I can’t speak to the mk2 but I did it in my mk4 last fall. Getting at all the bolts wasn’t easy but was doable, unfortunately I spent about two hours wrestling it out once it was unbolted. Not much room, had to jack back end of engine to get all the angles right to finally get it out.
I pulled the engine to put it back in, I’d never bother doing it again, I would just pull the whole business as I ended up having to do it anyway.
Good luck.
2017 FFR MK4 9026, 3 Link, 15" FFR halibrands, cooper cobra tires, '88 302/5.0, GT40 Y303 heads, Performer RPM intake Manifold, Holley 650 DP Carb, Pertronix distributor, T5Z spec built transmission, 3.73 rear end. Ordered Nov 2016, picked up at FFR Feb 2017, first start July 2017, Legal on the road May 2018, still in Gelcoat.
I just did this today and what a nightmare. There is zero room to remove the transmission and Bellhousing in one piece. Halfway out I decided to separate the bellhousing from the trans, it was the only way. This was after fighting it for quite some time. Raising the motor, removing the transmission cover, nothing worked. I know others have said they were able to make this happen but, I was not. I was fortunate to do this task with the car on a lift. There is no way I would tackle this without that option. If I ever have to do it again I'm pulling the motor. It took 6 hours to remove and replace and I still have some buttoning up to do. I also had a helper. For those that have done this your extremely talented. Oh, and let me add that I struggled to get the trans seated in the pilot bearing. Add another 1.5 hours to that nightmare I almost gave up.
The bottom line it's doable but it was not an easy task for me at least. My car is a MK3.
The T5 can be removed fairly easy in a MKII. After all the connections, wires, shifter (at trans), driveshaft, etc. are out of the way remove the trans mount completely, raise and support the engine (you may need to raise/lower it) with a jack on the oil pan with a block, so be prepared. Remove the 4 trans bolts to bell housing and pull the trans back and rotate it 90° to the right to clear the tabs (If you haven't removed them) and continue to maneuver it until the input shaft will clear the bell housing and drop it down front first. I've done this many times on a MKI which is pretty much like a MKII, unless you have the backbone, which would hinder it a bit. If your trans tunnel top is removable you'll have more room to access things.
The one I helped w/ was a MkII w/ the backbone. 2 things that I remember. 1- we couldn't get the trans back far enough to get the input shaft out of the bell housing. So we removed the bell to engine bolts, popped the bell off the guide pins, and tilted the bell down at it's rear, brought the trans down also until the input cleared. 2- We had the top aluminum panel off the tunnel. Wrapped a ratchet strap around the trans and brought it up out the top of the tunnel. The ratchet allowed me to adjust the length of the loop so I could stand on both seats w/ legs and arms completely straight and support the trans weight. This allowed the guy below to twist and wiggle the trans w/o worrying about it dropping on him.
FFR MkII, 408W, Tremec TKO 500, 2015 IRS, DA QA1s, Forte front bar, APE hardtop.
I've done this job on my Mk1 a few times, and now do it without removing the tunnel cover.
Drain transmission, unhook wiring, unhook clutch cable.
Remove driveshaft
Remove shifter (4 bolts), this will give clearance when you rotate the T5
Jack under rear of engine
Unbolt T5 from bell housing and move back while rotating 90* anticlockwise until the tailshaft is up on the diff.
Unbolt bell housing from engine and lower the rear of the engine so the bell housing comes out
Slide transmission forward, down and out.
Reassembly of the clutch release bearing and arm can be tricky. I opened up about 1" on the arm which makes reassembly easy.
I've done this job on my Mk1 a few times, and now do it without removing the tunnel cover.
Drain transmission, unhook wiring, unhook clutch cable.
Remove driveshaft
Remove shifter (4 bolts), this will give clearance when you rotate the T5
Jack under rear of engine
Unbolt T5 from bell housing and move back while rotating 90* anticlockwise until the tailshaft is up on the diff.
Unbolt bell housing from engine and lower the rear of the engine so the bell housing comes out
Slide transmission forward, down and out.
Reassembly of the clutch release bearing and arm can be tricky. I opened up about 1" on the arm which makes reassembly easy.
I have been working on cars for over 50 yrs and have NEVER pulled a Trans with bell attached, I see them do it on TV shows all the time so I guess its a thing some people do. I just find it so much easier not to have the extra weight and bulk of the bell.
Kenny
I cut the tube ,whole lot easier ,had AOD, motor had to come out after blowing trans 3 times,swaped to Gforce T5 ,with center removable very easy...over 2 years never problem
UPDATE:
Pulled the tranny. Had my son stand above using a strap to support the weight.
After install, the car would grind going into second. Up or down, regardless of speed. I could snatch it into second with considerable force. But definitely messed up. So, I pulled it again and sent it back. Transmission guy contacted me and said the transmission was fine and sent me video of it installed in his test 5.0 and it shifted fine all the way thru the range, up and down.
I have a pretty stock set up with an adjustable cable.
So, question is....could a cable adjustment be the culprit or bad shifter? Any ideas?
Cable adjustment should affect all gears the same (except for reverse w/o a synchro). Over the years there have been quite a few reports that the rubber shifter boot can restrict movement of the lever. I don't remember which gears that affected but I would drive it w/ no boot at all as a test.
FFR MkII, 408W, Tremec TKO 500, 2015 IRS, DA QA1s, Forte front bar, APE hardtop.
I seem to recall i had a small problem shifting once with my T5, and found that I had put the top transmission shift plate on backwards after putting it back together. It was restricting my second gear entry. I turned the plate 180* and problem solved. Hope your solution is simple. Dave
Dave
Mk 3.1 - #6882 - 5.0L 302 - FiTech EFI - 3-Link - 3.08 Ratio - 15" Wheels
Greenhorn and doing the best I can
My photos are at: My Flickr acct
Videos are at: YouTube Videos
Thanks: 
Likes: 
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by PG_Cobra
