MT82-D4 rebuild thread

[NGOT8R]

Wow! Today went very smoothly and I’m very happy about that. As you can see, I have made a considerable amount of progress.

Getting both the output shaft and countershaft, along with 3/4 and 5/6 shift forks was very tricky. I had to hold both shafts (which are heavy) at the same time, as well as both shift forks and the 3/4 synchros and gear that marries the 3/4 synchro and hub assembly to the input shaft. Once that was done, I had to use the shop press to press home the output shaft, while still holding the 3/4 synchros and gear with one hand, as I pumped the press with the other. Thankfully everything went very well!

Note: The service manual says to install both shafts and then the shift forks. Well, that is impossible to do, due to space limitations inside of the case. That may work for the 2015-2017 MT82 because they have different shift forks (steel ones) that look less bulky and are probably easier to work with.

I’m knocking off again for today, but here are some pics of today’s progress (some from different angles to show more).

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[NGOT8R]

I finally have all internal parts installed. This synchro hub tool from Rotunda (PN: 308-809) made pressing the hubs for 1-2-R a breeze. When it was time to install the collar for reverse, I just threw it in the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes and it dropped right onto the output shaft. The other option would have been carrying this heavy tranny back over to the press and I really didn’t want to do that unless I absolutely had to.

Next up is to play with the rear cover fitment and try and run through the gears to see how easily they shift before installing the rear cover permanently. There were no spare parts left over, so I hope I did everything right.

 

[boB]

It looks great! You have certainly spent the time, effort, and $$ to do it right.

 

[NGOT8R]

It looks great! You have certainly spent the time, effort, and $$ to do it right.

Thank you! I have to admit, I am nervous about trying it out for the first time though. This was my first time working on a car transmission. I’ll definitely keep it transparent and give an honest review of it, once I’m back on the road.

 

[NGOT8R]

While I didn’t do this, I wanted to point out something that I think would have been very helpful in test fitting the rear casing, which would have in turn allowed me to perform a test shift through the gears more easily. I’ll list them in order.

1. Hold off on installing the output bearing in the rear casing until test fitting of casing and running through the gears has been completed.

2. Use a heat gun, soft dead blow hammer and a drift to heat up the casing around the two alignment dowel pins, hammer them flush with the gasket surface, apply more heat and then use the hammer and drift to knock the dowel pins slightly lower than the gasket surface of the casing. Note: I knocked mine all the way out, but then realized that all that is necessary is to go slightly lower than the surface. I’ll probably run sandpaper over my dowel pins to clean them up a bit and reinstall them to the proper position.

3. Install the rear casing (which will now sit flush with the forward casing and secure it with the E12 reverse torx bolts (snugged up will be good enough). This will also allow the shift rail assemblies to seat into their respective bores on the inside of the rear casing.

4. Insert a drift through the shift rail assembly and cycle through the gears. Note: This pic shows the drift inserted in the shift rail assembly without the rear casing in place. If I hadn’t installed the output shaft bearing in advance (as shown in step 3), I would have been able to show the drift inserted with the rear casing installed.

5. Once you have verified that the transmission shifts into all gears properly, remove the drift pin from the shift rail assembly, followed by the E12 reverse torx bolts and finally the rear casing.

6. Install the output shaft bearing into the rear casing. Note: Heating the bearing bore in the casing to 248F will allow you to drop the bearing right in and it will seat itself. Install the 4 torx screw with red Loctite and torque to 27 ft-lbs.

Again, due to an oversight on my part, I installed the output shaft bearing beforehand and don’t want to remove it from the rear casing, therefore, I’m going to have to do my best to hold the shift rail assemblies in place with one hand and test shift through the gears with the other hand, without the rear casing in place.

Hopefully the pics will provide you guys with a better perspective of what I’m describing here.

 

[NGOT8R]

Rebuild is now complete. All I need to do now is bench bleed the TOB, then relocate a ground strap (that was attached to the rear of the driver’s side head) to install the MMR Head Cooling Mod. I want to find a new home for that strap before bolting up the tranny. Hopefully it’s long enough as is, if not, I’ll have to make a new one.

Tips:

- Heating up the rear casing in the oven for about 10 minutes allowed me to drop it right onto the output shaft, whereas my heat gun didn’t work for this job. I was actually pissed that it didn’t because I had already applied RTV sealant around the mating surfaces of the two case halves. Needless to say! I had to thoroughly clean every bit of it off and then reapply more, while the rear case was cooking in the oven.

Lastly, I don’t remember if I mentioned this early on in the thread, but I used a thread chaser in every single hole in each case half, to make sure there was no debris or gunk in any of the holes that could cause inaccurate torquing of the bolts.

 

[308 Cal. Bullitt]

You have done a good job in the build process of your Bullitttransmission. Be proud of your work & the determination you have shown here.

