The War Wagon... decaring wars on the grocery store since 1966

[68scott385]

An externally balanced engine will have a weight on the flex plate itself. That's just the bob weight on the back of all sbc cranks with a two piece rear main seal. No need to change the flexplate unless your new 700R4 trans' converter has a different bolt pattern than your flexplate's.

The trans linkage to the carb is probably just for shift control. Not positive on PGs. Your 700 trans uses a TV cable. Completely different setup.

Ditto.

The only sbc that was externally balanced from the factory is the 400ci., all others were internally balanced. Maybe you'll get lucky and have a dual pattern flex plate...no need to change it, it would work with either torque convertor pattern.

IMO, you just made extra work for yourself by taking the starter off.

You'll get there, then wonder what all the fuss was about.

[Shelty]

thanks man, good to know. idk if it is a dual pattern flexplate, ill have to see if the new TC fits up to it without issue. and hopefully its not cracked or anything.

Ive managed to break two flexplates in two different patrol cars.

as for the starter I kind of realized that when i took it off and saw that its bolted to the block, oh well, I was considering modifying the starter and moving the solenoid to the firewall so when I change the exhaust I dont cook it. plus, ive got a lot of cleaing to do.

[Scott Liggett]

You cops are hard on those cop cars. I am sure the motor pool guys don't say hello to you.

[Shelty]

lol, it doesnt help when the car I have is flirting with a quarter million miles. my old one had 160k, when i transferred the one i ended up with had 230,000 on it. it make horrible noises sometimes, but at least it runs and the A/C works.


as for my wagon, success, the transmission is out of the wagon. its laying on my garage floor now. I only managed to slightly bath my garage floor in ATF. I took like an hour shower but still can smell it. I drained the trans, but the converter was still quite full. I have wrestled the crossmember out of it too, so far I have not had to touche the exhaust, tho I may have to either cut or remove it all to get the 700 in. I have to measure.

speaking of measuring, eyeballing it, and measuring diagonally across the bolt holes has me thinking that the converter will bolt up fine.

the only thing I had to butcher was the trans cooler lines, the fittings were not moving and I ended up rounding off the bolts. so I cut the lines, I will be going with a separate trans cooler and better lines to help make sure that the new trans lives a long happy life.


anyway pictures.



its out, and it only bled all over the place. ATF was everywhere,



the flexplate looks good. no cracks I could see.




Question, what are these holes for?



dont worry, the engine is straight, just the camera angle.

I measured bolt hole to bolt hole on both converters and they appear to be the same distance from each other, its like 9 and 3/4s ish inches, but if I measure the same way on each of the holes on both converters I get the same number on the tape. I just have to measure into the center to see if its the same distance. The holes seem to line up if you but the converters face to face. I have not muscled the new converter up to the flexplate to see if it matches, I was exhausted

PG converter is on ground, 700 conveter is on the drain pan, still had a ton of fluid in it that I was draining out.



a little cleaned up after all the ATF soaked into my concrete. garage is a bit of a mess right now







also, one of my ruined shirts...


it got coated when i cut the cooler lines and it bled all over me

[Shelty]

http://www.nitemareperformance.150m.com/chasis_fullsize.html

also found these guys, if I ever need to replace the frame. I need to patch the pass side rear frame near where the rear control arm bolts up, rust has gotten to it. the driver side has been patched

[Scott Liggett]

Hot trans fluid feels so good running up the arm into the armpit. There is good news. Hot trans fluid will make your hair shiny. And, you now have a new rag for checking the oil.

You should've seen the mess I made when I put two cars nose to nose in the warehouse, then pulled both engines/trans out of them. Both times, the driveshaft yoke I used to plug trans got caught on the firewall and pulled out. Twice heard the glug, glug of trans fluid pouring out the back of transmissions. Boss came in during the middle of the mess making. He was not pleased to see a lake of purple oil on the floor.

[Huskinhano]

LOL, you really did take a bath in ATF! Great project car. The low first gear in the 700 really helps get the car going. My 04 Isuzu Ascender, think Chevy Trailblazer has the electric version. With the 4.2 in the heavy truck, it moves off the line smartly.

Where in MD are you? My son and his GF live in Havre' de Grace

[Shelty]

lol, I can only imagine how long that took to clean up.

luckily this trans fluid was room temp, but even after a shower with a lava bar, I still feel like i am covered in it.

I am feeing quite confident that I dont need to swap flexplates. will attempt to test fit the beast tomorrow. i may drop or cut the exhaust if I cant get the 700 around it all, its all old 2 inch pipe, It looks stock, and probably could be.

will it be a good idea to fill the converter with some fresh fluid before I put it on the trans? or will that just be a an invitation to making another huge mess?

I am going to drop the pan once its in the car to replace the gasket, tap the pan for a drain plug and install the converter lock up, that I have to order, and put in a new filter

[68scott385]

A visual to help in the plumbing of the auxiliary trans cooler. All GM auto Trans's use this plumbing schematic EXCEPT the 200-4r, it's in/out of the trans is opposite from the rest...can be referenced here.. http://www.crankshaftcoalition.com/w..._transmissions

Cooler lines
Warning Note: All except TH200C and TH2004R- which are opposite.
Top line of the transmission = in from the cooler
Bottom line of the transmission = out to the cooler

3/4 down the page or more

[Shelty]

cool thanks man. I havnt gotten the lines out of the rad yet. can I get away with just bypassing the rad all together? or would I need to have a small fan on the external cooler for stop/go traffic/ slow speeds?

[usmlsmk]

Love it. Something about BIG cars

[usmlsmk]

Your pushin 50 you better finish something soon! Last thing I remember was the cadstang in 04s PGDs GEEEZZZ CHOP CHOP.

I love wagons. That looks like it was a great buy. I like how you have a plan and are striving to keep it...hasn't worked for me 30+ yrs of playin with cars. LOL.

[68scott385]

cool thanks man. I havnt gotten the lines out of the rad yet. can I get away with just bypassing the rad all together? or would I need to have a small fan on the external cooler for stop/go traffic/ slow speeds?

The performance trans shop I use says to run both, through the radiator & the auxiliary cooler. From my personal experience, you don't have to run a fan just for the auxiliary cooler. The cooler needs to be mounted in front of the radiator or ac condenser or both. Many coolers come with rubber hose that IS NOT fuel line (trans shop advice) it is specifically made for trans fluid. I prefer to use AN fittings, there are rather pricey for the task but I've never had one leak or get a wear hole, just my preference.

IIRC, I have pics of my last trans cooler install in my Turd(le) thread, page 7, if you're interested. Link in my sig...

Trans shop I use, and so do half of the local racers, for reference...so you know it's not Aamco

http://www.bilbreyracing.com/

[Shelty]

thanks for the tips man.

today, was not very productive. dug the 700-r4 out of the corner of the garage, where its been buried since I bought it, behind the stock rims off my mustang. cleaned all the spider webs out of it. I put a quart of fluid into the converter and seated it on the pump, it clicked in 3 times, wont go in any more so its fully seated. I bolted the mount that came with the bowtie overdrives transmission cross member to the trans, but left it loose enough to wiggle around so I can get it centered when I get it into the car. to do things sensibly and safely, Im going to see if i can rent a transmission or ATV jack from one of the rental places near here so I can get the thing into the car. still not sure if I have to cut the exhaust yet. I measured, and I might be able to work around it.

[68scott385]

fwiw, I use this and a ratchet strap around it & the transmission. It's not the easiest thing to use but it has paid for itself a couple times over.

http://www.jegs.com/i/TCI/890/896500/10002/-1