2003 Pontiac Vibe, The Anti Project, Stage Zeroing a High Compression Family Hauler

So I did remove the driver side knuckle, can't seem to remember why but it was nice to not have it hanging there in the way.

You will want either a jack under the oil pan or a hoist holding the engine with the crossmember out since the entire engine will be hanging from the passenger engine mount alone. I opted for my spare jack holding up the oil pan. 

With the crossmember out, and the engine lowered down a bit, the c60 is basically free to drop right out, she is quite a chonk but manageable by one person. I found I was able to prop it up and then straddled the engine while shaking it in. To be honest, it was one of the easiest transmission reinstallation I've done. 

Also you do not need to, but i removed the passenger cv shaft and reinstalled post gear box installation, one less thing to align while stabin the gearbox back in. 

No 6th gear issues, but my particular car will grind going into reverse. I read that it is common for the shift forks to deform and I've had good luck shifting into 1st then reverse which eliminates the grind. 

Another peculiar thing I found with the c60 is the shift pattern is not straight front to back, seems that the gears are all angled towards the front left, at like 15-20 degrees off center. Definitely more pronounced with the short throw shifter, it is very strange.  

Will also note when selecting clutch, I've found the Southbend HD (probably just a reboxed Excedy HD KTY014)  to be very chattery. Can't tell if the mount inserts are causing this or if it truly is just the clutch. If I were to do it again I would go with OEM or ACT. 

In reply to Ironsides :

Thanks for the tips!

Same architecture as the AW11, and I supported the engine on that door wedge with some dunnage across the strut tops. Not sure it'll work in this scenario, but some cribbage under the oil pan seems like a good idea.

While the transmission is out, I'll knock off the end plate and check 5/6 to see if I notice anything out of the ordinary that is relatively accessible.

Took some time this past week to start picking away at the the prep work to remove the transmission and today finally yanked it out. 

Started my garage time today looking at this:

I have no idea how or why you'd want to ever try this without removing the strut and knuckle. It's too easy to do and it gives you a ton of room. 

After much futzing (WTF is up with that rear trans mount? Such an idiotic design), the trans leaves it's home. 

And I find something interesting. 

Um alright. That's interesting. Pressure plate and the flywheel are absolutely thrashed:

And the disc friction material is basically worn down to the rivets. 

It's still not entirely clear to me why the car was locked in gear, maybe someone has an opinion? Makes me a little nervous that there isn't an immediate reason why it would be locked up, but I'll be replacing the entirely assembly so I hope it's okay. 

In regard to the sixth gear pop out, looks like it's pretty apparent, here are some photos of  (I think?), the sixth gear assembly (I think?). You can see the ramps that are wore into the surface. I think this is the same problem that C50's have in the MR2. 

I was going to do the clutch, change the fluid (holy E36 M3 it was gross), and hope for the best on sixth gear, but with how much of a pain it was to remove half the car to get the transmission out, I'm going to fix that gear or replace the trans before it goes back together. I dont really want to do this again anytime soon. 

Anyways, looking forward to hearing some opinions about the clutch, and the sixth gear issue. 

But first, I hate you, rear trans mount. You're getting bolts when you go back in. 

You might be able to buy just that speed gear for a reasonable amount of money. Me and a buddy of mine parted out a 2zz car and the used trans sold for ~$650 so it'd be hard to be more expensive than that. 

Few minutes this morning in the garage and I pulled the 6th gear off the transmission. You can clearly see the ramps here, and along with the wear on the hub ring, it's a classic "well there's your problem" type of situation for the 6th gear pop out. Neither of the parts are particularly cheap, and I'm wondering if I can get away with flipping the hub ring to switch the engagement surfaces, while replacing the 6th gear entirely. That's probably silly, it's only 100$. Anyways, some photos!

I also took a few more photos of the clutch. I'm wondering if the wear here on the fingers is normal. Also, I think what might've happened now that I'm really looking at it, was that I somehow seized the rivets holding the friction material into the pressure plate, and that combined with the wear on the fingers, was just enough to not allow it to break loose. Anyways, more photos. 

