"how did you burn yourself removing a gearbox??" I hear you ask.......................well...................
The gearbox was loose, all bolts removed, linkage off, slave off, reverse light wires off the lot.
It pushed back after a mamoth effort and a few taps with a hammer and trusty 4x2 drift. but it just wouldn't come off completely.
It was far enough back to spin in the tunnel but just wouldn't budge anymore - any pressure applied just made it wobble about.
After calling in my mate (a BMW tech) we still couldn't get it off with both of us wiggling/leavering the box.
So as the box was fubar anyway (idle shaft grumble) I thought sod it. I'll cut it off and got my grinder out
so wearing the appropriate eye protection I set work on the bell housing with my cutter.
It was about 5 mins that a small piece of swarf (hot shrapnel) fell off onto my head and began to burn
Moving it off just made the burn in to a line before it finally fell off. Now I have to explain that to every one i meet!
It turned out the gearbox idle shaft was stuck well and truely in the spigot bearing. when the box moved it was actually pulling the spigot bearing out of the crank
this meant the gearbox was stuck as the spigot would not budge on the idle shaft and is obviously too big to get past the clutch pressure plate.I used the 'window' i cut in the bell housing to get at the clutch bolts and the thing finally came off. The spigot was already clear of the crank by this point so the box just dropped once the clutch wasn't holding it anymore
Had to use a puller to remove the spigot from the old gearbox. It looks alright and slides on and off the new box a treat but I'm not going to risk it for the £16 BMW want for a bearing and replacement flywheel dowel.
The moral of the story is make sure your gearbox idle shaft is clean and rust free before trhe gearbox goes in, it saves burning your forehead!
Monkey
ooooow! did you crash or drop the car off a jack?
That is by far the most amusing injury so far 
