Thread: 2000 GTP: Still Alive! New Trans?

Gay. Oh well. These will do for now since I can't wait a month to make my own solid mounts. My current engine mount is barely a year old so maybe I can make it solid and swap it out later, then make another solid one out of the new one I have now, lol.

Just finished both sides, pics will be up shortly. It's amazing how much easier the job is with a press, lol. Man o Man, WHAT A DIFFERENCE. Everything is tighter, quieter, and I feel the road so much more. Both mounts were shot, engine mount was less than 2 years old, damn it. Oh well. Everything is good now!

You know what.. Glad you confirmed it I was actually looking into buying a cheap press from HF just for this then returning it lol.


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mounts done with a press? what you talkin bout willis?

I'm referring to using the press to press in new bushing in the control arms


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easier to buy new lca's. cheaper too i bet.

Originally Posted by Jerseydoggs

easier to buy new lca's. cheaper too i bet.

Yes yes it is but I'm doing it to throw in some of the Moog problem solving bushings


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Yea, they don't sell any pre-assembled LCAs with them. It's been awhile since I've had a tool make a job THIS much easier. It took me 2 hours to do the driver side, and most of that was drilling out the rivets, then I used the press to press them out (after grinding the heads off). Price ended up being $33 per side before shipping and paint.

thats not bad at all, and yes, a press rules to have. seen a few vids how to make your own with a bottle jack. you need to have a welder tho.

Yea, for $75 this was well worth it...but the instructions SUCK. I had to look at the final product to figure out how to put it all together. It's one of those tools you don't realize how useful it is until you have one, like an impact. Anyways, on to pics.

I didn't take many pics of the passenger side because I was pissed off all day and just didn't care. Today was a different story so I got some pictures, lol. Here's the driver side, it was in the same shape as the passenger. The ball joint wasn't leaking until my pickle fork busted it open, which I could have avoided, but I don't care I have new ones to install. The vertical bushing came out with one hand, then I was able to hammer the sleeve out with ease. For the rear bushing, I used a ball joint press to press it "forward" (if it were still in the car) into a sleeve that fit the rim of the arm. THen that bushing got stuck in the sleeve, and i used my new press to press it out of that, lol...



All done:





New transmission mount:

Everything back together:


I forgot about poly sway bushings so they'll be here on Tuesday.

Drove the car a few more times and I'm still amazed at the difference, lol. I also go more parts in, poly dogbones, 3.6 pulley, and 200 amp alternator upgrade kit. Addco rear sway will be here later today, and Vogtlands should be here Thursday. Haven't heard back from TRS on the projectors though.

i see you'll be using that press one more time now. thats how the alt comes apart. ive seen a few vids, its a easy job, you just need the damn press to open it all up.

Not the CS144, it unbolts with no problems.

you lucky dog you lol mine needs a press. i was gonna do the up grade when it started to fail. it was like 30 bucks iirc. and its upgraded and rebuilt. but the press part was the game ender, why i was looking up diy presses lol

99 Camaro alternator bracket and a 1998 Lesabre alternator, boom and boom, you have a CS144. I had to grind a little on the back since I have Gen V, but that's it.

ill have to wait for this new alt to die first lol but ill keep that in mind.

Addco rear sway bar came in, and holy **** is this thing a beast. I currently have the GMPP bar installed so I can take some comparison pics (I think there are some already in another thread), but damn. Here's some pics:

Next to an AA battery:

Next to my dog's foot...she was very interested in this bar when she first saw it:

Man. Frustrating day. I tore apart the alternator and installed the stator and rectifier, that was easy. Put it all back together and got 12.45v. Bad voltage regulator. Tore it back out, tore the alternator back apart, put the stock stuff back in, walked to Oriellys, warranty'd the alternator, walked home, tore it apart, installed the upgraded stuff, and swapped them pullies. That's where I sit now, I had to take a shower and walk to work from that point. Thank god I live maybe a mile for work, lol. Tomorrow it'll get installed, along with the poly mounts and Addco rear sway. I have PLENTY of pics of the install, just didn't have time to upload, that'll come later tonight when I get off work.

