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

[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

[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

[Scott Liggett]

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

[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.

[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]

sweet, thanks Scott. that puts my mind at ease, I will know more once its all apart. going to try to get it all done tomorrow after I get back from work. have court tomorrow for an old case that i couldnt get out of.... if not, wednesday.

[Scott Liggett]

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.

[Shelty]

I know the engine is grimey, i will be cleaning it as best as i can

[Shelty]

finally got my mustang fixed about 2 weeks ago and am now settled in at my new barrack, so I was able to focus my attention back on the wagon. I went through the distributor. add 70 bucks to the the budget.

today I got it up on blocks. I got a good bit done in a couple hours, in addition to ruining two old police academy t-shirts....lol anyway, I got the drive shaft out, and rear u joint fell apart, which is always good news. got the Torque converter unbolted from the flexplate, got the starter out, the shift linkage disconnected, and the speedo cable off, all that is left is the bell-housing bolts and the cross member.

now here is where I have some questions and concerns. with the powerglide, there was a linkage that comes off where it connects to the column mechanism that goes up the backside of the engine and connects to the carb. can I remove all of this since I will be going with the 700r-4?

here is a picture of the bar



now here is my biggest concern.

this is the first Small Block chevy Ive worked on. is this an externally balanced engine? or is this the normal mounting point for the flexplate, will the proper flexplate for a 700r-4 mount up with no issues? am I screwed or is this all ok?

the piece I am concerned about is that thinner metal plate that the flexplate appears to be bolted to





any help will be great. as long as I can get the bell-housing bolts loose, trans should be out by the end of the week

[Shelty]

picked up some wire wheels and started to take off the rust on the floors. I think i need to get a more aggressive wheel cuz its taking a good bit of effort to get it up. the drivers side looks like it will clean up easy, might even be able to use that liquid rust stripper on that, as my grandpa called, Naval Jelly. its this pink goop and it eats corrosion. passenger side floor, in the areas I began to strip are pretty pockmarked and wiggle with moderate pressure from my hand. Im thinking that rust has taken its tool on that. what I may do is buy a replacement footwell, then trim it to fit the bad areas and have it welded in. it would probably be cheaper just to weld or rivet in some sheetmetal, but I like to do things right. the panel I need is under 100 bucks so its not a budget buster.

no update on the transmission swap, I am supposed to be getting a transfer at work, closer to home, so I dont know if/how my schedule will change so I dont want to be in the middle of something and not be able to get to it for a week or two.

some stuff I need to get ordered,
windshield wipers from Ecklers late great chevy. found OE style blades, since local parts stores dont have the right looking ones.
TCI converter lockup kit.
transmission filter for the 700r4
drain plug kit
pan gasket.

thank goodness I got a raise this month.

[Shelty]

cool thanks Bob. I will be getting quite familiar with the underside of that car come here shortly. the weather is finally getting stabilized, now I just need a few days away from work.

[Deaf Bob]

Look where your brake plate bolts to the axle housing.. If you need a wrench and socket, bolt in axles.. You can get all kinds of gear ratios for the 10 bolt and axles too..in fact easier than 12 bolt, and 10 bolt axles are thicker.. (BIA ones) 12 bolt cars kinda neck down after the side gears splines..

[Shelty]

Im sure I'll find it eventually. if its still in the car and the mouseketters havnt eaten it. i am going to have the entire interior out of the car for cleaning and repair so its only a matter of time. I just hope its not under the headliner. Im not pulling that out until I locate a place that will sell the material by the yard, cuz no one seems to sell 66 wagon headliner, its got a few tears but for the most part its in alright condition.

[Casper]

Good luck on the build sheet quest, I've also heard of guys finding them on top the heater plentum, under the carpet, and on top the gas tank.

[Shelty]

12 bolt still has C-Clips... those floor pans are looking pretty minimal, if that's an east coast car it must have been garage kept and hardly ever driven.

its got a pretty thick undercoating on it. It spent some time in New York, found some stuff in the car with a new york address on it. but it does have 78,000 miles on it (unless it rolled over) so its pretty low mile if it is only 78k I hope to find the build sheet under the rear seat.