Hey guys I was wondering will anyone give me some tips, possibly even some pictures on how to remove my transmission out of my 1985 corvette? It is a automatic transmission and it will be removed in my garage. My automotive instructor wont let me bring it to the school so I could use the lift.

 

Find yourself a "junk case", find another corvette tail-shaft housing (might be difficult), assemble those so that you could remove yours, install the "dummy" to keep your car movable and ask the instructor to reconsider. I'm guessing he just doesn't want it hanging around so tow it home until the rebuild is done. I would think the instructor could arrange an inexpensive tow also.

Would that fix you up?

A first time A4 removal on a garage floor isn't a pleasant experience regardless of your age!

 

Your very question leads me to believe you are not an experienced Corvette mechanic. That being so you picked a heck of a place to start. My first suggestion is find a part time job, earn enough bucks to have your tranny repaired. If you can't do this find someone with a Field Service Manual. It will show you how to remove the trans. Haynes or Chilton will only get you in trouble, don't go there. What you want to do certainly can be done but it is both difficult and somewhat dangerous even for an experienced mechanic. If you go ahead please find someone who has done this to supervise, don't want to see your name in the Memorial section.

 

Thanks and he did reconsider, getting it towed is not a problem. Im in Automatic transmissions class now so I will be rebuilding it myself, with the help of wise professionals. I like to seek as much information as I can no matter what the situation is...I appreciate the posts and advice.

 

Hi it is pretty straight forward, Raise the car high as possible use good quality jack stands even an old wheel you cannot be too careful.
Remove the whole exhaust from the exhaust manifold including mufflers. 3 brass nuts each exhaust manifold disconnect the air pump tube,disconnect the exhaust oxygen sensor plug, remove the bolt in front of the catalytic converter and the nuts at the ends of the mufflers then it will drop down as a whole assembly.

Put the gear selector in neutral, disconnect the battery and remove starter and flex plate cover. Remove the bolts from flex plate to torque converter, you can use a large flat screw driver up against the flex plate ring gear to stop it turning and to rotate the flex plate to the next bolt.
Drain the transmission by removing the sump, disconnect the speed sensor, electrical connectors and put the sump back on with bolts just finger tight. Disconnect the trans cooler lines make sure you use an open ended spanner to stop the brass adapter turning while trying to loosen the trans cooler tubes. disconnect the gear selector cable and bracket from trans, unclip the TV cable from throttle body and slide it back from the retaining bracket.
Remove the tail shaft universal bolts from diff yoke, you can leave the tail shaft in or remove it but expect some oil to come out the gearbox.

Now remove the upper bell housing to engine bolts, take note the trans dipstick is attached to one on the other side the tach filter and some earth wires. Put a block of wood under the sump to support the engine ....TAKE CARE as any tilting down can cause the head to touch/ break the wiper motor cover... they are very expensive ....

remove the ''C'' beam from trans to diff at the transmission end then remove the other bolts from the bell housing.. slowly wiggle the gearbox side to side and it only needs to come towards the rear of the car half an inch, use a screw driver to get the torque converter to release from the flex plate and you can drop the transmission.

Slide it out and you are ready to tackle the rebuild

(The weak points on the 85 trans is the housing and pump,
the 89 up trans has a stronger casting and has a better pump with front seal retainer)

Pump some fresh trans fluid thru the lines to remove any crap before putting the new trans in !!!! VERY IMPORTANT !!! also add an additional external trans cooler for cheap added insurance.

Replace the tail shaft uni joints also the half shaft ones they cop one hell of a beating, DO IT NOW even if they look ok i can guarantee they are a high wear item especially the outer half shaft ones they are cheap !!! to save a lot of work having to replace them in the near future. (for any serious power you will need to get steel half shafts made but the aluminum will be fine for a stock engine) Also check your diff and top up with limited slip oil if it is down a lot there is also a special additive required.

Good luck

 

That's good that he reconsidered and I'm guessing the job including the R & R will be a "supervised" experience! The R & R is tough enough with proper tools and facilities for the "inexperienced'!

 

An old mechanic taught me a few things many years ago. First If it works dont fix it. Second if you dont know what is wrong dont fix it and 3rd Never ever force anything just get a bigger hammer

 

Nice...Thank you alot.

 

You don't need to raise the car high until it's time to get the trans out from under the car. The top of the bellhousing is VERY high. I took off the left front tire and slid the trans out through the wheel well on a piece of cardboard (my garage floor is painted and I didn't want to damage the paint).

I didn't remove the starter when I pulled my 700r4. The earlier torque converter covers are slotted to slide out without removing the starter. I have an '89 cover that has a round hole and in that case you do need to remove the starter.

I didn't disconnect the battery. There are no exposed electrical connections, so there is no need. Obviously that is not the case if you remove the starter.

I didn't remove the whole exhaust system, only back to and including the catalytic converter. You have to take the catalytic converter off to get to the rear C-beam bolts. I did support the rear Y pipe, as the exhaust tips press against the bottom of the bumper when the Y pipe hangs down. I was afraid the bumper would get permanently deformed. The nuts on the top of the C-beam bolts are the same size as the heads of the bolts on the bottom. The fronts are 18mm and the rears are 21mm. I didn't have a 21mm wrench/socket so I used a 13/16" instead (close enough). The nuts are "mashed" to make them oval, so they stay hard to turn even after you loosen them.

I did not support the engine that last few times (I've pulled my trans 4 times) after I noticed that the engine was not touching the pile of wood blocks I put under it. The engine mounts are stiff enough to hold the engine. I did not remove the distributor cover from the plenum. I have heard that the distributor cap can be broken when the engine tilts down and it hits the firewall. I had enough room to get my fingers between the back of the distributor cover and the firewall, so removing it wasn't necessary. My engine wasn't anywhere near the windshield wiper motor, so I didn't need to take any precautions there either.

I was not able to get my flare nut wrench on the trans cooler flare nuts until the trans was tilted down (after removing the C-beam). After I loosened the flare nuts I used an open end wrench to remove them. I know the trans is metric, but my 1/2" flare nut wrench fit just fine.

I didn't see any point in replacing the driveshaft U-joints. The geometry never changes and they are held in a straight line by the C-beam. I did check them to make sure they moved freely.

Getting the Oetiker clamp off the catalytic converter air tube was a major pain. I finally got it off by driving a screwdriver through the ear. Getting it back on and tight is even worse...

I found it much easier to get to the top bellhousing bolts by tilting the engine/trans down and going over the top of the trans with a loooooong extension.

Adding a drain plug to the trans pan (or buying a pan with a drain plug) makes working on the trans MUCH easier (and WAY less messy) because you don't have a pan full of ATF to deal with. I have a chrome pan with a drain plug and I drain the fluid, switch to the original steel pan to avoid damaging the chrome pan and proceed from there. The pan will get gouged up by whatever kind of jack you use under it.