...doesn't mean it has to look old.
Here is the tranny after I dropped it from the car.

Dirt and oil makes a very nice black concrete. The orange on the bell housing is overspray from when I painted the engine block.

I used a toothbrush sized wire brush and degeaser to get most of the gunk off. Then I used a dental tool to get the gook out of all of the nooks and crannies.

After I had the case cleaned I used a NYLOCK cup wheel (abrasive impregnated nylon) attached to my drill to shine it up a little.
Here is how it turned out.

Now it looks too nice to hide under the car.

I also replaced the govenor gasket and accumulator and rear seals, and added a transgo shift kit set to the upper range of street/performance.

The transgo instructions said to torque the detent solenoid bolts to 10 ft/lbs. as I was torquing one of the bolts I felt it snap and almost had heart falure. Luckily the bold sheered off just below the bolt head and there was enough sticking out to get my vice grips on it. I replaced them with a pair of grade 8 bolts and consulted my tranny manual which said 4 - 10 ft/lbs so I torqued them to 8.

I'm also thinking about extending the overflow tube to blow off below the tranny and eliminate the large black streak from occuring in the future.

Now I have to wait for my new tunnel insulation, which has been on back order since November, before I can get it back in.

Once I have it back in I am going to replace the trans pan with a new aluminum pan with a drain plug (it was a messy job getting it off without a drain plug. Who's idea was it not to have one in the first place?)


[Modified by GATOR454, 10:52 AM 1/12/2004]

 

Man that ain't funky! This is funky!! :D



This is after Castrol Degreaser and a visit to the car wash!

 

Gator,

<After I had the case cleaned I used>
Did you take to a machine shop to get it cleaned??

Looks great!!!

 

No, I cleaned it myself. Just lots of degreaser and scrubbing. The nylox brush really polished it good and only took about an hour.

I guess I should have said - after I cleaned the case...


[Modified by GATOR454, 1:04 PM 1/12/2004]

 

How long did it take you to get it out of the car? I am going to pull mine out from under my 74 BB this winter.

 

:eek: now that's a big difference! good job :thumbs:

 

mfgaffney, it took 4 months. By the time I got to the transmission I had removed almost everything else from under the car.

I think you could probably get it out over a weekend.

You will need to remove the exhaust since it passes through the crossmember.

Disconnect the driveshaft.

I removed as much fluid as I could from the filler tube, using a brake bleeder vacuum from autozone. Then I disconnected the shift and detent cable and dropped the pan to get the rest out. There was still a bunch in there and it was a messy job. But I figured the tranny would be lighter without the fluid. Then I bolted the pan back on less the cable mounts.

If your shift cable boot is still good treat it like gold. You can't get just the boot and new cables are running around $80.

Remove the cooler lines. It's easier to get them off if you remove the vacuum accumulator first. There is a bolt next to it that holds it in. Remove the bolt and it slides out. There is an O ring seal and a piston inside the tranny at the accumulator, it shouldn't fall out, just be aware there is something inside there.

Remove the filler tube. You will need to undo one of the bolts holding the tranny to the engine to get it off.

Disconnect the wire attached to the detent solenoid connection and also remove the speedometer cable.

Remove the flywheel shield and disconnect the torque converter from the flywheel (3 bolts). You may need to drop the starter, I'm not sure because mine was already off. The haynes manual said to index the torque converter to the flywheel before disconnecting it. I'm not sure how critical that is but I did it anyway.

The manual also suggested removing the distributor cap so it doesn't get broken by hitting the firewall.

Now you are ready to drop the tranny.

I used two jacks. A bottle jack under the oil pan (I put a piece of plywood between the jack and the pan) Then I put my floor jack under the tranny pan (also with a piece of plywood between the jack and the pan).

Once everything was supported I unbolted the crossmember. I then lowered the jack under the oil pan a bit then lowered the jack under the tranny a bit so that the whole assembly tilted down slightly. Then I unbolted the tranny from the engine and lower the tranny jack while pulling back on the tranny (you will need some help to do it). When unbolting the tranny the upper bolt on the drivers side would not come all the way out. If this is the case for you remember to put it in the tranny before you go to put it back up.

The tranny is 16 inches tall so you will need to get the car at least 16 inches off the ground at the rockers. Mine was just a little over 16" so I had to take the tranny off the jack to get it out. If I could do thigs over I would have got the car at least 24 inches high at the rockers. Oh, well looks like I'm going to have to lift the tranny back onto the jack while it's under the car when it goes back in.

It was great fun, Good Luck


[Modified by GATOR454, 4:59 PM 1/12/2004]

 

Do you have any more info on those nylock wheels? Are they available from MSC or any industrial supplier? Did it dig into the aluminum at all or leave any marks?
Thanks,
Gary

 

I got them at the Ace Hardware. I'm pretty sure they were called Nylock or Nyloc I will check when I get home.

No, They did not dig into the aluminum, They did leave swirl marks like a buffing wheel does with an agressive rouge (but you have to look pretty close to see them). The package says they come in coarse, medium and fine, I used the coarse so the fine would probably damn near polish it. Also, If I wanted to get real **** I could hit it with a polishing wheel and get a near mirror finish, but it will be under the car so I stopped with the Nyloc.

I started using it to clean up bolt heads. I can even use my fingers to hold the bolt. I hit my finger a couple of times, nothing happened, so its not anything like a wire wheel which would have tore off some skin.

 

Well I was close, but evidently my memory is starting to get fuzzy. They are called Nyalox brushes made by Dico
http://www.dicoproducts.com/nyalox.html
http://www.hardwarecomplete.com/hand.../Nylon_Wheels/

They come in Fine/medium, Coarse, and Extra Coarse. I used Extra Coarse.

 

Nice clean up :thumbs: