First time dropping the transmission and I'm stuck

Hi all, I have a rand new to me 996 C2 Cab and I'm already into it before I can even drive the car. :-( I need to pull the transmission to check the state of several items and replace the IMS, AOS and other items. Well, I thought I knew what I was doing.. I've done all the prep work to drop my C2 996 transmission. unbolted the transaxles, unclipped the reverse sensor, unbolted and zip tied the slave cylinder (yep, people aren't kidding, it really is a bugger), sift cables, pinned the engine at TDC, supported the engine and transmission, removed the transmission mounting brackets, and removed the 8 bolts from the bell housing. From what others have said it should now just pull out. But it doesn't. It doesn't budge a bit. I've tried raising and lowering the transmission so that the engine isn't supporting the transmission and the transmission isn't supporting the engine. Some of the threads on C4's and TTs discuss pulling the starter plus an engine stud or removing a fork pivot. The shop procedure for my C2 does not mention either of those. Anyone have any suggestions?

Remove starter don't think I've ever done a trans without removing it. Did u drop axles off the trans/dif?

At least it looks like your labeling things. Did you take photos? Do you have a real service manual to help you?

The workshop manual says at this point to move the transmission forward...remember you have to pull it forward to slip the spline shaft out. There are only the eight bolts holding the transmission to the engine, so it seems you have that correct. Have you tried to gently pry the transmission forward away from the engine casing and see if it budges at all?

No need to pull the startermotor. Locating pins might be stuck, so you could pry the transmission with flat srewdriwer.

Thanks. I do have the Porsche service manual. I've taken a few shots but not nearly enough for a DIY. Have been pulling the trans forward, any more and I'll be holding the car in place of the jack stands. :-) If I lightly pry the transmission it comes out 1mm where I am prying but sucks back in when I stop. I'm going to give speed rII's theory a shot and see how it goes.

I tried prying as much as I dare without risk of breaking something. Seems to be held up by something on the passenger side of the the bell housing.

YOu should have a jack under the motor. Try lowering the motor to give more transmission clearance. I have had my C2 3.6 out several times. I believe I shook the transmission back and forth until it came off the guide pins. Looks like you're doing it right. While you are in there replace the 4 O-rings on the oil cooler. Silver rectangular can on the left. If you see white/gray powder on the left inside of, tran/eng, it is leaking coolant.

When you pry it out and it "sucks" back in, then probably the spline shaft is stuck in the clutch drive plate. Pull harder or pry harder...it should pull forward...use some wood shims to apply forward force until it comes loose. I would do as Chris says...shake it back and forth...and definitely have a jack support under the engine.

Woohoo!!! I have just dropped my first transmission! A little prying, drop the tranny a little lower, a few wiggles and then out. Thanks guys, I would still be frustratedly looking over the manual without you! Had to come in to say THANKS before I continued on with the AOS and IMS and maybe some other bits.

I'm glad you finally got it out I know they can be bare sometimes to get out but hopefully it's a little easier getting back in.

This is awesome... how long did it take you? You are showing us all we can do this if I ever needed to...

Congrats! Do yourself a favor and put the new IMS bearing in the freezer overnight. It has a really close tolerance and will def go in easier once frozen.

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Same thing works for wheel bearings BTW....

The new IMS bearing is in. I used a basic replacement bearing for now. The old double row bearing was in excellent condition but you don't really know until you have it out. I plan on replacing it with the LN Engineering bearing with the next clutch change. The IMS install was a bit more fiddly than i expected. The bearing and install tool did spend the night in the freezer. I locked down the cam shafts with the LNE cam locks and locked the engine at TDC. I was really happy that I did. I also used the pins that came with the bearing to lock the IM shaft in place. When I started banging on the bearing install tool with the hammer the IM shaft shifted as the pins where ineffective in holding it in position. The other thing I didn't realize is that the outer spacer that adapts the bearing for use in a double row installation is not a press fit spacer. I tried to load it onto the install tool along with the bearing for installation which was unnecessary and only ended up getting in the way. This was a big job for me. I still have the AOS to do and then it's time to start buttoning it back up. I am very slow at what I am doing. By the time I'm done I'll probably have about 30 hours of time under the car spread out over a week and a half. Only things left that I am nervous about at this point are lining up the transmission correctly for re-install (thanks for the well wishes ECS Tuning) and getting those upper bell housing bolts both started and up to full torque. I think that I agree that this is a DIY project. However, it is definitely one that is at my limit. I was thinking that after this project I might be ready to take on something larger. Nope. I am feeling good not passing this level for a bit but will be up for doing this again when the clutch needs to be replaced.

You' replaced a double row, steel ball, bearing with a single row steel ball one? This is a step back in my oppinion.

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I found putting my tranny back in much more of a pain than taking it out. trying to line everything up just perfectly to get in to the pilot beating etc. I probably spent 2 hours just trying to line everything up properly for the install.

Son of a Barvarian, the AOS was hard!!! The clips for the top hose were inaccessible so I ended up just breaking the top hose spike off the old AOS. Putting the new AOS back on I kept sending the hose clip zinging around the engine compartment until eventually lost. Rather than continue to search fo an ineffective connector I replaced it with a 5/8" stainless hose camp. Maybe not correct, but it will make the whole process much easier next time. Took me about 4 1/2 hours with the transmission already dropped. Now it's time to put the transmission back in.

