When doing Larry's phantom grip and 5th gear swap I took lots of pictures and figured I'd show everyone how I did it..
First order of buisness get the transmission out of your car.. Yep its pretty simple..
For the fwd models
remove battery - reach down and unscrew the speedo cable - unplug the 2 sensors from the transmission - Unscrew the retainning nut on the clutch cable and pull the cable back threw the mounting bracket - remove any ground wires(there should be at least 2) - Jack the car up and take the wheels off - drain the transmission - remove 2 lower ball joint bolts and free the ball joint from the control arm on both sides - remove sway bar - remove mount bolts - support the engine and transmission - remove the cross member - remove front mount - remove 3 bolts that go from under the oil pain and bolt to the transmission - remove shift linkage from transmission - using a pry bar between the drivers side axle and transmission remove the axle (swing it up on top of the transmission so its out of the way) - on the passengers side axle I used a hammer on the inside joint to lightly tap it out of the intermediate shaft and steady bearing (if you don't have an intermediate shaft then just use a pry bar like you did on the drivers side to get the axle out) - remove 3 bolts holding the intermediate shaft to the block and remove intermediate shaft - tilt engine and transmission down till you can get at the top bell housing bolts and starter bolts threw the wheel well - remove them - remove starer bolt on the back side of the starter - support transmission - remove the last 2 bell housing bolts - remove transmission -
voila!
With the transmission on a clean bench start by flipping it up so its standing on the bell housing and remove the back cover..
Hey look its 5th gear!
to remove 5th gear you have to remove the 2 retaining nuts (27mm and 30mm if my memory is correct)
you also have to drive the roll pin out of the fork (yellow arow)
5th gear now removed.. if you look at the back of the pic you can see how 5th gear is assembled.. its just stacked upside down.. The shaft thats marked, the gears ride freely on.. there are a couple of sleaves inside the gears on that side.. don't loose the sleaves..
Now on to the fun stuff.. Remove the bolts marked by arrows.. The Yellow arrow holds the shaft for the reverse idler gear steady, the blue arrow steadies the shift rods, the red arrow has a detent ball and spring that you have to use a magnet to remove, the black arrow is for your reverse lights switch. After that removed all the cover bolts and use a hammer or pry bars to lift the cover up.. If its not stuck on the dowl pins the cover should come up with out much effort.. If you have to really pry on it, stop and look you might be hanging up on something...
Success.. nothing broken so far.. all right! When you remove the case, the bearing races might fall out of the case.. these races will have shims behind them.. DO NOT mix up these shims, they set the preload and end clearances for the transmission..
The arrows mark what the bolts you removed earlier screw into, slide into or ride on..
Next up remove the 10 mm retaining bolt.. Once you do that you can remove that shaft and assembly, plus you can remove the reverse idler gear and shaft..
1 more roll pin to knock out so you can remove the complete gear set all as 1 piece..
With that roll pin out you can now grab hold of the compelete gear set and wiggle it out.. when you do there will be a detent ball the falls into the case.. don't loose it.. With the gears removed now you can just pick up your diff and pull it out..
That wasn't so hard was it?? This is what everything will look like torn apart..
To install the phantom grip you have to remove the diff pin.. So drive the roll pin out that holds the diff pin in.. when you do this inspect that roll pin for cracks.. if its cracking replace it...If that roll pin breaks you'll end up with one hell of a big hole in your transmission...
As per the instructions that came with the phantom grip unit you will need to remove the side gears (side gears are the gears that your axles spline in to).. There are shims behind the spider gears and side gears, don't mix them up or loose them... With the side gears out, sand down the inner face till its nice and smooth.. (I did this by placing a sheet of wet emery cloth on a flat surface and rubbing the gears on them to make sure I sanded the gears nice and evenly and flat) Re install the side gears and spider gears and test fit the phantom grip unit.. It should slide in easy, if it doesn't then you will have to sand more off the side gears.. Once the phantom grip fits in nicely reinstall your diff pin.. When you are installing the sides and spinder make sure they have a little oil on the back of them where the shims ride.. Make sure your side gears are lined up.. Once the retaining pieces are removed from the phantom grip is next to impossible to move the side gears in place.. with the side gears lined up remove the retaining clip and pins from the unit..
voila! you now have an LSD..
What once looked like this
now looks like this..
Before assembly clean up all your parts.. remove all the sillicone from the cases and cover..
Now comes assembly.. Most of this is just in reverse order for how you pulled it apart so I wont get into to much detail.. there are a couple tricks that I will go over..
With your diff back in now you have to get ready to put the gear set back in.. remember that detent ball I told you would probley fall out? well heres how to get it back together..
with a small screw driver push the spring back as far as you can.. Using a pick, drill bit or anything you can find insert it into the hole as show to hold the spring back.. Using a little grease put the ball in place as show.. now slip the collar back in place that the shift rod is attatched to..
With the gear set back in place don't forget to reinstall the roll pin.. Everything should be set to nutral at this point.. continue to reinstall things in reverse order of how you pulled it apart
There are no gaskets used.. so when you are ready to install the case half, use a layer of silicone to seal it up.. I would recomend you install the case half dry (no silicone) first with 2 bolts to make sure the shafts aren't binding and test that the end clearence hasn't changed.. I would also suggest installing the 2 retaining bolts previously marked by a yellow and blue arrow and shifting the transmission threw the gears to make sure everything is lined up correctly..
With the case halfs back together now for 5th gear..
at this point is a straight swap.. insted of using the stock gears you'll just put in the new gears.. You can see a little difference in side from the different teeth count. stock is on top.. the new 5th gear on bottom..
With 5th gear install don't forget to stake the retaining nuts and silicone the cover so it doesn't leak...
Time wise, its possible to do this in a weekend.. It all depends on how well set up you are and what tools you have...
