NIVA TRANSMISSION

REMOVAL
I recommend putting your Niva up on at the very least 6 inches of
the ground, by using jackstands on the axles or car ramps at both
ends. I lift is ideal but not many people have access to one of those.
You will need an extra 6-12 inches of undercar clearance to make
sliding out the transmission and transfer case possible without too
much hassle. It also helps a lot and makes your life 50 times easier
if you have someone else with you that can help you lift heavy
things down from the car. (A Niva tranny isn't heavy but it is very
awkward to remove when it is 6 inches from your face and you are
lying on your back).

-To take the transmission out you need to:

Step 1
-First of all, to make your life a whole lot easier, you will want to
completely remove the front driveshaft by unbolting the d-shaft to
t-case flange and the d-shaft to front dif flange. Also you will want
to unbolt the rear d-shaft to t-case flange.
-You will need a 13mm open end wrench and possibly a screwdriver
or pair of pliers/vice-grips to jam or hold the round side of the bolt
while you undo the nut.
-You won't be able to undo some of the bolts all the way until after
the flange has been loosened and you can compress the shaft a bit
for clearance.
-This is also a good time to remove the clutch slave cylinder from
the bellhousing. You can also take advantage of this time to replace
your torn clutch slave boot and inspect it for any wear or damage.
Step 2
-The next thing to do is to remove the speed cable and the speed
sensor (only on FI models) from the transfer case. Move these
cables out of the way, you don't want to crush them when you're
removing the tranny. Also there is a couple very small and thin
washers that should be between the speed sensors and the plugs
on the t-case. They are hard to see but sometimes they stay in the
cable end, and sometime they stay on the end of the threaded post
on the case. Try not to lose these.
Step 3
-Now you will want to go inside the cab and remove the
transmission tunnel cover, the shifter knobs, and take of the
sealing plates and shifter boots. Now is a good time to unhook the
difflock switch wires from the transfer case. Then go back under
the car and unhook the reverse switch wires and move them out of
the way.
Step 4
-Now you get down to the nitty gritty. You now need to seperate the
transmission and transfer case. I highly recommend undoing the
flange that has the 4 bolts similar to the driveshaft flanges. You can
undo the rubber doughnut if you prefer, but it ends up being more
hassle in the end.
Step 5
-Now you can undo the 4 nuts holding up the transfer case and
slide it down and out of the way.
Step 6
-Undo all the bolts holding the transmission to the car. Start be
removing the bracket from the transmission to the
exhaust(13mm~12mm), then undo the 4 or 5 bolts holding the
waterjacket to the front of the bellhousing(10mm). Then take out
the three bolts holding the starter in place (13mm). Now you can
undo the 4 bellhousing bolts from the engine block (19mm). Then
you can undo the 4 nuts holding up the transmission and slide it
back away from the engine and lower it out of the way. You may
want a jackstand or some other kind of support when lowering the
tranny. You may also have to select a couple of diferent gears to
get the shifter to clear the hole in the floor.

-Pictures
-1. Here you can see the flanges the link the transfer case output
shafts to the drive shafts, once undone. The driveshafts can just sit
this way while you are working under the car, they don't get in the
way much, I'd take the flanges of of the difs too but the 13mm
nuts tend to strip easily.
-Here you can see the two speed pickups that hook into the transfer
case and the clutch slave cylinder, I throw these bits over the front
suspension linkage to keep them out of the way.
-In this picture you can see 1. The holes in the casing which accept
the bolts that hold the clutch slave cylinder. 2. The hole that
accepts the clutch slave cylinder's output shaft. 3. One of the holes
where a bellhousing bolt resides, this one is removed. 19mm.
-1. Another hole that accepts a bellhousing bolt. 19mm.
-1. The three bolts that hold the starter to the bellhousing, these
need to be undone. 13mm.
-1. The two remaining bellhousing bolts. 19mm. 2. This is the stud I
had to drill the head of of to get the cylinder head out.