This weekend went by incredibly fast. It really only felt like one day, and a short one at that. I spent every minute of both days, from the time I woke up until well after dark, working on my car. I helped Russ put some fog lights on his truck yesterday, but he did a lot of the work while I worked on my car, and he helped me break some of the suspension bolts loose that I would have never gotten by myself.
I’ve got another part request into Barber Brothers Subaru, this time for these two tiny little retaining clips that hold the throwout bearing to the clutch release fork. I pulled the transmission out today, and realized that neither of the clips was in place. I pulled the throwout bearing off the transmission input shaft, and one of the clips was behind it, but the other one was missing completely. Each one is about the size of a paper clip, and I would make my own if I had the right type of metal wire, but the wire that I do have won’t hold its shape like these are supposed to. Anyway, if they have the part in stock, I’ll probably drive up tomorrow after work and pick it up, because I certainly don’t want to wait until after Thanksgiving to start putting things back together. If they don’t have it in stock–well, I’ll be pretty pissed off.
My father-in-law’s transmission jack was broken, so I had to make my own. I bought four casters at Wal-Mart for $1.48 each, and mounted them to a 2.5′ X 1.5′ piece of plywood that I had laying around my garage. Then I put two bottle jacks (one from my truck, the other from my mom’s 4Runner) on the front, and a scissor jack (from the Subaru) on the back. I put a 1′ long 1X4 across the two front jacks, then raised them to support the front of the transmission, while the scissor jack supported the rear of the transmission. After I unbolted the transmission from the engine, I wheeled the whole thing backwards until the shaft cleared the engine, then I lowered the jacks until the transmission was clear of the undercarriage. I don’t think that will work for putting the transmission back in the car, since I need a little more precision to get the shaft lined up, so I’ll probably rent a jack from Checker Auto, if they even have one. If not, I’ll have to try my method again. I’m just happy that I was able to remove the transmission without any help, and with my own tools.