Got the driveshaft this week, so today (ok Saturday) I dialed in the bellhousing with the 0.021" offset dowels, Installed the roller pilot bearing (easy), Installed the clutch and pressure plate, and went to install the throwout bearing, and ran into the first issue of the day. The bearing retainer/shaft the throw out bearing rides had a black parkerized type finish, and the throwout bearing was just grabbing it and wouldn't slide on. Took some emery cloth and polished up the input bearing retainer shaft, and the throw out bearing and that fixed that problem. Filled the trans with ATF (Mercron/Dextron per the instructions), and installed the trans which took a bit of time. Need to put the throwout bearing on the clutch fork BEFORE installing the trans (my bad), but got the trans in and all bolted up.
The driveshaft fit very good, and finished up a bunch of the small stuff which took more time than I care to admit (installing the carpet, speedometer cable, reverse light wiring, gas pedal, seats, exhaust, starter, etc...
Took the car out for a quick drive to the gas station and short drive (maybe 10-miles.) The trans shifts really nice, was quiet, and no vibrations (on went upto 70-mph.) I did have an issue where the trans would come out of 5th gear when coasting down around 40 mph? Above 40 and no problem. I will pull the console cover/boot and re-check in case the boot is trying to pull it out of 5th?
Anyhow, need to put more easy miles on it and the clutch before I can hammer on it.
