[V8] Transmission replacement - any good tips for the job?

[Eyvind E. Spangen]

The transmission oil pump is making a bad noise and the transmission is
probably about 200k miles old, so my friend and I will replace the
transmission in his '92 V8 soon. We got a '94 transmission with ~50k miles
for a nice price, and I guess that one should be good for many years with
proper maintenance. We have the repair manual, but I wonder, is there
anything special to do that makes the job easier, that is not mentioned in
the repair manual? How much does the transmission weigh? The steering rack
boot is damaged, I guess it's the right time to replace it with the
transmission out?

I don't know if the converter is still installed on the "new" transmission
or comes with separate, but if so, is there a special procedure to install
it into the transmission? I've read something like taking care not to damage
a seal on the ZF 4HP24 transmission. (I've only done this on old Ford C3 and
C4 transmissions before. On them, it's only to put it in and rotate until it
slips into the splines.)

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Thanks a lot,
E. Spangen