Hi everyone,

I scored a great deal on a good condition 2001 LS430, but that has a bad transmission. I've already acquired a replacement, but haven't begun the project just yet as I'm trying to find the most effective way to tackle it.

On my UCF20 Celsior, I did a bunch of work on all the common repair items like valve cover gaskets, alternator, tons of suspension work, etc so I'm pretty well versed in the UZ engines and the UCF platform.
Did a full engine out swap and rebuild on my work truck. Also did a full engine build and transmission swap on my E46 wagon, so I'm confident in my ability to get this UCF30 back on the road whatever route I end up on.

With all of that in mind, I haven't begun work yet because I'm weighing my options with all the other repairs I want to do including the transmission.

So the question is...
1. Do I drop the tranny and leave the engine alone for now. Not super ideal because doing this on my back in the garage with no lift is going to be tough, I think. And I want to do a lot of other things that might end up being easier in the long run with the engine and trans out.
or
2. Pull the entire engine and trans out as one unit. Much more work on the front-end, but many repairs will be made way easier. In particular, the oil pan gasket and oil filter housting are weeping, it would give me a chance to inspect/replace motor mounts, steering rack etc if necessary.

Any advice you guys have on which option might be more advisable would be awesome.
Either way I go, this will be documented on my YT channel if anyone is interested.

TIA!

 

In one of the Car Care Nut 600,000 restoration videos he deals with a bad transmission and has to replace it. Maybe follow what he does. Its one of the earlier one of the videos in the series. IIRC he pulls just the transmission out and does all the engine work with the engine in the car. He has a lift which will make the job much much easier though.

 

I saw that video and agree that the lift is key to do it the way he did.

My fear is the bell housing bolts will be difficult to get out and then I'll be fighting on the ground on my back lol.
Vs pulling them as one unit saves a lot of headache, although it'll be more work initially.

I found a video of a guy pulling an engine from an SC430 which didn't look bad, but he left the transmission in.
He said in a comment that it wouldn't really be anymore difficult to pull the transmission out that way too.

I think I'm going to pull the engine and trans as one unit

 

Just thinking out loud here-
We know the service manual shows the 2 being removed together but that's in an ideal shop environment with a lift.
Is it even possible in a residential garage setting on jack stands? You have to tilt the load as you lift so the trans will clear the firewall.
Is there enough clearance to do this with jack stands?

 

Good question.

While I’m not certain, I removed and reinstalled my e46 engine and transmission together as one unit in the garage here at home.

It was difficult for sure, but I don’t see any reason it wouldn’t be possible here too, except maybe the transmission could be longer.

But by that point if the whole unit is hanging on the engine crane and off the motor mounts you could creep up / back / tilt slowly and potentially even raise the noise of the car more to assist.

It seems doable, but might require a second set of hands to help

 

This can be done but be prepared to crawl around for hours on end and you'll struggle with clearance assuming you can even get the car high enough. Getting the transmission mated to the engine will be 10x harder than removing it.

 

Are you talking about if you drop just the transmission?

 

Yes. If you do this you'll need a transmission jack or some sort of jig to lower/raise the transmission on. For clearance measure the bell housing height that is what you'll need between the rocker panel and floor. And of course you'll need to add whatever height your transmission jack/stand/jig is.

Here's a tip to make mating the tranny to engine much easier get some spare bolts the ones that secure the top of the bell housing. Cut the heads off then cut a groove at the end so they can be turned with a slot screwdriver. Thread them into the engine temporarily. These guide bolts will be especially valuable if you do pull only the transmission.

Here is the part number for the top bolts 90119-10260 they are M10x1.25

 

Great, thanks for the info! I'm almost certainly going to go the route of pulling engine and transmission together

 

For anyone looking to do this in the future, I did mange to pull the engine and transmission as one assembly. It was pretty challenging to do alone, but got it done.

Now I'm super stoked to be able to do tons of maintenance while the engine is out and doing the transmission swap will be way easier now.
But, getting everything back in is going to be challenging, for sure!

Made a video on my YT channel if anyone's interested:

 

I watched the video - and wow. Thanks for posting that. I am sure I will never do that myself but its good to see how it can be done and all the pitfalls involved.

 

Watched that a few days ago cool that it's you! A job like this is quite the workout, you don't know until you know.