Drove the 85 vette to work today.Got on the freeway ,no overdrive.I tried shifting the car manually ,but still no overdrive.So now im looking at an overhaul(no big deal i wanted to do it anyway now i have an excuse).What i want to know if there is anything i need to look for when i drop the tranny.I know about the ditributor,y-pipe and torque arm and drive shaft(I have removed the tranny out of my firebird about a dozen times)Any help would be appreciated thAnks

 

Have you tested the OD electrical circuit yet ?

 

Definately check the electrical first. I agree with that. You do NOT want to pull this tranny unless you have to. Unless you can tackle major mechanical, don't even think about redoing the OD yourself. I build all kinds of complicated Japanese engines all the time and that one was a real headache. The guy to talk to is Brian at SK Speed. Anyone else doesn't know what they're talking about. He helped me with my OD unit and it is flawless. I only have the tranny out now because I should have replaced the synchro assemblies, but cheaped out 6,000 miles ago - was running out of cash.

If you do pull the tranny, of course, pull the distributor. Raise the vehicle as high as you can so you have room to get the tranny out from under the car while on a jack! Pull the entire exhaust out. Take the driveline out. Disconnect the shifter (I just take the shift levers off of the tranny). Support the tranny on a jack. The tranny balance is about midway between the two units. I let one of the tabs of the floor jack catch under the OD pan lip. Remove the C-beam. Take the bolts out. NOW the "fun" part. You have to pry the transmission to the driver's side and work the C-beam out. (they could have made the tunnel a little wider I think!) I pried with a 2/4 against the transmission and c-beam pressuring on the passenger side of the transmission tunnel. You just have to fool with it and make a judgement call how to get it out. The rest is pretty simple.

The jury is still out on which clutch kit to install. The throwout bearing in my last kit failed within 2000 miles. This time I put a LuK clutch kit in (which has a Sachs pressure plate, Valeo disk and Ina throwout bearing.) I haven't started the car yet as I'm still installing everything. The Neapco u-joints I got from Carquest are CRAP - I installed the zerk fitting (Like you could even get to it in the car) and a chunk of the casting broke off. I'm going to get Spicer and do it right! The throwout bearing was nylon. LuK assures me this is newer technology and works well. I can tell you that the clutch is VERY smooth now! (It has the updated pedal assembly, new clutch fork with new clutch master cyl/slave cylinder, and all new bushings in '02 from Chevrolet Parts.)

I'd still rather pull an M22 out of a '55 anyday!

Btw - getting the exhaust out was fun. Seems that the triangular bracket that clamps the exhaust to the manifold likes the bend. That's another story. Better put some penetrating oil on the studs. They'll almost surely snap. Mine did. Last time I put high temp nickel antisieze on them. It came out this time!