Having had some trans issues in my past on my super duper performance trans (literally 1 of everything) I got ticked when the torque converter recently went south.

Didn't pull the transmission, I ordered new parts, posted on a local forum for cases/whole transmissions etc. Got four with only a total of $50 invested. Pulled them apart, cleaned tons of stuff and prepped for the new parts to arrive.

Stuff arrived yesterday, I spent last night in the garage putting the clutches into the various drums and hubs. Today I rolled out there about 11am and worked for about 10 hours to complete the job. Feeling great and know a lot more about a transmission and it'* inner workings than I did before. Still tons more that I can learn... there'* always more to learn.

I'll be doing mine soon, so I'm sure I'll have a lot of questions for you. Hope you took lots of pictures. We have a trans tech info are that needs filling.

I ripped off a few pics. However I was following Andrew'* writeup and it'* very thorough. Got a few other pics where he might not have gotten one. Overall though, he has it going on.

Learned a few tricks, stopped a few times for a different outlook at a problem. Best thing you can do is have a helper on hand for the original disassembly. Helper has two jobs, first is taking pictures as you disassemble to have pictures of each step and which washer was laying between parts. Second is to label baggies for you with labels of thrust washer etc from the manual. There are plenty of them that look similar...and the rebuild kits don't come labeled. Having each one of them labeled to match up the new parts would have sped this up greatly.

Next up is tools..Like many wanting to build their own transmission cost of tools was an issue. Here I am dropping $2k on parts and I lack some of the necessary tools. Having a full kit would be nice, that'* about $500. Listening to others the minimums were purchased.

A piston spring compressor $35 on ebay

Automatic Transmission Clutch Remover Spring Compressor:eBay Motors (item 400055249360 end time Jun-15-09 19:57:42 PDT)

Then a coupling nut and added piece of threaded rod or cut down bolt to lengthen the tool to work on the input/3rd gear housing.


Input shaft o-ring resizer. That'* the name, because the actual input shaft from the torque converter is called a input turbine shaft. (Blue part)

Got it off this some site..can't find it. Here'* the main page of the manufacturer though
Atec Trans-Tool - Product Search - Criteria: t-2004

The rings are a tough to stretch Teflon that won't easily compress back down once it is stretched. This tool was well worth it'* cost.

Last night the old transmission came out and the new one went in. Need to button up the last few items, fill it with fluid and find out if I have what it takes to be successful at this endeavor.

Incredible desire and effort Bill, Hope it all goes well. I'm getting anxious for Friday to come and see what comes of it. Hopefully everything has worked out and your ready for some beers.

5th times a charm right Bill.

Nope..that was this past time

I hoped the torque converter was bad. I am unsure how to tell. Felt ok with an input shaft.