So I finally took off the SMT bits of the transmission and learnt how the SMT works... Surprisingly, its quite not anywhere near as complicated as I thought... Before taking the SMT components off the tranny, you must first depressurise the SMT hydraulic system. In the BGB, it is instructed that this be done through using the Toyota Handheld Scanner plugged into the OBD2 port (under the driver side dash on the right - Australian version). However, not having access to this, and give that I am not going to be using the SMT anymore anyway, I just unscrewed the HPU (Hydraulic Pump Unit) fluid tank cap to release the pressure. Much to my surprise, there wasnt any pressure at all in there!! Well, I suppose the car havent been operated in over 3 months now, so it probably depressurised itself.
Anyway, onto the pics...
This is the transmission with the SMT hydraulics taken off... I've screwed the bolts back onto the tranny so I remembe where they go. The SMT shifter shaft is the shaft between the two top bolts... This is the thing that the shifter cables will ultimately connect onto and link the action between the manual shifter (inside the passenger cabin) and the position of the gears inside the transmission. The shifter shaft can be moved in the familiar H pattern of a manual car. This shaft will be replaced with a manual version.
The black rubbery looking thing to the left of the realy long bolt is the clutch actuator arm.. more pictures below to explain its operation.
Clutch disengages (clutch pedal down)
Clutch engages (clutch pedal up)
This is the SMT unit... the thing on the left of the picture is the HPU (the fluid tank I talked about is the thing with the white plastic cover on it. The cap is directly under the cover. The thing on the right is connected to the shifter shaft as well as the clutch actuator arm. The SMT ECU will control the mechanism on the right to coordinate the movement of the shifter shaft as well as the movement of the clutch actuator arm.
Now, this picture has nothing to do with the SMT, but you know that famous Turbo Intake Manifold EXPLOSION?? Well, it never blew a hole in my intake manifold, but it did break something inside the manifold!! Its a big piece too! Dremeled and cut at it for almost 3 hours to get it all out! Need to get this intake manifold pressure tested to ensure that it seals properly!
Ok, thats the latest... on the engine front, still waiting for speciality tools to arrive from the USA so I can get those head studs off!! Also need a special twist off socket for the one head stud which I rounded off when trying to undo with an Allen Key... moral of the story, dont use an Allen Key, use a proper 12 point (also know as double-hex, or triple-square), 10mm bit!!!
Took the oil pickup off to so I could get at the rods.
Rods were easy enough to get out... Much easier than I thought... Remember from my previous post, the piston in cylinder number 1 never quite made it all the way to the top, and I couldnt understand why?? 
Well, this is why!! BENT Rod!! I couldnt believe that my engine was still running though! It turned over easily enough, and there were no combustion chamber leaks anywhere... This is very odd, considering that most bent rods would have caused major scoring of the cylinder walls and it would have been blow-by heaven! (blow-by is where the oil from the crank case gets into the combustion chamber because of either faulty rings, or too much clearance between the ring and the cylinder walls.
Upon closer inspection of the cyliner walls, I found a little notch at the base of cylinder number 1. This notch must have been made by the force of the bent rod stiking into the cylinder walls... This would have also caused some rather unsettling engine noise!
A closer look! I think I may be REALLY lucky here. Dont think I will need to sleeve this cylinder because the top two rings on the new WISECO pistons will never get as low as where the notch is, so I shouldnt have any sealing issues.... I think!
