Thorsen,

Good work! Forgive me asking but you do know the correct way to bleed those rear Teves ABS brakes, don't you?

Paul

 

Key on, wife pushes on brake pedal, crack open the bleeder, let it run for 15 seconds, close bleeder, wife lets up on pedal. Wait 2-3 minutes then have another go at it. The goal is to not burn out the pump by exceeding the duty cycle. Correct?

Fronts are done passenger, then driver. Key off, wife presses brake, crack open bleeder until the fluid stops moving, close bleeder, wife lets off pedal.

 

THorsen
If legalities allow, do yourself a favour and return the brakes to booster and no ABS.
Lovely job on the rear axle, and Oh to be 30 years younger and have a manual in my car!

 

I've been collecting the parts to convert to non-ABS if I ever need to do so. I have the firewall mount which is the big piece; the booster and aster cylinder I can easily source. I have a hydraulic flare tool so I can make whatever lines I might need to.

I seriously considered the manual route. The availability of the manual boxes being down and the prices being way up was factor #1 of my decision.

 

Another day in the garage and I started with filling the rear diff. I made this to fill my diffs a few years back and it works well. I took a section of 4" PVC pipe, a 4" pipe cap, and a 3/8" nipple, then put it all together. There's about 10' of hose and I stuck the free end into the fill plug of the diff. I pour in about a bottle and a half of gear oil and wait until it starts overflowing. Then I plug up the diff and drain the rest of the fluid out of my contraption.



Here's the free end of the tube snaking up to the fill hole on the diff. The 10' of hose means I can hang the bottle from the rafters and left gravity do the work for me.


Next up was preparing the 700R4 transmission. First things first, these ears had to come off on each end.


Then I flipped it over and pulled the pan. Here's what the 700R4 looks like without the pan...


And here's a better shot with the filter out of the way.


This is my starting point for the day. It's the torque converter lockup solenoid and is located at the forward edge of the transmission. Mine is the two-wire type.


The instructions were confusing about a 4th gear switch since mine didn't have one. I figured out this pipe plug on the bottom left was what the instructions were referring to.


I pulled out the pipe plug and installed the switch that comes with the Quarterbreed kit. In this photo it's already wired up. The switch has two small studs that will accept a normal female connector.


I'm guessing there are a lot of variations in how these transmissions come wired. Mine had two wires from the outside connector to the torque converter lockup switch: one was a +12 volts and one was a ground. What I did was cut the ground wire from the end of the plug. The wire end from the plug now does nothing. The wire end from the torque converter lockup switch now goes to the 4th gear switch pictured above.


The other wire from the 4th gear switch connects to ground. I used the bolt holding the gear selector spring. I also shimmed up the gear selector spring as the instructions selected to make it easier to use the Jaguar shifter to put the transmission in gear.



The way it works is pretty simple. When the transmission shifts to 4th gear, the 4th gear switch closes and power flows to the torque converter lockup solenoid, through the now closed 4th gear switch, then to ground. This causes the torque converter to lock up. If the transmission drops out of 3rd gear the 4th gear switch will open, breaking the circuit, and the torque converter will unlock. I also think there is a feed from the full-throttle microswitch that kills the +12 volts to the transmission and unlocks the torque converter in 4th gear if you floor it - but I am not certain about that part yet.

I decided the stock steel pan with no drain plug isn't going to work for me, so I'm going to go on Summit Racing and see what they have in transmission pans.

 

Well that was frustrating. I brought the governor inside the house and thought I would adjust the shift points with the B&M Governor Recalibration kit. The kit comes with different weights and springs to adjust the shift point. I was aiming for a 5600 rpm shift point.


Here are the #1 and #2 weights from the kit that are mentioned above. I dutifully loaded them with the correct springs and tested the governor and - it didn't work. It wouldn't control the sliding valve. I checked and re-checked, then put it all back together in the stock configuration and it worked.


The problem was the B&M weights and the small metal tabs you see at the top of the picture above. Those act on the rod for the sliding valve and I'm not sure if they are the wrong shape or size but they don't work. I reassembled the governor back to stock and I'm going to try that first. I think I can remove the governor with the transmission in the car if I have to.

 

It was a relatively warm day in Chicago so I snuck into the garage at lunch. My rebuilt transmission had a stripped oil pan bolt hole. The rebuilder fixed it by putting in a longer bolt and a nut. I fixed it by tapping it for a heli-coil and screwing it in.

 

There's nothing quite so Annoying (read Infuriating!) as discovering mixed nut/bolt sizes requiring different tools on something like that!

Why couldn't the rebuilder have done that, I ask myself, as re-tapping the hole was needed anyway.
(';')

 

It actually brings up a bigger question in my mind - how well was this transmission rebuilt? The stripped hole that they didn't spend 5 minutes to fix, the rear tail housing bolts that were only in finger tight. I'm going to go ahead and put it in but I am expecting to have to replace it sooner rather than later.

 

Isn't there a local rebuild place that can put it on their test rig for you? Much better to find out now!

 

That's a good idea. I have a few places I can call.

