I have had a throwout bearing making a noise in low gear for some time. To replace this would require the transmission to be removed. I also wanted to do some shifter repair. After an inspection of the underside of the car I was very upset, the bell housing to transmission bolts had worked loose again. (The person I bought the car from had told me that a bolt came out of the bell housing and he had to replace clutch, flywheel and other parts). I decided this time I would do it myself. To begin with there is no way to get to the bolts without removing the transmission.

1. Jack up front of car, as always a sturdy set of jack stands are required. Hand brake set.

2. Transmission in neutral, remove drive shaft bolts at rear end. (Bolts are fine thread keep up with them)

3. Tape off the universal bearing, put a container under the tail shaft, remove drive shaft (lay aside clean, sand and paint as time permits)

4. Remove cross member, remove shifter locking nut (this is plastic and you have to make sure all the metal tabs are released

5. Remove back up light switch wiring, remove speedometer cable (when pulling the speedometer gear have a bucket ready

6. Remove positive cable from battery.

7. Remove starter motor (set aside for cleaning and checking teeth, check cables).

8. Remove the clutch cable, mark the location of the adjustments bolts for reassembly.

9. Need some help for this. Remove all the bell housing to motor bolts, some are on the motor side, some or on the bell housing side. Place transmission jack under transmission and begin sliding transmission to back of car. There is a metal dust plate between the motor and the bell housing. Once the input shaft has cleared the flywheel start lowering the jack to the floor.

10. Here you can see the offending bolts, the left had top had fell out and was in the bell housing loose, I was very lucky it did not get in the flywheel again.

11. Here are a few battle scars from a wild bolt.

12. Now for a good clean up then is assembly time (oh such fun)

13. New throwout bearing (mustang two works good, part #S-614014 Motor city bearings), my all time favorite lock tight, this stuff works those bolts will have a tough time coming out now.

14. Now is time for installation, just do the reverse from taking out, the key thing is take your time, do it right, do it one time.

15. This job is not for the faint of heart, I am a season hotrodder and it took me a good day working by myself in a shop full of tools to get this done.

Keep a check and stay out of the self destruct zone