Thanks for answering my youtube question about the breather tube oring. I'm still in the process of installing mine. I just have some wiring and fluid left. Before you remove the stock driveshaft there is a heat shield and some metal cross bracket that remove. The aluminum driveshaft is thicker in diameter and looks like it is about a card widths away of rubbing these brackets. Did you notch them or just leave them off the car?
Also I know your car was originally a manual, but some tips I have for the auto guys...
- The firewall rubber/foam stuff if a pain to deal with. I would just cut it all out of the way like they outline here:
http://mkiv.com/techarticles/auto_to_6spd_swap/inside/index.html
I didn't drill a hole for the bottom clutch pedal bolt yet. I'm not sure if that is really needed as it's held in place by an upper bolt and the 2 that go through the master cylinder. In Joels video he says a right-angle drill works best. I was able to do it easily without one. I just used a normal dewalt drill from inside the car.
- When cutting the transmission hole... the template he provides is a little bit too wide in the narrow portion that goes towards the front of the car. I folded in the edges some on the paper. (Make sure when printing the template you uncheck the fit to page checkbox) Before cutting anything I bolted the cover in using the rear 2 bolts and outlined it with a sharpy just to make sure that when cutting the template I wouldn't cut the opening too large in any places. Then I used the template and I still cut the hole too small and used a die bit on an air tool to clean up the edges.
- If you have a front strut bar, remove it. My first attempt of installing the transmission didn't work as the engine wouldn't rock back enough. Joel said you could also loosen the rear bolts in the front subframe if you need it to tip some more (for instance if you had solid mounts)
- In one of the OS Giken clutch videos Grannas racing it mentions tightening the clutch bolts in a circular pattern. The torque is actually 13 ft lbs and there is a special tightening pattern they recommend. I used a sharpy to number the bolts on my clutch face before beginning.
https://osgiken.net/files/technology/Clutch Guides/clutch-torque-guide-2.pdf
- It's probably a good idea to replace your rear main seal while you are installing this kit even if it's not leaking. Mine was leaking so I replaced it.
- On his transmission tunnel cover, use the shortest bolts you can find in the front 2 holes, otherwise they will hit the sikky shifter assembly if they stick down too far.
- The tremec transmissions now come with a rear manual speed sensor cover in place. They use to come with a plastic plug and Joel would replace it with an aftermarket plug. Now tremec ships them with their own metal plug so you won't need to do anything with it.
- The rear driveshaft bolts that go into the aluminum plate on the diff... They work but they only penetrate about half way through the plate. In Joels videos they are Allan key bolts. Now they are hex heads. I may try to find some that are slightly longer for peace of mind.
So far Joel has been really good at responding to questions, evening answering emails on a Saturday.