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I am reinstalling the th350 trans back in the car, The transmission is already mounted to the engine only has 2 bolts and still on the trans jack. But this darn dip stick doesnt want to go in any way that I try to put it. How have you guys done it in the past?
From: At my Bar drinking and wrenching in Lafayette Colorado
I assume you're talking about the dipstick tube and not the dipstick itself...
Make sure you have the correct O-ring on it. Lube up the O-ring with a few drops of tranny fluid, and then put the tube into the hole until the O-ring starts engaging into the hole. Then, do a combined wiggle-with-rotation back and forth while applying light downward force on the tube. It should slide in smoothly. If not, remove the O-ring and verify that it goes in without the O-ring. If it does, you may have the wrong O-ring installed, or you have a burr or defect in the hole in the tranny case.
Hello thanks for the reply, guess I should have worded that better, I am trying to get the dipstick tube into position so that I can do what you mentioned in your post lol. There is no room to try and get the tube into the position it needs to and always hits the fire wall or engine.
From: At my Bar drinking and wrenching in Lafayette Colorado
The tube follows a very tight fit up against the right surface of the transmission bellhousing case area, and the attach bracket bolts to the upper right bellhousing bolt, which snugs the tube right up against the back of the block and right cylinder head. You have the engine/trans out of the car, right..? You didn't install the engine/trans into the car without the dipstick tube, did you..? That would be a bad idea...
Unfortunate as it was, I already had the trans mounted to the engine in the car. I removed the 2004r because it was busted on its maiden voyage due to a tv cable not being adjusted correctly. A tow and a year later I've finally fixed the old transmission and decided to put it back in for now.
While I had it mounted to the engine, I only had two bolts in while it was on the trans jack still and was easy to remove and drop it a bit to get some more clearance. Thankfully I was able push it from beneath the car. the problem was getting the end of the dip stick over the what I believe was the servo housing. After that I was able to put the dip stick in the hole it goes to but now I cant get it twist to have the tube's mounting hole in place on the transmission/engine mount to bolt it. More fiddling will be needed. So defeated over a seemingly simple task haha.
Thank you for the pictures too, I wasn't sure if it actually bolted there only guessed and it's what I've been trying to do lol. Had to take a break a couple hours ago because my arm started thriving in pain for some reason. It's all good now though, about to go back out there.
The tube goes in nice and easy one way, but isn't lined up to bolt down.
When i try to put in to where I can bolt, the end of the tube is at such an angle that it makes it not possible to go in anymore than pictured. I then lined up the tube mounting point to see how far off it would be. I have no idea how this was ever installed in the first place. Correctly installed on the bottom When correctly put into the trans at the bottom this is how it lines up at the top How it looks when trying to line up mounting point and insertion point. It's at such an angle that it will no longer go through
I have no idea how this was ever installed in the first place.
It's a little more work, but you could do it the way Chevy did it... install engine and trans before the body is placed!
BTW, I did the exact same thing as you with my BB and TH400. What a pain in the *** that was to get it in place - as I recall it was a combination of lifting the engine off the mounting horns with the rear cross member removed so the trans could drop down, plus a lot of swearing and twisting and cursing and finagling and scraped knuckles and pushing and pulling of the tube. Finally went in but now I don't know if the O-ring was in place!
If I remember correctly I pushed the tube in from below. If you need more wiggle room could you pull the motor mounts to then drop the trans bell housing lower?
Full disclosure. I drink home brews while I work on the Vette so either I get super human strength, or can’t remember how I got it done.
From: At my Bar drinking and wrenching in Lafayette Colorado
Originally Posted by xMrFacex
Does it need an o ring? There is already a gasket installed in the trans dipstick hole didn't think it was suppose to have an o ring because of that.
Yes, there is an O-ring, and you MUST use it or it will leak like a slaughtered pig. There is no "gasket." Just an O-ring on the tube. It looks like this:
I don't know that you can get the tube in with the engine/trans installed in the car. Unfortunately, you did things in the wrong sequence: A little bit like mating the tranny to the engine without the torque converter installed and saying you're going to install it later. It doesn't work. You will probably need to pull the engine mount bolts out, pull the tranny mount bolts out, lift the engine, move it forward, and then install the tube. Then, slide the engine/trans back and down and install it.
I just finished replacing that O-ring which was leaking. Made the mistake of taking the whole tube out. It took way too long to get it back in, even with one person at either end of the tube. It was hard to find an O-ring that would go in without binding. Finally got it to seal by reducing the outer diameter of the O-ring with ultra-fine sandpaper.
But, turns out 79 and later c3’s switched to a hat-shaped seal instead of the O-ring. Got this one from Summit to make sure it never leaks again.
Definitely takes exactly the right tweak to get the tube aligned, but if was in there before, it’ll fit. Fit the tube in the tranny first, then worry about twisting the mount into place. Might be easier to get that hat seal out and put it on the end of the tube.
Charlie
Wanted to get on here one last time to thank everyone for the help and suggestions; by far the best community I've ever been apart and can always count on to help when it's needed most.
Kerschmolar My th350 did in fact have the hat top gasket and not an o-ring. Which is good to know because that means it's probably the original transmission for the car but was rebuilt with a shift kit before I bought the car back in 2012.
I ultimately decided to get the Lokar flex tube, I leave the country soon and I don't have the time to play around with stuff that wants to fight me. If anyone decides to go Lokar like I did, you have to take the hat top gasket off the Lokar first and put the gasket in the transmission before you install the tube or it wont go in all the way. Don't know about other year corvettes but with the 81' like mine, there was a bolt sticking out of the top of the heater core box that had a lose nut on it, basically begging me to mount it there instead of drilling new holes into the firewall to secure it. Do keep in mind that there are different versions of the Lokar, the one I got was specifically for the th350. I also made sure that the dipstick itself was the same size as the original stick too, so I know it's going to read correctly.
It's still bolted to the firewall using a bolt that was sticking out of the top of the heater core box from the fire wall. Lokar also makes transmission mount tubes as well.
After spending like 4 to 5 hours mutilating my new dipstick tube (I really mangled the f*ck out of it....) I just gave up and ordered the Lokar for my 200-4R. I did not have any problems installing it at all..... I may have dropped the rear of the tranny a skosh but not even sure if I had to do that? I went and looked at my pictures and I DID have to drop the rear of the tranny to have some room to install the Lokar tube...It was a tight wiggle but relatively painless as I remember.
Mine is tye-wrapped to the bracket for the wiper-door actuator ....I did not want to drill holes until I made sure it worked well there...
Originally Posted by xMrFacex
It's still bolted to the firewall using a bolt that was sticking out of the top of the heater core box from the fire wall. Lokar also makes transmission mount tubes as well.
Tips for installing trans dip stick
