Ok so I talked to Dave and he was very helpful, said I need one from a Bonne 2000+

Heres what I'm thinking:

finding an HD version from a bonneville is hard, and then I need to put in new axles and a new flexplate hoping that the converter is good, on top of that it would probably need a rebuild

I'm thinking about getting a non-HD and just doing the overhaul myself since I will have the spare around

only thing is I still want to keep my 3.05 FDR so when I have the rebuilt tranny put it can I just have them swap the diff into the rebuilt one and be ok, what does a non-HD'* FDR? and how hard is it to swap a transmission with floor jacks, jack stands and a good set of tools?

Here'* the rub, an HD is the same as a non-hd except for the output shaft, diff, diff cover, and gear ratio.

In the HD the drive/driven gearset is 37/35, in all others it'* 35/35. this means that the only trans that doesn't use the differential for the final ratio is the HD. If you did an HD it would be 2.93, if you put HD parts into the non-HD you'd automatically end up with 3.29 for a ratio. If you leave out the HD parts, you have another 3.05 transmission with non-HD diff, non-HD diff cover and non-HD axle. Meaning you have exactly what you have now, simply rebuit.

Rebuilding isn't hard, however it does need a couple special tools, like a clutch compressor tool, atsg manual and a input/3rd seal resizer. those are the minimums you'll get by with. It takes a lot of time to rebuid a transmission for the first time. The overhaul kit doesn'thave anything labeled and expects you to match up seals as you take them off.

No disrepect to Dan as he does a lot of great work, but he didn't rebuild his transmission. He didn't really do anything beyond changing the gear set and 4th clutch hub and clutches. He didn't replace seals, or redo any of the loaded clutches, didn't rebuild the valve body (whick updating requires special tools) or any of the bearings and things. Dan has most of the stuff needed and plans a rebuild soon, but needed his car running. He mostly inspected and put it back together. That'* the down side of it giving him trouble before he had the new transmission ready.

You know the engine work I've done, and I have the GM service manual for my car, the only thing I don't have is the tools

so is it going to be too hard for me to do, I got an estimate from a guy around here that would get me a new core and rebuild that so I will be out of the car for 2 days while he drops out the old one and puts in the rebuilt one for about $1000-$1500 depending on what he can get the core for and how much rebuilding it needs