As a former '19 Bullitt owner, we looked at a similar path w/our own D4 transmission, & chose to cut bait. Perhaps the easy & weak way out. Lol. Decided on a DCT instead, but not in our Bullitt.

Wanted to acknowledge that we admire your tenacity with Fords self admitted 'revisionsist vision',
that just hasn't quite given many owners what they desire in a gearbox.

Hopefully this improved D4 grist mill will meet or exceed your expectations, & pay off at the track.. If we were not so far away, we would have enjoyed coming to watch the car run. Looking forward to any videos & data. Good luck

Next: have Mike or Craig hobb ya some closer ratios. j/king - sorta

 

[NGOT8R]

@308 Cal. Bullitt, thank you! I really appreciate that. I hope to have the tranny back in the car tomorrow.

Stay tuned for further info. as it becomes available.

 

[NGOT8R]

Tranny is finally back in the car! I spent all day carefully working to get it properly aligned using a transmission jack and a scissor jack. It was no fun at all either. After a couple of hours of adjusting each jack ever so slightly and trying to blindly fit the input shaft into the clutch assembly, I finally got lucky. I felt it move forward a couple of millimeters and knew it was ready to go. I moved to the rear of the tranny, laid on my back, put both feet on the rear casing, shimmied both feet and home it went. I am waiting on some shims to arrive before I install the crossmember.

The hoses for the external fluid pump that mount to the left side of the tranny cleared the trans tunnel by 1/4“-5/16”. I’ll work on running the remaining hoses soon.

I also took the opportunity to install my MMR Engine Brace Kit while I was at it. Overall it was a long, but productive day.

 

[WD Pro]

Excellent work

I also really like your garage setup / tools / style of working etc, I'm very envious (in a good way)

Is the tranny mount from Steeda ?

WD

 

[NGOT8R]

Excellent work

I also really like your garage setup / tools / style of working etc, I'm very envious (in a good way)

Is the tranny mount from Steeda ?

WD

Thanks WD!

I really like my garage (except for the cheaply done epoxy floors). The builder pays a contracted painter .$099 per square foot to just etch the concrete with muriatic acid and epoxy the garages on his new construction builds, instead of diamond grinding it for better adhesion. The painter told me that himself and said to do it right would cost about $3.50 per square foot. Maybe one of these days I’ll upgrade to something like RaceDeck Flooring or have it stripped and epoxied the right way.

As far as my style of working goes, I’m just very particular and like to make the effort to do things right and to my liking. Not everything turns out perfectly, but it’s certainly not from lack of trying. I can definitely see that same style of work ethic in your projects too .

The tranny mount is from Boomba Racing. It’s the race version with black bushings. They offer a street version of it with red bushings too.

 

[NGOT8R]

I settled on the routing of the external fluid pump’s supply and return hoses today. I think this is going to be the final product. I still need to pick up a combination drain plug/-6AN to connect the supply hose and come up with a wiring plan and switch location inside of the car and that should be it for this mod.

 

[NGOT8R]

Almost ready for testing! Hopefully that’ll happen in the next couple of days. I’ve been waiting on some new exhaust clamps for my LTHs, which I hope to have tomorrow. Once I have those in hand, it’s a matter of reinstalling the exhaust and pressing the start button.

In the interim, I powered up the car and cycled through all gears to make sure that they registered on the gear indicator (which they did).

I‘ve also received the new revised tunes from Lund which reflect that there no IMRCs on the car. All tunes have been uploaded to the nGauge and the PCM is flashed and ready to go.

I have to admit though, this is a nervous time for me, but Lord willing, everything will go well during the start up and testing. Stay tuned for further updates.

 

[Hack]

A couple things that really have helped me install manual transmissions over the years.

I always leave the transmission in first gear during install. Then I put a yoke or driveshaft onto the output shaft. This allows easy turning/alignment of the input shaft of the transmission to the clutch. Just turn the yoke a little until the splines line up.

I also buy two long bolts with the same thread as the bolts that mate the trans to the engine. Then I cut off the bolt heads and grind a taper on them. These work really well for helping to line up the transmission.

 

[NGOT8R]

A couple things that really have helped me install manual transmissions over the years.

I always leave the transmission in first gear during install. Then I put a yoke or driveshaft onto the output shaft. This allows easy turning/alignment of the input shaft of the transmission to the clutch. Just turn the yoke a little until the splines line up.

I also buy two long bolts with the same thread as the bolts that mate the trans to the engine. Then I cut off the bolt heads and grind a taper on them. These work really well for helping to line up the transmission.

Those are very good tips! Thank you for posting them. It will definitely help me and others down the road, although I do hope it’s a long while before I have to go down that road again, .

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