Okay so pics have uploaded. Very easy upgrade, no really, VERY easy to do. I just had bad luck and my voltage regulator decided to take a ****, lol. So you start by taking out the 4 bolts around the case, which I didn't get a picture of. After that you basically smack on of the ears with your hand to knock the front of the alternator loose and it pulls right apart. Front half, the rotor, shaft, housing, etc:

Other side of the coin, you can see the stator (winding of wire), rectifier (heatsink), voltage regulator (black thing at the bottom), capacitor (little black thing in between the rectifier and regulator), and the brushes (springs and grey things hanging in the middle). DON'T LOOSE THE BRUSH'S SPRINGS, THEY CAN AND WILL FALL OUT.

Naturally, you have to take EVERYTHING out to get to the rectifier safely. I guess I didn't get any pics of this, but you'll get the idea on reassembly. To disassemble, take the 3 nuts off that connect to the 3 wires of the stator, then pull the stator out. This may or may not be gentle, sometimes they are stuck in the case a bit. Here's the stock stator on the right, upgraded 200amp stator on the left:


You'll end up with something looking like this, this picture is actually during reassembly, but you get the idea:

Take all that out. The brushes and voltage regulator have 2 screws holding them in. The one on the left is NOT isolated, the one on the right IS isolated (plastic sleeve). From there, remove the screws holding everything else in, noting what is isolated and what isn't (the "top" 2 screws holding in the rectifier aren't...), and take everything out. Capacitor first, then voltage regulator\brushes, then finally the rectifier. Here's the pile of it all, note the screw with the longer isolator, it's goes into the right hole of the rectifier, and holds the capacitor and rectifier down :

Empty:

This alternator was a piece of SH*T. Look at the rectifier. These connections are very crucial, and there are broken into 2 pieces. WHY?

Upgraded:

Remove the charging stud from the stock rectifier (10mm nut you see in the above pictures) and move it over to the new rectifier and tighten down (snug). Then install the rectifier. It goes right in for the most part, just make sure the plastic of the charging stud goes all the way through.

Then, you have to reassemble the brushes. I used a paper clip bent straight, worked great. The brushes have little holes in them that line up with holes in it's "case?" to hold them in for reassembly. It's as easy as putting the spring in, putting the brush in, and holding it down in there while you stick the paper clip through the hole. Picture:

Then set the voltage regulator back in, put the capacitor back in. Make sure the regulator is on top of the capacitor. This is wrong:

This is right:

This plastic will face the alternator:

See the paper clip sticking up in the middle? Push it down with your thumb. Don't push it OUT, just push it down flush with the top of the brush's "case." Don't worry, there is a hole in the back of the alternator so you can pull it out after it's all back together, see:

Here's everything all back together, before I put the 2 halves of the alternator back together:

I don't have a picture of it, but you basically set the top half back in the bottom half, making sure everything is clocked right (you can make a mark before dis-assembly if you wish). It will almost fit all the way together, but the 4 outer bolts will pull it together a bit more (less than 1\8th of an inch, nothing major). Tighten the bolts a little at a time, going in a criss-cross pattern. Once those are all tightened, pull the paper clip out of the rear of the alternator to release the brushes, and your done!


This kit did comes with new brushes, but mine had PLENTY of life left in them, and they were soldered to the regulator. Not a big deal, I can handle desoldering them, but there was no need. IF YOU REPLACE THE BRUSHES YOU WANT TO SAND (GENTLY\LIGHTLY) THE COPPER RINGS AROUND THE ROTOR (THING ON THE FRONT HALF OF THE ALTERNATOR). Lay the sand paper in your hand, wrap your hand around the copper rings like you are opening a bottle of beer, then turn the alternator pulley back and forth a few times to sand it. Wipe them off and keep going with the install. You can see the copper rings in this pic:



Now with all that said, it didn't work, hahaha. It was a bad voltage regulator, which I was halfway expecting to happen because the last time I had the alternator tested it was putting out over 15 volts. I tore it all back down again, put the stock stuff back in and had the alternator replaced. The replacement I received was a LOT better quality. The rectifier was 1 piece connections and was heavier duty (looked almost identical to the upgraded one), and the rear bearing has a little plastic housing to protect the bearings, which is nice. I'll have pics of the new stuff tomorrow. Whew. Wait. Did I just make another write up?