Small update:

Ordered the 6th gear, 6th gear synchronizer, 5/6 hub ring, and the driven 6th because why wouldn't it chip when I was removing it? I've heard these gears are made of tinfoil, but I couldn't believe it when I saw it. Would've probably been fine, but for less than 40 bucks, why not be sure?

I'm into the car for more than I anticipated so far (isn't that always the case?) but still way under budget.

New clutch and flywheel are installed, along with the rear main. I think there is a leaking timing chain tensioner O ring happening, along with a VC gasket, but that's another day. Let's get it driving first.

Side note, did you guys know this is how synchronizers work?

https://youtu.be/MXsRfbOiBhE

I didn't, and I didn't know that I didn't know this. Anyways, thought it was neat and gives me a new appreciation for how much we put those things through when we shift a manual transmission.

Re:  Rear engine/trans mount.

I told you so!

Yes, it's an incredibly stupid design.

In reply to RedGT :

I couldn't believe how much of a pain in the behind that was. Really foolish engineering. 

Have any tips for getting the transmission back in it's home? Fussed with it for some time this evening and man oh man that is a tight fit. 

That is where I really struggled and it was actually a buddy of mine who ended up doing most of the work bench pressing it Into place while I was just aligning at and shoving it around from up above. That is what left me with the impression that it was a PITA job, ironsides might have better advice for you there.

Yea I was surprised that it got me stuck. It's a much tighter engine bay than I really gave it credit for.

I was frustrated enough to bail on it last night, but have some fresh eyes and perspective to hope to tackle it tonight.

I still have the passenger side jackshaft in there, and I think that's a big part of the challenge. Perfectly lining up both the input shaft and jack shaft (both tight splines) seems like it might be causing the issue. More so since there is a little give in the jackshaft so it's not quite where it needs to be but also stops the transmission from sealing the deal and I don't have enough hands and the transmission weighs 87 pounds and it's all way out in free space and not where it's easy to grab.

I'll pop that guy off and hopefully that will help me isolate just locating the input shaft into the clutch disk, and then install the shaft after everything is buttoned up.

Anyways, it's educational at least!

I had a 73 Capri with fatigued clutch pressure plate fingers and it would feel like the clutch was slowly being let out at a stop sign, even though the pedal was on the floor. The fingers had little spring action/tension left. Maybe yours had none = feels like it was stuck in gear because it was.

If you cannot quite get the transmission to mate to the block with the input shaft lined up, have someone push in the clutch pedal, the new strong pressure plate springs might be fighting you that last 1/2" 

Second set of hands helps, def remove the passenger axle (one piece, two bolts and the axle nut and it slides out) 

I lowered the engine as much as i could, positioned the trans ona floor jack with some 2x4s, had a buddy supervise and hold the jack from slipping while I muscled the trans on. Honestly one of the easiest reattachments i've done once the input shaft was in the right area it slipped right on. 

The rear mount is a pain, but if you have the exhaust manifold heat shields off, its easier to fish it around. After I had installed and pulled it a couple times i found it was easier to handle. Make sure the crossmemeber is in the right place before you put the mount in otherwise more swearing will be involved. 

a c5x with a LSD and mount was 85.2lbs on my hanging scale FWIW

I had the same issue with the rear mount when I had my scion xb.  Quick work with the grinder and made it nut and bolt style instead.  Absolute MFr to deal with when you dont want to drop the subframe and flat rate it instead.

Thanks everyone, I ended up getting this puppy buttoned up.

I didn't end up pulling the passenger side axle shaft, just loosening it in it's support bracket so it had a little more play. A fresh set of eyes after a night's sleep and the transmission ended up finding it's way home.

As soon as I pulled the rear mount out of the package, I proceeded to remove the front stud and get a bolt ready to replace it. Makes everything that much easier, but still not easy. I think I read that on this forum somewhere, and it's basically critical if you don't want to set your car on fire.

After getting the transmission bolted in, and realizing that the rear mount absolutely has to go in from the passenger side or else you're going to somehow get it stuck underneath everything in the damn engine bay (seriously?!) and you're going to hate your life. It was all pretty easy.

