Lets Get Started!

Dad and I started taking apart the transmissions today. We are really winging it with a little aid from the FSM. It's pretty scary so far. We don't have all the special tools that are required and some of the large nuts we have had to take off with a pipe wrench. I'll be pretty excited when this all comes together. Until then its just a scary bitch. Here are some photos:

Which one of these transmissions is the Starion and which is the D50?

Let me give you a hint. The bottom one is the Starion transmission. Now lets see if I can point out some obvious differences. Listed in they're order on the shafts...

As you can see the gears are wider in the Starion transmission. Wider might equal stronger. Also, there are different bearings in both transmissions. This becomes the big issue with the gut transfer. Also the transmission case is slightly different. This is why you need to make spacers.

More updates before I edit this down if I ever get done. The Starion bearings are tappered while the D50's are sleaved ball bearings. Another difference is the front cover on the transmission. Because of the bearings there are different covers. Don't know if I'll get away with using the pivot for the shifter fork. Probably won't. Lots of differneces... mainly with the bearings. I did find a site selling rebuild kits that shows the different types of bearings.

This picture shows that even the main shafts are slightly different (look at the lengths of the splines).

Time to beg for help

Its too early to give a step by step description of how to do the swap. Right now we are just winging it. The easy things that I have learned how to do though I can talk about. To remove the tail casing off of the transmission you need to use a punch to remove the spring peg from the shifter mechanism and undo the bolts around the transmission. It pops right off and its really easy. For the front of the transmission you just have to undo the bolts around its perimeter and pull it apart. With just a little bit of balls you can do this and have a usable transmission to use with the 2.0.

The strength of the transmission internals has not been proven to me. I hope it is worth all the trouble and what might lead to spending lots of money. If you want to try it out it is possible to take the tail end off of the transmission so you can have the longer shifter extension, and you can take off the front of the case so that you can have the hydraulic clutch fork pivot. Then you would need to cut a hole for the fork in the bellhousing and weld on some holes to bolt the slave cylinder to. Might be a good thing to try one day. If I destroy this transmission I'll probably use this method for a fast recovery.

The Ends :-D

UPDATE