I am surprised by how well the paint cleans up. Not bad for 23 year old paint.

 

Thank you. Don't seem to have many people active on here, so I appreciate you and Don sharing your feedback. It is pretty incredible. I need to post a side-by-side comparison of the driver door before/after. There was some nasty yellow material all over the B Pillar, looked like old adhesive. I didn't think it was going to come off but my drill made short work of it.

Thinking going over it all with the DA should make it even better, but that's a future project.

Ended up ordering all the trans parts I think I'll need yesterday. Should be in by mid next week.

New Wide Alto Red Band, New reverse input Drum (assembled), New 3-4, Forward, and Over run clutches. Also ordered the Sonnax check ball for the 3rd accumulator, and new steel bonded apply pistons.

So basically going to rebuild the input drum. . .Other than possibly having the cracked piston, it doesn't seem to need rebuilt, but figured it's going to be out, might as well put new frictions in. I don't plan on going into it any further than this though.

I think I'm about $600 into the trans at this point with my latest order. Still need to order a new trans cooler and find some good syn ATF, so prob another $100 I still need to spend on trans stuff. I opted to leave the sunshell alone, unless I see any issues with it once I get inside.

 

Looks fantastic!

Nice in white paint. I've got pretty much the same in green metallic. As for rust repairs it is newly painted 3 years ago be more or less all around except for the roof.

Have to change the door seals and I want to polish the roof at that time - but as you said - waiting for motivation. Going still strong thou.

I'm waiting for JE-Pistons to pre-assemble my new engine. And one of these days I have to put the TBI and the wiring together for a test rig with the ECU to be able to put it on the dyno for proper tuning.

Lays all in the distant future... LOL

Keep going! We do follow such builds.

 

Thank you. It looks like the roof should be much easier with the rack removed. As I mentioned above I'll be removing to repaint that too.

Just curious. . why wasn't the roof painted with the rest of the car? Here in FL the roof is usually the first thing start fading/peeling from the sun.

Glad to know it's not just me that procrastinates lol. .

I haven't looked at your build recently, but if it's your first go at wiring in the EFI and ECU it's really not too bad. Just got to take it one wire at a time.

I'm almost done with that on one of my other projects. . . swapping a 94 LT1 out of a Caprice into my 85 Trans Am.

Hope the new engine turns out well.


I just stopped and finally picked up a Trans Jack at Harbor Freight. . had a coupon so I got the bigger better jack. Also I think I've got all the trans parts in now, so just need to get going.

We've had several days of rain here which is unusual, but of course I've wasted the cooler weather and haven't gotten any work done. Planning to leave the office early this afternoon to get a couple hours of work in.

 

Got a couple hours of work in yesterday, made some progress. Funny how it seems so much worse when you're thinking about it. Once I tore in and got to work things went pretty smoothly.

Removed the cross member and transfer case. Pretty much all that's left is to unbolt the trans and TC. Started getting a little tired so stopped there.

Lol as my girlfriend reminds me. . . I tend to start having more difficulties, and get pissed off once I start getting exhausted.

Hoping to get the trans all the way out this evening. Will prob wait to open it up, so I can start on that fresh. Still might be able to get it done by the end of the weekend. . . fingers crossed.

 

Finished getting the transmission out yesterday. Ended up making a big mess as it wasn't as drained as I thought.

Need to try to get motivated here this morning to keep working. The trans put up more of a fight than the transfer case, so I'm a little sore from wrestling with it while laying on the creeper.

Also need to check rear main seal, since I have an oil leak from either there, or pan/plug not sealing completely.

Here are a couple pics from the process . . .

 

Well found my problem. . .





Band is burnt down to the backing on one side, and the drum is trashed. Guessing whoever rebuilt it didn't inspect the drum, which caused the band to wear unevenly.

Not quite sure but I think it wasn't securely on the anchor pin either. It doesn't even retain its round shape anymore so prob had a lot to do with it.

Glad I opted to order the new drum to go with the new band.

I've also pulled most of the input drum apart. . clutches don't look terrible but good time to replace. . .and the 3/4 clutches seemed to have too much clearance anyway.

Verified it does still have a cast aluminum piston in it. Just need to work on getting that out so I can start reassembly.



Decided to take a break and post my progress so far. I've read enough now it doesn't seem as intimidating as it used to. Also nice to get a really good look inside.

Would be nice to have a little more room to work, but alas 2 project vehicles in the garage make for tight working environment.

 

Got as far as putting the new pistons in, but my snap ring pliers aren't big enough to reinstall the snap ring for the new piston return spring. So will have to wait until I can stop and get a bigger pair of pliers.

Overall seems pretty straightforward. . . a big Thank you again to Error for sharing the rebuild book with color pictures.

I was hoping to get it all put back together today so it was ready for re-installation, but once I get the snap ring back on should only have another hour or two to button it back up.

Not too far behind, but I only have two weekends left before our trip, and I'm still hoping to get my 2nd jet ski back together too.

At least so far looks like my diy rebuild gamble will pay off and save me about $800-1000.

 

Gee - you do some hard work. Nice to see the thing being fixed

Roof at my place isn't that bad. Just got a bit matte. Was a question of money rather than not painting it. If I do such work I tend to do it completely and that would have meant that all, roof rack, window trim and seals would have had to go as well.. Not worth the hassle now. Maybe painting it completely after it's 30th birthday in 2024

Keep going.

Here I'm still waiting for my JE Pistons to arrive. Have to set up the whole project on my website with pics and everything. Hope I took the correct measures on the test assembly. Well - I'll see in a week or two.

 

For the most part I enjoy doing things myself. . and learning more along the way. Not to mention saving $$ on someone else's labor charge. Had a few times where I've started regretting not taking it to a shop, but mostly because I'm running out of time.

If your roof isn't that bad have you tried machine buffing and polishing it? Might bring the shine back like mine did.

Good luck on yours as well. Hope everything fits as planned.

Should be done a little early today so planning on getting the trans reassembled and ready to reinstall.