Car stops, goes, and operates like it should. I cleaned up the interior a bit, and the exterior is next, then I'll post some photos of this thing. It's disgusting currently, but looks mostly good underneath the grime. Should be able to start driving it to work tomorrow, which I'm looking forward to. It's parked in front of the house right now, and I gotta say, it's quirky, but I really like the Pontiac version of this thing. I like the way it looks, the seating position, how it drives, it's weird, but I like it. Useful without being the size of a tank.

This was an educational project for me, and one of the more challenging transmission installs I've done. But then again I work on mostly older stuff. It must have to do with the way these cars were built. Whether for cost savings or safety or stiffness or cabin space, but it was very different than what I'm used to.

Anyways, since no pictures of the car yet, here are some freshie Toyota bits that went into the transmission. This part at least was a surprisingly easy job.

Thanks again for the suggestions on this one. Glad it's done and put back together!

Steve said:

Useful without being the size of a tank.

Best summary of the car for sure.  The flat cargo area floor of hard plastic with anchors and rails and such is great.  Plus the tall square hatch opening.  When we had a washing machine die, with a baby in the house, in cloth diapers, i was able to drive off to home depot and buy a floor model washer that night and just pull up to the loading area and slide the thing right in the back.  Employees were speechless.  When moving and shuffling animals around a lot at the time, it would hold 4 cat carriers in the back without breaking a sweat and still have room for luggage.  We also brought home a new dishwasher and various furniture the same way, it's a remarkably large small car with all the fold-flat seating including the front pass. seat.  We replaced ours only to take a leap to something 10 years newer in terms of safety, and i still miss it.

Steve said: I like the seating position

I remember the first time I sat in a Matrix and popped my arm out of the window and the other on the wheel.  I was like this is perfect.

Nothing new to report here, driving the car every day, taking it on weekend mountain cruises with the little dude, and remembering what a brilliant drivetrain Toyota/Yamaha can engineer. Dang this thing is surprisingly nice to drive. Engine is brilliant, transmission is nice and "snicky", and that long 6th gear is great on the highway to calm that 2ZZ down.

Put some front sway bar links to quiet up the passenger front corner, and I have the infamous timing chain tensioner oil seal to tackle this week (hopefully) along with a valve cover gasket. Fingers crossed that takes care of the oil leak, but I'll bet I'll need to deal with the timing cover at some point.

Other than that, having just sold the Forester, I can move on to taking care of some of the nice to haves. Replace the blown speakers, upgrade the seemingly garbage head unit or determine why there is so much background static. Paint a few interior pieces, repair or in reality probably replace the master window switch, little stuff. Feddle with the A/C to see if I can bring the interior temps down, though the car does pretty well considering it's purchase price.

Here's to more miles!

Notice some engine bay howling this past week, was committed to changing out the idler pulley so far as to purchase one locally to swap out. Pull everything apart, only to find out that the water pump is the culprit. Serves me right for not listening to the components before hand. 

Round up a pump and thermostat in a day, and get to it. Figured I would replace the VC gasket, tube seals, and the timing chain tensioner o ring while I'm in the engine bay, in hopes to seal up the oil leak this thing has had. 

Few things that I read on the web that I should have listened to:

1. You should really have a serpentine belt tensioner tool (unless you have a very long 18mm box wrench)

2. You should really have a ratcheting 17mm box wrench to loosen the belt tensioner assembly. 

I didn't listen to either of those things, and that made the job exponentially more annoying. Not hard, just annoying. There is simply so little space to work between the accessory side of the engine and the body, that it ends up as a game of Twister that involves lots of hard parts, various extensions, sockets, and your forearms. One of these things is more able to be damaged than the others. 

Generally, except for me cursing myself for not having the exact right tools, and forcibly disconnecting my AC compressor clutch wire (whoops), everything went okay. 

The water pump was definitely the culprit, which was an easily identifiable success, but the verdict is still out with the oil leak. I will say that the chain tensioner o ring and the VC gasket were basically plastic, so fingers crossed that the engine decides to keep it's oil inside moving forward. 

Also did the second drain and fill of the C60 in an effort to get all of the junk fluid out of there. Sure enough, the fluid draining this time was pretty dang gross too. Took a chance on this one and went for the good stuff with a Syncromesh/MT90 cocktail that folks swear by for the C60. Worlds different already. 

