Transmission rebuild

[Alcology]

Still coming whuntmore.  That's a part 1.  I didn't take any pics to get the transmission off the car sadly.  I have ~50 pics that I'm including in the rebuild of the transmission itself.  I'm going to finish it this week.  I just wanted to put something up here to give people something and to motivate myself to finish.  I found the manual to be good, but it was still lacking some things so hopefully my pics can help fill in the gaps. 

[Alcology]

Bad news.  My computer's hard drive where I had been keeping all the pics died.  I'm going to try to resuscitate it but I don't have high hopes.  I should not have procrastinated on this.  Lesson learned I guess. 

[Whuntmore]

That sucks!  Hopefully you can recover your pics.  good luck!

[IowaEagle]

A lesson we all need to heed.  I hope you can rescue them too.

[BenM]

Best advice I ever heard for data backup

I've heard people say if it isn't in three places, it doesn't exist. I've lost a number of drives over the years, so I tend to agree... not that I'm as diligent as I should be either. 

[MaskNMI]

hey, maybe this is a stupid question, but I've searched this whole thread....

what kind of tranny are we talking about here?? manual? auto?

anyway I'm excited to see your pics, esp if it's an automatic

I have done a Ford 3sp automatic from ground up before, I am not an expert tranny builder, but I've done it, and done lots of simpler automatic tranny work......happy to share experiences


I can make a couple suggestions:

A Tranny stand that you can bolt the bellhousing/case to and maybe rotate back and forth (or an engine stand adapted to do the job, but you need to be able to slide things in and out the bore of the case) is VERY helpful....maybe local tranny shop has a spare they sell you cheap, or they can direct you to the area tranny parts supplier if you don't know it already...you won't be sorry if you get one, even if it's a fixed stand bolted to a bench.....make your job a LOT easier


a high-quality tool to replace the bronze bearings is a MUST, you NEED a bearing press for this if you don't want to ruin your brand new bearings....bronze is much softer than steel, remember that, or you learn the hard way like me


other than that, keep track of the multitude of parts in the drums by having  them laid out in order and separated by gearset, and oh yeah, you already know you need some snap-ring pliers baby!

HAVE FUN

[Alcology]

It's an auto Mask.  I did the rebuild last late winter/early spring.  I only had a small space on a folding table in the small basement of the apartment I had been renting at the time.  The detente ball at one point flew off and landed in a broken area of the concrete floor!  I started laughing it was so absurd, because at first I had no idea where it went.  I tried to keep everything organized by piece like you said and that really helped. 

[MaskNMI]

alco: d'oh! I REALLY need to stop skimming threads quickly, I noticed when I opened it up this time you said 998 (don't ask me how I missed that....) in the first post and that this thread is old like you say....

so cool, that's even better now I can ask you questions; so you didn't use a stand, (i didn't either, lol, that's how I knew I wish I had one ) but how did you do with the bushings?

did you already have a press? make your own?? buy one?!? expensive?!?!?

hehe, I think I remember chasing a couple parts that shot out, too heheh


sorry again, I confuse myself cause I read too fast and then I see the date on the most recent posts and I stupidly assume the whole thread is similar age

hey, LOVE to see those pics though, like I said I've done a Ford, really like to see the differences in case I end up needing to 'haul her in the future!

[Alcology]

No prob Mask!  So for the bushings, I don't have a press and I didn't feel like doing them if I didn't have to.  I used feeler gauges to check the tolerances and see if they specced up.  Everything checked out so I left them alone.  Maybe it will bite me in the butt in the future, but that's why I recently picked up a T4.   

[MaskNMI]

ha, gotcha, hey in spec is in-spec!

I thought about that after I had destroyed the old ones getting them out ("did I really *need* to do that?!?") heh

[Alcology]

Yeah!  That's one of those things when you get into it you just keep going.  I did that with the valve body.  Bad idea.  Took forever to get the springs back in place. 

[Alcology]

Got my pics back.  I'm going to get to work in the next weeks to write this up.

[philotomy]

I have a question:when the rebuilt tranny goes in,how much fluid should be in the case/converter,do you have to "prime it" with a few quarts?then add the rest as it idles? I realize the indicator tube won't be added till its going in,any thought would be appreciated.

[68AMXGOPAC]

I layed my converter flat and added a quart , then tipped it up vertical, and checked it.You really don't want to add more than would run out when tipped back vertical or you will have a mess on your hands when you try and put it back in.As far as the tranny itself , I had the pan installed before I put the tranny in , installed the tranny,and then filled it to the recommended capacity before starting , let it warm up, run it through the gears ( but not driveing it ) recheck the fluid level , add as needed.

[Alcology]

I put it back in empty, filled slightly less than recommended and started the car and put it through the gears like gopac.  I checked the level and then filled to capacity.