 

!! If you mentioned that I completely missed it!
That's Way beyond sloppy work IMO, could be catastrophic if you hadn't caught it!
Then you have to ask, How many O-rings have been shaved from incorrect installation??
And I bet they wouldn't stand behind it either but would figure a way to blame you.
(';')

 

I found a bad hole too, highlighted in my thread. Trans still worked fine. By the time I found it, I had done all the mods and didn't feel like modifying a new trans and pulling the other one. Sorry to hear you ran into it too. Glad he retired. I'm assuming he's getting bad housings as cores.
Maybe that's the cost of not paying Monster prices.

 

So I called a half dozen transmission shops near me and none of them could/would test it. I finally asked the last guy if they have a test rig and he said no. When I asked how they make sure it works before they put it in the car he just said "we don't screw up putting it back together"

One of my neighbors is the master tech at the Chevrolet dealer the next town over. I called in a favor and had him cover over for a consult. He thought the stripped pan bolt was kind of hokey but didn't see anything that would concern him. His advice was to run it as-is.

For the loose tail-housing, page 7 step #5 of the Quarterbreed manual says to remove the tail-housing and check bushing and seal. So I'm guessing he left that loose to make that step easier.

Next up this weekend - pulling the TH400!

 

I think you're right. I just priced out a Monster Transmission and including my drive to the west side of Illinois I paid about 1/6 of what that would cost. I'm sure it's a great transmission but they are really proud of them.

 

It was another busy Saturday in the garage. I started with buttoning up the 700R4. I've heard good things about LubeLocker gaskets so I'm going to try one out.


My cast aluminum oil pan. I have a feeling it's going to foul something important - like the shifter bracket or the exhaust. So I'm trying to not get attached to it.


I put the governor in the original configuration back in. At the bottom you can see the new TCI governor cover I used.


Checking to make sure the new torque converter and the Quarterbreed flywheel line up.


First time I have ever installed a torque converter, It was pretty easy - just had to listen for the 2nd click.


Checking to make sure the torque converter is fully seated...


1" between the bolt pad and the edge of the case - I did it right.


Here's the Lokar TV cable installed on the transmission.


Starting the removal of the TH400.


This was disappointing to find. Last summer I replaced the transmission spring pads with polyurethane. They didn't last long.


While the transmission is out, I'm supporting the back of the engine with an engine support bar.


To get all 9 transmission-to-engine bolts, I ended up needing 36" of extension bars. The first two bars are swivel bars so I could get the socket on the bolt head.


And it's out...


Here's the business end of the V-12. I'm going to take the opportunity to clean up things - like removing the no longer needed air pipe.


The instructions call for cutting a hole in the transmission bellhousing so you can get to the top starter bolt. That seems like a design that can be improved, so I'm seeing what my options are. I thought I could use a stud pressed into the adapter and put a nut on the stud, but the body of the starter is in the way. It's the same story with threading the adapter and trying to insert a bolt through the starter into the adapter - the body of the starter gets in the way.
I took the positioning screws out of the starter mount to see if I could clock the starter in a better orientation, but any position that allows me to access the upper mounting hole fouls the starter on the block or the frame rails. I have some more thinking to do.

 

That aluminum pan looks really deep. Won't that be the lowest point on the bottom of the car by far? I'd be worried about it getting hit by road debris and cracked. Will you have some sort of skid plate to protect it?

How far did you have to lower the back of the engine to get access to the bell housing bolts? I'm going to be taking mine out before long. Any other tricks you can pass on would be appreciated. I like the idea of taking out that air pump line while in there. Hadn't thought of that. I removed the air pump system already.

I'd thought about getting those polyurethane spring pads for the tranny mount. Glad I didn't now.

 

I just went out and measured for you - it looks like it's only about 1/4" deeper than the original pan. I'll see how low it hangs down when I have it in place.

To get to the bell housing bolts, I lowered the transmission pretty far. It will only go down so far before it binds, then I jacked it back up an inch to keep it happy. There's plenty of room to see and get the bolts - it was much easier than I thought it would be. I've never pulled just the transmission; I usually pull the engine and transmission as a unit then separate them out of the car. I wasn't interested in pulling the engine.

The one thing I wish I would have done was start popping ibuprofen when I went out to the garage. I'm not a spring chicken anymore and between the cold weather and all the work today - I am hurting.

I do have a few more ideas while I am this far. I never liked the transmission cooler lines and I have some ideas for that. I'll make sure to update the thread.

 

Thorsen
On the trans pan, watch out for leaks at that drain plug. I had a B&M pan for my TH400 with a drain plug like that and it leaked all the fluid out over 2 weeks. The seal was utter rubbish, so I ditched the pan and brought a welded, not pressed or cast, Moroso which was far better quality.
My suggestion for the starter bolt is to cut out a neat section of the bellhousing, like a scoop shape, just enough to get the socket set in, use a couple of clinch nuts and fit them into each side of the hole, and make a nice ally cover, or even cast a silicone item.

 

Thanks Greg. When I decide it's a keeper I'm going to find a magnetic drain plug and put it in with a Toyota crush washer.

I like the idea of casting a bellhousing cover/patch out of silicone - I hadn't considered that. I didn't even know silicone casting kits were available so I l earned something new today. My goal is to still avoid cutting the transmission but I acknowledge I am rapidly running out of options.