Thread: I been had... New car, bad trans.

remember the tc holds about 8 quarts of fluid, its all tainted. and since your torn down that far, just inspect everything, get new clutches and new hardened 4 th gear hub and a new TC. and new sensors pcs and tcc. no sense in using used sensors if you went this far. and these 2 can be a problem down the road.

for all you know the tc exploded. that would explain the shards, its got like fan blades in it, like a turbine.

i think i found the problem... Im going to post a buttload of pictures, but first i have to upload them to photobucket becuase i will over load my limit on this site. BRB.

So, i broke open each clutch pack and found that the #3 pack was missing chips and on one disk it was completely gone! I found multiple burned steels thru each pack. The forward band was completely blackened, which i assume means it slipped and got really hot, which is probably why i was loosing first, right? I was able to install the Transgo valve body updates and install the 4th gear shift improvement springs. I still have to add the reverse servo seal and some other seal then the total transgo kit will be on.
I will have to order a overhaul kit, a new wiring kit, a new 4th gear hub shaft.

I called up my buddy who has build hundreds of transmissions, including his own 10 second mustang C5 trans that get the hell beat out of it, and he says what my car is doing does not sound like a Torque converter to him. He says becuase i still have a perfectly functioning rerverse gear, it cant be the TC that is causing the slip in all the forward gears. He is thinking it is some of the teflon shaft seals or may the apply pistons which i still have not looked at that well. He is speculating that they are a major leak by point, and every time i add lucas, i thicken the fluid up enough to make traction, but after heat get back in it, the visocity goes back down and it can get by the leaks again.

I also discussed the amount of glitter i have found in the oil and he believed that was normal wear from the steels. He said unless there was a mountain of it in the pan, it was just normal clutch and steel wear and didnt seem to be concerned with it at all. If he's not, Im not.

I took some pics of the clucthes, but the light was glaring to were you cant see them that well. i took a couple more at various angles to try to defeat the glare. Have a look.

Parts ordered.
4th clutch hub 38.75
overhaul kit 169.95
forward band 47.99
wire harness 24.35
ATSG Book 27.99
Clutch Tool 47.99
Shift Kit 57.50
Solenoids kit 86.88
External Cooler 61.99
Grand Total so far 563.39

I got all this stuff off of ebay, so it will take a week to arrive. I then plan to take the Oct. 1st week off for "vacation" and rebuild this thing. Thats not really a vacation now is it? lol

Hopefully i can get this job knocked out in a day or two, then i also want to finish putting my Turbo Beretta GTZ back together too! I was in the middle of assembling the motor for it and this GTP reached up and got in the way! doh.

Did you have the block machined or did you just hone the cylinders?

Sent from my Droid

Yeah its cut. 030" over. I used it for about a month, then had to take it apart because i cracked a ring land. So this time i just deglazed the bores myself.

I had it tuned perfectly, then desided to change my injector resistors to help reduce some flyback noise.... on the very next run i went boom. Opps. Im aslo using this opprotunity to upgrade from megadquirt 1 to megasquirt 2 which had built in flyback arrestors amd no need for external resistor boxes. Running low-z 75lbs/hr puts a hurtin on flyback. Something about 23 psi isnt very forgiving.

while Im waiting for trans parts to arrive and i deviate this thread....
Here is when my Quad 4 used to be supercharged with a Ford Eaton M90. Great fun.

Here is the manifold i built to attach it to my engine, complete with a fork truck throttle body i used for a "bypass" valve. cool eh?

This was pretty good, but did not have an intercooler, so when i pulled this motor out of the Pontiac Grand Am GT it was in, and put it into my GTZ body, i also remote mounted the blower so i could run thru a FMIC.


I also added Methenol Injection at the same time.

I considered a GM version Eaton M90 from a Grand Prix GTP, but it was just too long with the longer snout and integrated Throttle Body.

After playing with superchargers for about 3 years, I figured it was time to try on turbo. I see alot of people with 4cyl were having great sucess with the Holset HX-35 from a Cummin Diesel, so i picked one up used on Ebay and built me a turbo manifold...


I have since upgraded to a brand new Holset.

I figured with my supercharger history, a GTP would be a very fitting daily driver. I love it.

so, back on subject, I just figured out how to test each clutch pack with my air compressor. I see this is something that is normally done on a clutch pack that has been reassembled, to make sure its good. I just did mine. Each one does in fact move, and i can hear the pistons "thunk" into the applied positions... but there is a large heavy airleak the entire time. My question is, should these seals be able to hold my 50PSI of air pressure WITHOUT leaking? or is it normal for them to leak? I am not quite sure how the cluches work, but if two or more of these things were "applied" and leaking like this, that might be why i dont have any pressure and slip the clutches. Whats your opinion?

Certified Transmission HOW TO TORQUE CONVERTER - YouTube
Awsome Youtube video will school you up on the inside of a torque converter. Best 8 minutes you can spend on the internet.

I agree, I think thats exactly what it is too. I looked at dave website and his description of its failure mode is exactly what i experenced. I have already purchased a Transgo shift kit that has a modified version of this seal that is supposed to be more forgiving. I have also ordered an overhaul kit that will come with a brand new seal. Now, I just dont know which to use! is the transgo better than the "long lip"? I might have to flip a coin.

alright, all my parts have arrived. Someone start the timer, lets see how long this takes.

oh my jesus. i finally have a RVA local.....

Originally Posted by nukkinfuttz

alright, all my parts have arrived. Someone start the timer, lets see how long this takes.

tick.....tick......tick......

Originally Posted by BlackFlag

oh my jesus. i finally have a RVA local.....

I think i have seen that car. I live by Regency Mall... and i swear I seen a white GTP with some big ass wheels floating around here a while back. was that you?

nevermind... i just clicked your sig link and see your car is silver... and you just got it this year... at any rate, thats a nice looking car. I love those wheels. You gonna take that thing to Richmond Dragway or what?

all subassemblies have been rebuilt/inspected/measured. I'm breaking for lunch, then I beleive its time to start loading them back into the tranmission case.

get-r-done......

I got the entire geartrain, or whatever you wanna call it back into the trans case. I have run into some trouble trying to get the valve body/chain cover back on. It seems that the gear that is driven by the Torque Converter is "out" too far and is preventing the valve body/chain cover from seating all the way down. its not much at all. If I remove the plastic thrust washer that rides on the face of said gear and separates it from the valvebody/chain cover, then it will all set down perfectly. The thickness that it is "out" must not be very much at all, but i cant seem to find it. Maybe tomarrow. I am about crippled from the akward positions I been having to work in today.

I also broke the thrust washer i am speaking of. it was just plastic and has become brittle, and it snapped while i have been messing with it. So, the local company that sells trans parts is only open Monday-Friday.... I'll have to wait till then to get another one. drats.