under the car with that jack out of the way!

[auto10x]

I remember doing the tranny trick with blocks of wood, first under the front then one under the rear, then another under the front, etc, until finaly it was high enough and ready to be shoved in. This was under a truck in the driveway, in California. It was about 16" high, ready to be shoved in. As I laid there admiring my cleverness a thought flashed through my mind, "If there is an earthquake right now I'm going to be in deep ****".
No quake, everything worked just as planned.
auto10x
Bill

[rdorman]

.... you run a great website!
Rick

[casaleenie]

My picture is posted at all NAPA and Sears stores... They're are not allowed to sell me tools.. I'm not allowed to own tools.. If I find a tool I'm supposed to turn it in to a responsible person..
I'm a danger to myself and others when I'm holding a screwdriver.. God knows a hammer is strictly forbidden...
There are places that will fix your car for, now get this,for MONEY..
How long has that been going on????

[ERA600hp]

Don't feel bad, been there done that!!

What will realy make you feel real good about yourself, if you look close at the clutch plate it will say fly wheel side, or something like that!! Sorry Buddy. Wish I was close so that I could help. Morris and Baldwin and myself can pull a motor out of an ERA in about 45 minutes now, we've go a system down!

Love You Man(Sherry TOO)

The Royal Rhubarb

[Mr.Fixit]

Stick the tranny onto the motor before installing into the car. I always stick the motor/tranny in as a whole unit, just remove the shifter. An engine tilter is nice to have

[Dan Semko]

Brent,
You're missing the obvious benefits:
Think about how many expletive combinations that you expressed, that you probably thought that you forgot with aging. This was a mental stimilus that proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that you still have good higher cortical function. Now take a few Advil for those sore muscles and assume the correct position.

[TomH]

As if you've never wasted hours writing code that ended up in the bit bucket! The good news is that there's a Cobra waiting for you at the end of the journey.

[Brent Mills]

Thanks for the encouragement fellas!

per Jim Harding:

PS.. you didn't mention it, but a way to "hang" the tranny while installing it, is to cut the "hex" end off of some "long" bolts (2 each) and screw them into the bell housing. Use the jack to get it started on the "studs" and you'll have a better chance of getting things to mate up..... not to mention more room under the car with that jack out of the way!

Oh man, so simple, yet so friggin not part of my thought process at the time. Man, that would have made life sooooo much easier.

[Cobra20646]

Brent,

Glad the tip will help you. I learned it many, many years ago.... some 'ol fart was watching me fight a 3 speed into my '55 chevy and dropped two bolts on the floor and said "try these"!!!!!
This 'ol fart just got the chance to return the favor

Have at it!

- Jim -

[427sharpe]

Northern Hydraulic sells a nifty adapter that will make a tranny jack out of your garage jack, at about 50 bucks as I recall.....and you can buy grade 8 studs and leave them in the bellhousing if you use nylocks at the trans, just put a touch of loctite on em and run em in.

[John A. Simpson]

You mean you can use a floor jack, OH MAN *&%#@.

[Jack21]

Hah! A prerequisite for being a member of this forum is bruised knuckles. (Not to mention a badly bruised butt from kicking ones self for doing something really stupid).

This is a right of passage Brent. Doesn't matter if you are 17, 27, or 57 when you earn your "Rights". That you can talk about it here, and we can all relate with your frustration is a symbol of "Manhood". Nobody will laugh at you or ridicule you. We've all been there, ashamed, and embarassed at the dumb thing we did. But we did it, and most importantly; we learned from it.

Some wiseguy at Centerforce now puts a sticky label on clutch discs that says "This side toward flywheel". Unfortunately, the label doesn't say, "Remove this label before installing clutch".

Every time I go to the auto supply store I look to see if anyone has published a manual called "Basic Automotive Skills for Dummies". (You could get your wife to buy it for you.) No such luck, or publication. Oh well, we male of the species are born with the ability to build 7 sec engines in our sleep. Right?

[Brent Mills]

Damn it!!!!!! I just went and tried to install the damn engine and the friggin hoist I bought a couple months back is not long enough to sit the engine back as far as it needs to be. The nose of the Cobra would hit the jack before it was in far enough. Jayzus I can't win! I bought the thing to save on the $40 rental fee I have paid like ten times over the last several years. How discouraging.

Cal, I have the same damn oil slick in my garage at the moment. The bag I zip tied to the end of the tranny got punctured and before I new it the mess was done.

[Jack21]

Brent, go to capitalareacobraclub.com. Just went through this exercise with Scott Harrison. Cobra locates engine a lot more rearward than most cars. Need extended reach, and tilter to locate engine.

Bolt engine, bellhousing, & trans together and install a a unit.

[hodgey]

Yea Ive done some stupid mechanical things too. Like once I had a baloney sandwich I misplaced. I looked all over the garage for that sucker. I finally found it stuffed in the secondaries of my Holley carbuerator. Mustve been sleepwalking again! From that day on, I nicknamed my fuel-supply system the "Oscar Myer protein slurp gobble"!