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TRANNY REBUILD
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2004
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Here is what I was facing right at Christmas time�
Dec 15th:
Remember: Car has a 3.4L engine� w/ 3.73 gears.
700r4 automatic Transmission, Transgo Shift Kit, 2800 Stall Converter, and TCI Transmission Cooler.

I'm hitting the rev limiter at 75mph or so @ WOT. Speedo is not calibrated for the 3.73s so speed approximate. No Tach!! So no clue on RPMs at occurrence!

I went to the 3.73 rear and then took the car and raced it. On the 1/4 mile, I kept hitting the rev limiter about 3/4 of the way down the track, approx 75mph. I thought the condition was gone till I was out tuning the car the other night and it did it again!

What I understand about 700r4s...
At WOT 700r4s WILL NOT upshift into OD period! Even with the Trans Go Shift Kit. OD is not a power gear. The average person never experiences a major problem with this because their gearing makes it so that 3rd (D) will not top out till around 90 to 100�well past the � for most 6s. For the WOT 3-4 upshift, I know about the GM 8673948 (no directions) that fixes this, I also know about the Identical B&M 70249 kit, comes with instructions, but costs a lot more. I also know B&M 70237 is not the right kit to fix this!
My best guess was that in my case the transmission was hanging @ the 2-3 shift. The RPMs would top out at 75MPH or so�

Dec 18th:
Then one day on the way to work, I got my answer! I was driving and suddenly the car would not go above 35-45. So the car must have been hanging in 2nd at WOT. I was going along just fine taking it easy. Hit a hill and suddenly it had nothing above 30mph. Like I was in Neutral. If I pushed it, it would bounce off the limiter. So I limped it back home @ 35. Man are people rude even when you got your flashers on...up in my bumper like they were pushing me...was even pulling over to let them by! I was only about 7 or 8 miles out, thank goodness.

This transmission was a Jasper rebuild and I was always suspect performance because of it. Though it held up for over a year with the 3.4 and the Transgo shift kit I installed, so I guess it was pretty good rebuild after all. We checked the dipstick...fluid does not smell burnt and was not low. Fluid did not look bad either on the dipstick. Fluid has always been good and clean in this tranny in the past! No excess metal on the pans magnet when I was installing the shift kit. Well we got the car jacked up.

First as we drained the pan from the chrome pans drain hole.

The fluid looked ok. Then we took off the pan and switched over to my old pan. We did this to keep the chrome one from being damaged as the tranny was dropped. Well we took out the tranny.

The fluid left in the bottom of the chrome pan looked nasty. I was not sure what to expect Keith to find when he rebuilds it.. Here it is as the fluid is being poured out of the filter�

With the fluid poured out of the pan�

Now I whipped my flinger to see how much metal dust had settled on the bottom�

Dec 20th:
Monday I got Keith Neal of Neal Racing transmissions on the phone. I told him what was happening and what did. Told me to bring it down that day. He would have it done before x-mas! So I took it, the converter, and the cooler in.

The basic 700r4 case is identical b/w v-6s and v-8s. The difference is in the bell housing and in the way GM builds the internals. The v-6 tranny is weaker and has less clutches. So Keith Neal and I talked and the plan was to build my 700r4 just like a v-8 cars. He was going to throw all the goodies in the bag at it. He would build it like he would for any v-8 putting down 400 to the ground. Said it would withstand 400 at the drag strip all day long taking a beating. He was going to add the 3-4 WOT upshift valve. Last, but not least he was going to wrangle up a new speedo gear to correct for the 3.73. He also put in a stronger reverse. Estimate: $600-800.

When I went to pick it up he told me what had happened. The governor was broken. The plastic gear had broken off. This was the only catastrophic thing. Said there were 2 other areas that would have been a problem soon. I had one clutch that was near worn out. The other was a bad gear on the planetary gear. There are 4 gears on it and one of mine was a mess, all chewed up and had a lot of slop. He was surprised I did not have a loud whine at low rpms. He said overall the tranny was in decent shape for the miles. Told him it was a Jasper rebuilt tranny. He was not surprised. Said they surprisingly sell a good product. Said he went to their manufacturing plant and was quite surprised at the quality. He said he has been in many of their trannies to rebuild them with performance stuff and has always found good quality stuff. Fully rebuilt front pumps. Nothing used at all. The stuff is straight up stock though. He also fixed a seal in the converter and flushed it and the cooler. He got me a case of Amsoil, new filter, and pan gasket.

Total was $630.00. Awesome!

