[Vox Populi]

Ok everyone - first and foremost, wall of text warning. I've got a lot of stuff to tell you about and my hope is that some of it (maybe more) will be useful to at least one person.


So...as many of you know I organized the GB for the AS SSK a few weeks ago. I got myself the 30% reduction kit and picked up some Rogue Engineering transmission mounts to go along with it. I won't really go into too much detail about what the kit is like for the simple reason that every review you'll read out there says exactly what I think - this kit is absolutely spectacular. Makes me wonder why the car couldn't come with something this good from the factory.

I organized the GB through Ronald at AS and he made himself available pretty much at all times. That being said, Ronald - I won't lie, I cursed both you and AS a few times during the install :-) So let's get on with it.



First of all, Mad Russian's install guide is stellar. I had printed directions to have under the car as well as a laptop available to open pictures that I wanted to refer to. Let me say this up front and immediately - without a lift I very seriously do not know how (let alone if) I would attempt this install. The disassembly is pretty straight forward - and to be honest, one doesn't necessarily need to be an 'experienced' wrench to complete this. Just have the time, tools, space, and patience. That being said, the space that you have to operate in is already small if the car is on a lift; I couldn't imagine how it would be if the car were just on jack stands.

Overall the install was spread across two days for a combined (are you sitting down?)...14 hours. 6.5 of those hours were spent entirely on the carrier alignment for the retainer pin. Here's what worked for me:

First, I laid completely under the car, and put both of my hands up and around the transmission. I pushed the carrier bushing into the saddle with quite a bit of force. This step took 3 minutes. The next 6 hours and 27 minutes were spent aligning the bushing for the pin. Granted, the first 4 or so were done blind so let me make this recommendation - get one of the dentist-like mirrors that you can use to see the alignment of the bushing.

Funny enough, myself and forum member kmfurdm spent literally most of our time during the install trying to align this damn thing. Forum member Obioban showed up and used a little bit of what we refer to as BFI (blunt force ingenuity) and had the pin through in less than 5 minutes . He said that the holes were 99% lined up, he just did the last 1%. Not going to lie, I was a little bitter about this since I was the one who had put in the wrench time to get it where it was then he completed it (regardless - thank you very much, Ian). I really don't know exactly what he did to get it through, so Ian, if you read this, can you weigh in on what you did to get the pin through (finally)?

Note for those doing the install: the clearance between the pin and the bushing is literally zero. You will NEED to have everything aligned absolutely perfectly. That said, once it IS aligned, the pin slides through with pretty minimal effort.

From there, the shifter assembly is incredibly straight forward and exactly the opposite of what you did to take things apart.



Interesting notes and pictures...

First, I have the Borla v2 Mid pipes and have had it on the car for less than 18,000 miles. When removing the midpipe I found that my exhaust gaskets were..well...see for yourself (new vs old)..

Gasket one (old vs. new)



Gasket 2 (old vs new)



Old left, new right:




so what does this tell me? Well, for starters, you may want to get some new gaskets just in case. Mine were 20 bucks from the dealer. Secondly, this made the removal of these pipes incredibly difficult as these gaskets had pretty much melded themselves to the pipes. Spent about 2 hours with the removal.


Also, the guibo is readily available for replacement while you're under here. Wish I would have known this as mine is clearly in need of replacement!!



A view you're going to get used to:




The absolute worst part of the entire install. note the lack of room - this is what makes it most difficult (and most painful on my hands):



Finally, everything done from the bottom:





Let me say this - the improvement felt by the new transmission mounts is NEARLY as impressive as the kit itself, so don't be stingy, do these as well!


overall, I'd say that this is a difficult to significantly difficult mod to DIY depending on your access to a lift and various tools.



Hope this was useful to some. Feel free to ask any questions. For what it's worth, I'll be helping forum member kmfurdm with his install in a few weeks. We'll see if doing a second install is quicker than a first....

[E46bhp]

Nice wright up!

[Obioban]

I just used a pry bar to push the pin through, bracing it against the transmission tunnel.

Brute force made the lining up exact

[Vox Populi]

Probably should have mentioned that I finished the kit off with an AA shift boot and knob.


boy oh boy does it feel mantastic.

[///M_JUNKIE]

Originally Posted by Obioban

I just used a pry bar to push the pin through, bracing it against the transmission tunnel.

Brute force made the lining up exact

Exactly the route I went. Took all of 10 mins to get it in. Get it as close as you can and then bust out the old pry bar.

[maveric23]

Congrats on completing such a difficult procedure!

Is there any way you can circle the area in the pictures where you do the "carrier alignment for the retainer pin"? I think that there's lots of members who would like to know what this part looks like and why it causes so much grief!

Thanks!

[Vox Populi]

Originally Posted by maveric23

Congrats on completing such a difficult procedure!

Is there any way you can circle the area in the pictures where you do the "carrier alignment for the retainer pin"? I think that there's lots of members who would like to know what this part looks like and why it causes so much grief!

Thanks!

sure thing.

[BlkBimM3R]

awesome job and write up!!! 14 hours?!?! I think I would have given up, put it back together and taken it to a shop in less than 1/2 that. Good Job!!!

[aznbo187]

Oh darn, looks like I missed the GB. How many people did Donald need for a discounted price?

[Black107]

Originally Posted by Obioban

I just used a pry bar to push the pin through, bracing it against the transmission tunnel.

Brute force made the lining up exact

A friend and I did mine on stands. We used a railroad spike and other miscellaneous blunt objects because *gasp* I don't have a pry/crow bar lol. Took us about an hour get it through one side of the saddle and the bushing, then maybe another 45 or hour for the other side of the saddle.

OP: I wrote my experiences doing this on jack stands in another thread. Overall, most of the install is super easy, but the carrier is extremely frustrating. Took us about 6-7 hours.