Manual Transmission Questions and such

[BoyWonder]

[long_post]I am looking to swap a manual transmission into my vert. We have a donor car lined up, but the problem is we never actually saw this car run. The electrical system was not in a condition that would allow the car to start, let alone drive, so we couldn't test it that way. My fear is that we will get this on the vert, only to find that it has a problem and we have to take it out again. In the hopes this can be avoided, I am hoping someone can tell me how I can test the transmission without actually having it in a car. I don't expect the most in-depth test ever, I just want to know if there is something simple I can do that can at least give clues to it's condition. Also, anything that I should replace while I have it out? Possibly a flywheel resurfacing or maybe a clutch replacement if it looks a little worn? I am working with a somewhat limited budget but if it's serious enough I'll see if I can fit it in. Any help is appriciated. :help Somewhat related; I have read numerous tmes there is something in the clutch assembly that is not needed. Is that the little device that the hardlines make a U-turn thru right before passing into the slave cylinder? If I don't need it, I'm not taking it, as it seems pretty hard to detatch the hardlines from it.[/long_post]

[[s3]]

Without knowing the history of the donor car, you probably have to take the transmission off, inspect it for signs of abuse.

Check clutch/flywheel for major signs of wear/abuse.

If you're up to it, you can even do a teardown of the transmission but I don't think you want to do that.

[DGA]

That thing is a block that is really useless and makes it very difficult to bleed the clutch line. Take it off the donor car and throw it over your shoulder.

On the transmission, drain it and see if any shavings or metal chunks come out. If not fill the transmission with some Redline shock proof fluid. It works well.

[slo40]

I just finished my transmission swap a few hours ago. I would just say the same, to drain the fluid and look at the condition of it. The transmission of mine actually had fluid filled with sooo many shavings it was silver in color. The only real way that I tried to test on my donor transmission was to put it in every gear and crank the input shaft and make sure everything was turning smoothly. Did this is every gear just to check for anything binding or whatever.