Manual Transmission Removal with the motor in

[UrS6]

I know the general consensus is that removing the auto box is best accomplished by removing the engine but is the manual box "easy" enough to do by just dropping the cradle? If i'm correct, I would lower the cradle as much as possible, disconnect the driveshaft, the two CV Axles, the slave, the shift linkage, undo the 8 or so bolts holding the tranny in and maybe a DP or two. Even the tranny bolts don't seem too hard to get to. When I worked at an indy BMW shop we used to do BMW top tranny bolts with a 6 foot extension and an impact gun while standing back by the rear diff. The complexity of removing the entire motor and all the stuff that can go wrong or not get put back right seems like 10 times the work as just pulling the tranny. But, maybe i'm missing something that would make it not as straightforward as i'm thinking it would be.

[Wide-66]

All of that is the easy stuff. I had to pull my trans to put in a new flywheel (yes TTV sucks never use their product or trust their service department). Anyway the pita part imho is the turbo lines/turbos. I actually left most stuff attached and pulled the exhaust manifold to turbo hardware out to twist the turbos to the side. I have deleted the aux rads and of course trans stuff so droppin motor was cake.

[ttboost]

As far as I recall, the manual transmission can be removed with engine in the car. I think I MAY have unbolted the passenger turbo from the manifold, but left everything else in place and it moves enough to get trans out. Passenger side is the trickiest as I recall. I know I pulled mine back out for something and I know I didn't remove the engine when I did, and it wasn't that bad.