The Engine Is Out!

With help from my dad and my father-in-law, I was able to get the engine and transmission out of the car.  The engine wasn't too bad.  My dad and I spent the morning removing the fuel pump, starter, headers, distributor, and spark plugs.  Seeing the condition of the spark plugs and one of the cables, it's amazing the engine ran!  We disconnected the transmission from the engine to make it easier to remove and used hardened bolts to secure the engine hoist to the bolt holes on the ends of the cylinder heads.

Getting the transmission out was a real treat.  We didn't rent a transmission jack and attempted to just use a large floor jack.  To get the transmission out, I got in the engine compartment and pulled the transmission out by hand.  Not a great plan...  That sucker is heavy!  Not to mention there was still a lot of transmission fluid in it.  I had no where to put the transmission down so I just stood there holding the transmission while my father-in-law, re-setup the engine hoist and got a strap.  We should have had it ready, but our weight estimate for the transmission was a bit off...

So now the question...  Rebuild, recondition, or replace the transmission?  Just reconditioning by replacing gaskets and the filter so I don't have to spend as much right now is very attractive from the cost perspective.  The engine is expensive enough!  The wife actually already gave the go ahead to replace, so I'm investigating that now (it's between the TH200-4R and the TH700-R4).  And to answer the question you're probably thinking, yes... those are automatics (and they have overdrive).  I'm being nice and compromising so that my wife can drive it.