After four transmission removal and having a real hard time lining the first one up, I learned to not move the engine angle or transmission (from the stand) so that the line it was in when it came out is the same line when going back in.

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If you can, replace the worm gear style hose clamps with fuel injection hose clamps. They don't chew up the hose and have a much higher clamping power. Any parts store sells them.

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Maybe I got lucky, but mine went together slick like on my first try. It was a one man job. I strapped the gearbox to an ATV jack and bob was my uncle. I'm not usually lucky with these things....usually I end up breaking something. Not this time...up-in-on.

Sorry for the ****tiest pic ever, at this point I had no idea there was a low light setting on my phone camera ha ha. I had my Porsche up on the 2 post lift, my engine supported by a couple stands, and used a transmission jack to raise and lower the tranny. I think my biggest problem was that I didn't fix the positioning of the tranny jack so when I put the tranny back up it wasn't in the exact same position on the lift so it didn't match up exactly the way I took it out (angle up and down side to side etc)

Well I'm not surprised you found this job difficult. Try turning on the lights in your shop next time!

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Haha the shop is pretty well lit, was doing it in the middle of the night. closed the shop at 8pm after working a full 12hr day, brought my car in, pulled the tranny, did the clutch, refinished the flywheel, did the RMS, IMS bearing, pilot bearing, throw out bearing, pivot, changed the oil, tranny fluid, installed an intake, and got an hours sleep on the shop couch before opening the next morning at 7:30am ha ha. I think part of my problem getting it back in may have been exhaust ontop of not being smart with the tranny jack. I know I completely blame that for me smashing my reverse sensor when reinstalling the tranny. I think my shop has around 100 flourescent tubes lighting the shop. I think the issue with the pic like I said was most likely the fact is was my phone camera was on an action setting instead of low light, and you can see my trouble light is shining directly at it.

Dude, sounds awful. I know I get stupid as hell when I get tired. My problem is that I usually get tired about 4 in the afternoon. I took a few weeks to do my clutch and AOS. Getting it done in one night is not an option for a DIY guy like me. Of course I was j/k about the lights in your shop. I am on my (@/#*) blackberry and all I saw was grey rectangle with some white spots. Rockon

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Well I am a do it yourselfer as well, just with access to a shop, but I am also young dumb and greedy ha ha. being the fact I own the shop, and having my car on a lift taking up space for any period of time means that that bay cannot be used and make me money (which in turn usually gets thrown at the porsche ha ha) does not sit well. I was also able to bribe some people to help with beer and pizza which made the night a little more bearable. Plus biggest thing, I could not go weeks without my P-car. I hate getting in to any of my other vehicles. I only use my G, Edge or truck when I absolutely need to. PS I dont understand how you cant see that picture clearly as it was taken with a blackberry I thought these things were supposed to be compatible with one another.

The tranny is back in. I have to say that mating it back up was the easiest part of the whole job. It never left the transmission jack and was only moved about 2 feet forward to give me room to get at the AOS and IMS. It slid right back in with barely a shake. Things learned: Invest in a good shop jack with a decent amount of lift. It took me forever to raise and lower the car and wasn't so very safe. 22-24" jack stands are an adequate height for this job assuming that you don't need to get the tranny out from under the vehicle for further work. Go higher and most floor level tranny jacks aren't going to reach. The top mounting bolts on the tranny are a bear to reach. To remove the ends of the shifter cables from the transmission just pry out with two screwdrivers. They both have a 3 prong clip over them that I thought might have to be removed first. It doesn't. Getting the slave trans cylinder on and off is a pain. I used some flex extensions on the tranny and slave cylinder but universal joints where my best friend as I could apply some torque through them. Photos are good. When I took off the clutch pressure plate the clutch disk fell out. Since I didn't get to intentfully disassemble it I wasn't fully sure of the orientation. I was able to reference back to a picture I had taken of the assembly to confirm my guess. It was difficult to tell when the IMS bearing was fully seated. I couldn't see the coil lock groove at the edge of the bearing and kept pounding on the bearing much longer than necessary. A car that has had it's oil drained still contains a lot of oil. I was really happy that I had locked the cams and pinned the engine at TDC. Hammering the bearing in caused the IM shaft to move despite being pinned with the three pressure pins supplied in the Pelican kit. Not sure how my timing would have fared without fully locking down the engine. Without the forum and excellent write ups I would have never attempted this as a DIY. That said, it was still at the limit of my ability. I am happy and proud that I did it, but not in a rush to do this level of job again anytime soon. Next up... replace the windshield wipers! :-)

Which write up did you use? I am interested in getting into this job once Winter hits full on.

Do you need to lock the Cams, i'm just about to remove the IMS bearing housing and want to know if you just need to put the engine at TDC - if you do (or its not worth the risk) where can you get the lock tool (or a picture to make some up).

should have said housing is being removed to reseal only - car already has late engine replacement (09) with larger IMS bearing etc that 'cant' be removed.

The crankshaft locking tool is the same size as a small block chevy pushrod. But you can use anything as long as it goes into the hole in the block. I think anything with an 8mm will do.

I used every single writeup I could find (rennlist, renntech, and pelican) and combined them and then used the most conservative approach I could locking 1-3 and 4-6 cams, locking the engine TDC plus fixing the IM shaft with screws to hold it in place. Hopefully that was overkill but I really didn't want to have to tow it in (100 miles) to have the timing reset.