A few tips if you are going to take on any work like this on a Vibe/Matrix:

1. Bungee the wire harness that runs above the accessory drive out of the way, you're going to fight it the whole time if not. 

2. Remove the brackets on the low side (I think?) AC line, but don't disconnect the line and bungee that out of the way in the other direction. These two points are going to increase your experience exponentially.

3. Remember your AC clutch connector is on the alternator harness, and if you try to remove the alternator without disconnecting the AC clutch connector, you're going to break the wire. It's thin, it's underneath the alternator, and the alternator has a lot of mass.

4. Remove every bracket you can get your hands on. Don't be shy, just remember where they all went. If you leave them, be prepared for you to be angry and damage your hands/forearms.

5. Loosen your serpentine belt tensioner before you decide to remove the timing chain tensioner. You won't be able to get the tensioner all the way out if you don't loosen the bracket (the chain tensioner hits the belt tensioner damper/shock/whatever), but it can sure as hell extend and not allow you to reinstall if you can't loosen the belt tensioner bolt. That would be bad. 

6. The jiggle valve on the thermostat is to be orientated at 12 o clock (service manual says so). If you don't do this the first time, get ready to drain all that damn coolant you just poured back in the radiator to make sure. 

7. The water pump has two different size bolts that are used. Find a way to keep track of where they go. 

8. Work slow, and smart, take breaks. There isn't a lot of space in there and E36 M3 is going to be sort of frustrating at times. Remember you're doing this for a reason and you'll be really happy this work is done when it's over. 

Here are a few photos, also, I finally gave it a basic wash. I think it could stand for a clay bar and a polish (what cheap car doesn't?), but it didn't clean up too bad for a 750$ car. As it sits right now, the 6th gear repair adding a bit to the budget, I'm in it for just over 1700$. More than I wanted to be into it for, but not bad considering the end result.

See ya next time, when we fix the audio, and whatever else I get up to! In the meantime, happy revving!

-Steve

Oh man, i completely forgot about the tensioner situation.  When mine needed a serpentine belt i actually brought it to a mechanic buddy and said 'what the hell am i supposed to do with this?!'  That's the day I learned a 'serpentine belt tool' was a thing.  Harbor freight has one for under $20 and it will save your life.

This week's update;

Since I've owned the car, it has had a pretty severe oil leak. I was hoping it was the timing chain tensioner (no), the valve cover gasket (no), the front crank seal (no!), because of course it was the front timing cover seal. Ordered the parts and then promptly ignored them on my workbench because big engine tiny car. This weekend I finally got fed up with the 2ZZ leaving its mark everywhere and got to it. Book time is around 5 hours, I managed it in about 6, taking breaks to watch the 14 month old while my Wife wrote a grad school paper. Left some knuckle skin behind, but it wasn't the most horrible job I've had to do on this car, reinstalling the C60 after the clutch job and that ridiculous rear transmission mount take that title. Just greasy, cramped, and the need to pay attention to how everything came off the front of the engine.

Happy the job is finally taken care of, even more so as when I did remove the front cover and started to pull the old seal out, it was essentially plastic, and was already broken in a few pieces ("Well there is yer problem"). Good to find the failure point any ways. Putting miles on it now to verify the repair, but so far, so good.

Besides that, it's happily humming along on my commute and on-ramp Grand Prixs, but that happens after I drop the little dude off at daycare, which it also excels at. It goes to the park, carries mountain bikes, dirty toddler clothes and diapers, and just goes about it's business, but also has an intake burble. Really, this is a great car for what I use it for.

Around 24mpg mixed driving, noticeably worse if I decide to lean into it a bit on a regular basis.

One thing I find interesting, it has absolutely horrible rear visibility. The rear window is such a low percentage of the rear hatch that I can only see the vehicle's windshield behind me. Something about the seating position and the view angle, but I end up using the side mirrors to sight the car behind me, which can be problematic. Considering an add on back up camera just to solve this issue, as I do have bikes on the back quite a bit, and it's nearly impossible to tell if I'm going to punch the hitch mounted rack through the front bumper of the car behind me, or worse, damage my bike.

Happy trails fellow dorks!