S320 Project Underway (mainly about trans. removal)

[WANT '71 280SEL]

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I now have the transmission out of my w140 S320. I bought it from a member here this past Saturday with a bad transmission. I haven't even driven the car yet, but the engine sure does sound sweet. Anyways, the trans. is sitting on a tranny jack at work. I have to go up tomorrow morning with my bigger brother to help me lift it off of the jack and into the truck bed to be delivered to the trans. rebuilder. If I worked straight through, taking no breaks, I probably could have had the transmission out in about 2.5 hours. It took me quite a bit longer (on a lift mind you), but I think I removed pieces that probably didn't have to be. I am giving this information so that someone searching the forums can find it since it wasn't available last week when I was doing research.

I have some questions about the project. I had to remove the exhaust, and since I didn't want to break the 4 bolts holding it together, I removed it as a whole. I used a combination of a trans. jack and a corkscrew lift to slowly lower the entire exhaust system. When I had the assembly about 4 feet off the ground, the front half slipped off the corkscrew onto the ground. I don't think anything broke, but do you think I may have damaged the inside of the catalytic converters? I was instantly afraid that I may have knocked some of the ceramic lose which would easily lead to a swift restriction. I plan on driving this car to CT a few days after getting it all back together and would hate to be ready to leave only to find one or both of the cats is clogged.

Also, on the right side of the tranny (passenger side of the car), there is a plastic box on the side of the unit. There are two vacuum lines coming off this unit and a metal wire, which goes to the throttle. Anyways, one of the vacuum fittings had a golf T in it. The other vacuum fitting had a green vac. line coming off. What should the other vac. line be connected to? If I remember correctly there is a vac. line that connects to the tranny on the left side, but I can't figure out what should go on the right side where there is a golf T plugging the line. I just picked the car up Sat. and it seems that someone has started removing the trans. before (which is probably why the PO didn't fix the trans. himself because he couldn't get it out of the car to have it rebuilt). Any ideas what this vac. fitting is for? I'll try to take some pictures tomorrow, but no promises since that would necessitate me borrowing my dad's or sister's digital camera.

One last thing... The small lever that is used to aim the center vents seems to have broken off. It's black with a 1/8" chrome strip going down it. The piece is about 1 1/4" long and is what you see at the center of the vent. Has anyone had one of these break off? I'm thinking about super glue but don't want to mess it up? Anyone have any experience with this piece breaking off and a reliable, inconspicuous repair?

Sorry for the long write-up, but I'm a detail oriented person-thus my attraction to the w140.

Thanks
David