Reply to "ZF Removal"

First, buy a service manual. The guys have given you a good description of the proceedure and the manual was very good with the order of operations.
I have not heard of anyone that did not have to jack up the back of the motor to get enough clearance at the back of the ZF to remove it. I sure did. Maybe a Dash 1 car is different and someone can chime in here.
My ZF had been out before, so this had been done before and this may have contributed to my problem. You have to jack it up once to get it out and again to get it back in so you're putting a lot of pressure on the oil pan. I have heard of a custom jack fixture that wraps around the pan and seats where the pan bolts to the block, but no one could tell me where to get one and I tried all the vendors. Pantera Performance had one that they made, but it was not for sale, rent, or trade, and I never got the chance to steal it! Not a lot of clearance for such a fixture anyway. If you jack yours up, Do NOT leave the motor jacked up on blocks while you're working on the ZF.
Here's why...
The only place to jack the motor up is at the back edge of the bottom of the oil pan. If you have an aluminum aftermarket pan, you're in good shape. If you have a stock steel pan, it is possible that you will compress the pan upward enough to hit the crank. There is VERy little clearance between them.
When I got my ZF back in I turned over the motor and did not hear anything...but when I started it...thap thap thap thap...sure enough, the crank was clipping the inside of the oil pan.
At this point you have two choices...hi tech...or hillbilly.
High tech (clearly the proper way to deal with it) is to sawsall out the frame cross member and the parking brake bracket. Pantera Performance sells new bolt-in brackets to replace these. This can all be done with the engine and ZF in the car. This allows you to put in a $300 aluminum oil pan that will be stiff enough to withstand further jacking up (so to speak).
Hillbilly (the way I did it) involves a big nut, a big washer, a slide hammer, and a welder (oh, and a change of oil and filter). Find a nut that fits the end of your slide hammer, weld it to a big washer, then tack weld that washer to the oil pan in four small spots. The pan is not that strong (that's how we got here in the first place) so you won't need to whack it hard to pop it back out.
Start the car. If the clatter is gone, stop it and change the oil and filter. I know this is going to horrify some of you (sorry, George) but with the small tack welds and immidiate oil change, I'm hoping not too much crystalized crap got into the oil. I'm hoping.
This is my story and I'm stick'in to it.
Mooso.