RocketSled

Y'all know the story. Now motor, blah blah blah, got it tuned, blah blah, lost fourth gear.

Talked to a tranny guy and he said the failure mode was such that I could drive the tranny a little in 'D/3' until the 1-2 shift got funky. THEN I should park it before it strands me. the 1-2 shift is a little off, I parked it.

A knowledgable friend of mine was in the car when the tranny went away. He was thinking I might just need to R&R the valvebody.

Anyway, the car sat for a bit. I got a tranny jack for Xmas (thanks Santa!) and I'm working on pulling the tranny now.

I drop the pan. The rule of thumb for a tranny rebuild is 'about a dimes worth' of gunk in the bottom of the pan.

This thing is _clean_. There's literally a 32nd or a 64th's of a dime's worth of material in there. (of course the tranny was rebuilt about 8000 miles ago.)

So, whatdayall think? Is it possible the tranny just needs a little valvebody work? Will I be fixing it AGAIN in 4000 miles if I just throw it back together behind 475/500?

BBA

I had that happen....1-2 shift was funky, made a little rough feel in the middle of the shift. Then fourth gear went out.
Eventually, the car would not move at all.

It ended up being I stripped the spline teeth out of the input housing so the input shaft was just sitting there spinning and not moving the input housing. The input housing ended up being cracked...and it cracked the fourth clutch piston.

Actually, the symptoms first started with an unexplained shift down from 4th to 3rd at random, then back up....then no 4th at all. Then the 1-2 shift went whacky...then no movement at all.

It was more than just a valve body...I had to replace the input housing.


[Modified by BBA, 10:25 PM 1/20/2003]

RocketSled

That's what I was 'afriad' of. (Well, not AFRAID, I kinda wanta pull the tranny for piece of mind)

Bob86ZZ4

Okay, you got lotsa money in your car already, so don't skimp now. Think about putting in a TH400/Gear Vendors combo. If you got 500 h/p and you use it regularly don't bother trying to get a 700r4 to hold up. Just my feelings on the matter. I converted to the th400/Gear Vendors and I absotively love it. This is a great way to go. And I don't even get any kickbacks from Gear Vendors. Oh well. I have a page on my web site with a little info about my conversion. If a dummy like me can do it anybody can. Good Luck.

RocketSled

We've had this conversation before. ;)

While I may be singing a different tune in a few years, I think I've got a handle on a guy that'll help me make the 700r4 live. To rebuild a 700r4 to near stock specs is $500 in parts and my labor (plus I get to learn how to rebuild a tranny.) If I spend another GRAND in improved parts, I'm still HALF what you're talking about.

However, time will tell. :smash: