98 tran in a 97

B

budpytko

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Here I go with day 2 of the swap. As I can't really start until 2:30 when my son gets home from work, I guess I can't call it day 2, eh?

Yesterday we got it all ready to drop...one bolt still in it just to make sure it don't fall. Had to drop the gas tank to the end of the cables to get the d/s out. One main trans bolt to engine broke off after 1/2 way out. Will see if we can get it out today after trans is out of the way.

Found out that the instructions about the L-O-N-G set of extentions for the top bolts made those bolts the easiest to remove. Starter was a bear...flywheel to converter bolts SUCK, big time!!

If anyone has any other big hints, now is the time. I'll be checking back again before I leave at 2PM EDT.
 
Is the car on jackstands ?

Use two jacks (one under the bellhousing, one under rear mount) to manouver the trans out of there, and definitely do the same with the replacement trans. I can do a trans swap myself thanx to that, it's super easy to align everything since you can raise the front separately from the rear.

For the converter bolts use a ratcheting wrench, it's a life saver.
 
It's on a home garage lift. 2 poster. Makes it nice to be able to sit on a roller seat to do things under there.

We had ratcheting wrenchs, but they didn't have the correct angle to get in there. We used off-set box ends....they were just REALLY tight! One left....that's the one bolt still holding it in ...of course the tranny is sitting on a jack too.

Thanks for the heads up on the 2 jacks.
 
I put a 97 tranny in my 96... and i also had to drop the gas tank, i used a floor jack under the pan to remove the tension, you are going to blow out the tranny lines... right? I used all the extensions i could find and line it up to the bolts from the tail end of the tranny... that did the trick.
 
I am most definately going to blow out the lines...you should have seen the crud inside the pan!!!

How did you re-install all those hard-to-get-to bolts at the unreachable spots durning the re-install?
 
We dropped the differential down enough to slide the driveshaft back - seems easier.

The top starter bolt(with headers) is a REAL PITA but not bad after you figure out the extensions and u-joint required to get to it from in front of the K-member. I remember it being a pain with no headers but doable and certainly not as bad as now with the headers.

If you allow the engine/tranny to tip down somewhat, the bell housing bolts are easier - especially on a lift.

Good luck! :)
 
JP...thanks, but got all that done yesterday!! LOL. Now just got to drill out the busted tanny bolt and went installing the new 98 tranny, figuring out how to re-install all those top trans bolts! Stopping by Lincoln today and getting all new tranny bolts - if they have 'em in stock.
 
Need some help now, if possible. The repinning of the electric plug (1998 tranny to '97 Mark). I downloaded the tooca pages, but they use a Gran Marquis as an example. That wiring and thew Mark seems to be different. Can someone tell me what wires I gotta swap. I do have the NEW PLUG from Lincoln with the pigtail.
 
Also, when putting the torque converter bolts back in, get a Gear Wrench (brand) ratchet wrench with the pivoting end. They work great on the driveshaft to pinion too.

That was the easiest part for me.:)
 
Thanks guys...I finally used common sense and saw the pic of the plug was reversed and went from what the wire was and color code. Will be re-installing tomorrow.
 
billcu said:
Also, when putting the torque converter bolts back in, get a Gear Wrench (brand) ratchet wrench with the pivoting end. They work great on the driveshaft to pinion too.

That was the easiest part for me.:)
Click to expand...


I just got the metric set of offset wrenches from Craftsman....works great.
 
Day whatever...tired of it fer sure! Son was trying to get the one bolt that broke off when removing trans (driver's side bottom). He had it moving out using visegrips and the whole corner of the engine side broke off!!! WTF!! So it looks like the tranny will go in with one less bolt holding it in. He had removed the flywheel to gain access to that broken bolt and was retorqueing the flywheel bolts. He had just said to me.."Boy, it sure seems as 60 ftlbs of torque is more than I remember", when....SNAP! His torque wrench never 'clicked' at 60ftlbs! When we checked it, we set it for 15 ftlbs and it STILL didn't "click". So, he was able to drill that one out, no problem except I gotta go find a new bolt for the flywheel. Tomorrow's Friday - if they gotta order it, don't know what to do...we gotta get it out of his garage as he needs it .... Will it bother the balance if we use just some bolt that fits?
 
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If it weren't for BAD luck, I'd have no luck at all. Yesterday: Fri the 13th. Got the nuts/bolts I needed at Ford dealer. Tranny went up and in, got 1st flywheel to converter nut on and went to turn the front nut on the engine to get to the next bolt head -----engine won't turn!!!! Had to quit early yesterday, so today we start by loostening everything on the tranny we torqued yesterday and see if we can figure out whats binding. It looked and felt like it slid in there just fine....used the bolts near the center of each side to pull the tranny tight to the engine...seemed to not require any force to do that....The converter to flywheel bolts slid thru. I have NO idea what happened???

Anyone got any ideas....I'll check back after I get there and before we start loostening things. I thought of installing starter and 'bumping' it, but decided against that........
 
The only thing I can think of is the torque converter isn't clocked right on the splines. It is easy to do. It slides on then the last bit needs to rotate to engage the splines correctly. If you play with it, you'll understand.

A LOT of people do not get this right. If you try to bolt it up it will bind up. Sounds like what may be going on.
 
I agree with Driller. When you load the TC into the tranny make sure you roll it slightly so that you engage the splines on the imput shaft and gently push the TC in as far as you can and leave it there until after you have tranny mated to engine and then slide the TC forward to contact flywheel. Hope this helps.
 
We found out the hard way (doesn't everyone) that JP and Roadboss are exactly correct. We just HAD to bring it back out and down...checked all the clearances etc. and deduced that it HAD to be the TC binding. We popped it out and back in and restarted the procedure over again....when in like a charm! It's running really nice with that 98 tranny...the whole car seems smoother and quieter too!

I haven't really punched it...I'll let it get used to running again before I try anything foolish! Funny, I didn't have to adjust the MLPS one little bit either...there was one on the 98 tranny, so I used it. Works good.

While it was out and the pan was off, we welded a drain valve into the pan, so no more removing the pan to change fluid!! The magnet in the used 98 I purchased was spotless - that made me happy. And my re-wire job on the harness was spot on too...Whooo! didn't have to do any re-soldering on the car! Had to put in 13 1/2 quarts of Mercon 5 to completely fill it....13 quarts, ran it for 14 miles....put in 1/2 quart...full hot!

Thanks to all that helped...really is nice to have you guys here!! Another score for the LOD!
 
Sorry we didn't think to warn you before. :eek:

But you figured it out and it's good to hear it's running good. :)
 
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