Here we are with it getting ready to go back in�


Convertor

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NOTE
Now the following is a word of warning for those who are planning to do your own tranny installs! Something I learned the hard way. We installed the Converter & tranny as had been done before. It fully seated and turned. Nothing more was thought. It was bolted to the fly wheel and off I went. All was well for 100 miles. Well come to find out, Keith went back in the converter. Each time its cut open, it gets a smidge narrower. Well we did not realize it and just put it in as before. NOPE, NOPE, NOPE! Not a good idea! Here is why�

There are notches in the snout of the converter. The 2 notches match up to 2 teeth on the front pump gear. If the converter is not fully seated it will go for a while and either slip off or break those teeth! Then the car is dead with no gears. So when you fully seat a converter, you should wiggle it around and be sure it is not just hung part way in. Check it on the ground before it goes in the car to see how far it actually goes. If there is even a slight bur it might hang. Now once the tranny and converter are in the car check the converter again to be sure it has not slipped. Bolt the tranny bellhousing to the engine. Check it again. Does it look different then when you checked it on the ground.
THIS IS THE IMPORTANT PART! ALWAYS DOUBLE CHECK THIS!
It should not be tight against the flywheel yet or it has slipped out. Measure the distance b/w the fly wheel and the converter. There should only be 1/8 of an inch. If there is more it needs to be shimmed so there is only a 1/8 of an inch gap. Once you have measured the gap, now you can slip the converter out only that 1/8 to meet the fly wheel. If the converter has to come out more then 1/8 of an inch it will eventually break or chew up the pump assembly gear!
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So my Converter slipped out because it was slightly narrower then before and we did not check the distance b/w it and the flywheel. We simply assumed. This is what and assumption can do to you:

It cost me 5 hours on the side of the road.
A $50.00 tow bill.
Another 1/2 day lost to pulling the tranny.
A trip to drop off the tranny at the shop and the trip back to pick it up! (hour away)
$100 for a new front pump.
More tranny fluid�
Another � day lost to installing the tranny.
Only to find that some piece of metal from the damage was somewhere in the system and got it self stuck in a valve. So no 1-2 shift for me.

We attempted to fix the shift problem ourselves. Keith said to jack up the backend and run the car in reverse equivalent to 25mph. Then let the car down and run in park and pull on the dent cable to try to manually force fluid to push the debris out. Did not work. So then we had to pull the Governor valve out. You have to pop open the cap at the back of the tranny and gently pull out the governor. Then hold it with the gear up. Now look at the valve. While looking at the valve, push the levers at the bottom in and out. The valve should move! It was sticking, so Joe cleaned it with brake fluid. You use a combo of high pressure air/brake fluid and tapping it on the counter on its butt, while holding it with the gear up. And this freed it up. Joe put it back in and & still no 2nd!

Now I have to take the INOP car to the tranny shop somehow with no trailer. I guess I have to tow it�

Don�t let this happen to you!

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HOME PAGE

Follow this link to additional information on the car not found on this site!
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DIRECTORY FOR RAIF'S ENGINE PERFORMANCE SITE
01 Site Overview
02 Most Current Dyno and Track run
03 Early Cold Air Induction System
04 2001 Modifications
05 2001 Track Times
06 2002 Modifications
07 2002 Dyno & Track Times
08 2002 Fall Modifications
09 2002 Fall Dyno & Track Times
10 2003 Distributor rebuild
11 2003 Transgo Shift Kit & Stall Converter
12 2003 May Dyno
13 2003 3.4L Engine Swap
14 2003 3.73 Disc Rearend Swap
15 2003 December Dyno
16 2004 Cutout & PF&E Headers
17 2004 Dyno
18 2004 / 2005 Transmission <<<
19 2005 3in Mandrel Bent Exhaust & Dyno Results
20 2005 Truleo Intake, 65mm Ford Throttle body, Stock, & Disassembly Pictures
21 2005 Truleo Intake, Ford TB, & Fuel Rail Installation
22 2005 Truleo Intake & Ford TB Vacuum Line Routing
23 2005 Truleo Intake & Ford TB Custom Linkage Installation
24 2006 MSD Box & New fuel Pump
25 2006 Old Heads: Gasket Match Ported, & General Porting Information
26 2006 New Heads: Extreme Porting
27 2006 New Heads: Multiangle Valve Job, 1.6 Roller Tip Rockers, Beefier Valve springs
28 2006 Lower Runner (Intake Base) Gasket Match Porting
29 2006 Extreme Lower Runner (Intake Base) Porting
30 2006 Dyno Results: Truleo & New Head Combo
31 Future Plans

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