Thread: 2000 GTP: Still Alive! New Trans?

I have to go on a diet to make up for the weight difference, lol. Either that or get rid of one of my kids...Anyone want a 3 year old? fully loaded, house trained, very fluent in the words "what?" and "Dad\Daddy," Isn't a picky eater (walking garbage disposal), and loves helping...even when you don't need help!

Yesterday I tore into the engine for the first time in awhile. I have had high LTFTs for a little while, so I decided to find out why. I did a red neck smoke test. I pulled the CAI off and put a glove over the TB, pulled the Brake booster hose with the check valve still attached, put a clean section of hose on the check valve, sparked up a black & mild, and blew the smoke in the tube. Smoke started coming out of the poassenger side rear of the LIM area, so naturally I thought it was the S\C gasket and\or injector o-rings. I pulled it all apart, resealed everything, replaced O-rings, and it still leaked. Then I noticed that it was actually coming from the valve cover. So I pull the cover, discovered a torn gasket, replaced it ($60!!!), and no more smoke. Now my LTFTs are down in the negatives, but they are fluctuating a bit, I think the PCM is adjusting...always in the negative now, no more positive. Here's some pics. I didn't really clean up the engine while I had it apart, but it still looks pretty good:
Headers are starting to get some pretty cool colors:

Today's Patient:

Gasket surfaces cleaned, other than the injectors (an eventually the valve cover, I didn't touch anything at all.


Look mom, functional PCV!

All back together:


finally a descent pic, I need to clean my coolant reservoir...I also have a new relay box cover to clean up, paint and install:

Lmao yea I'm going to borrow that idea for a smoke test in the future

It's kind of a 2 man job, because the smoker get s little light headed, haha. Believe it or not, I blew the glove up and it stayed pretty well inflated. It slowly bled down, but it held it's shape a lot longer than I expected. If possible, I always start the the engine after the test (with the glove off, dumbass) just to get the smoke out. I don't want my engine looking like a bong or anything...

Well, I've been doing some research to try and repair my transmission. The classic TCC oscillation. I have had the TCC PWM solenoid disconnected for some time, and since the Arizona trip (1300 miles each way) is coming up, I decided to get it repaired. Last weekend I tore into it and replaced the TCC PWM solenoid, and the problem got about 70% better. It really was a pretty easy job, I'm glad because I'm doing it again this weekend. I'm actually doing even more. I'm replacing the 4th shaft, 4th steels and clutches, the PCS solenoid, and I have a Sonnax TCC pressure valve to install in the valve body. Oh, and an aluminum sub frame. A buddy of mine owes me some money and he had a credit at a JY, so I got this today. They didn't have any oil pans though, maybe next time. Here's some pics. Like I said, tomorrow I tear into it...again:



More pics tomorrow, of course.

It's Peel n Seal, designed for roof sealing, but it's the same or very similar materials. Dynamat may work a little better, but it's about quadruple the price. You can buy it in the roofing section of Home Depot for about $17 for 12.5 SQ ft. When you apply it, clean everything VERY well with rubbing alcohol(2-3x), press it all on, then heat it all up with a hair dryer and press it on again. So far it has stuck very well, except under the rear deck, one strip keep falling off, but I'll admit I did a horrible job prepping that area...it was more of a place to put the scraps I had. Some say there is a odor that will eventually go away (a few weeks), but neither me or my wife can smell anything at all. 4 rolls did everything you see above, all that isn't done is about 60% of the trunk floor and the cabin floor (I'm not going to do the roof).

Just finished cleaning up the subframe, it doesn't really look that different from the first pic, but it is a LOT cleaner. It's pretty light, too:

Well my wrenching buddy no showed today, so I called another friend who showed up and helped me out. Took a bit long than expected because he had never done it, I had to pull the valve body, and installing the Sonnax TCC Valve took FOREVER. I'm really glad I replaced the 4th shaft, thrust washers, and clutch pack...they all showed quite a bit of wear. The 4th splines were damn near GONE, the steels showed the beginning of leoparding, and the metal thrust washer was showing brass. I didn't get everything done today, but the transmission is buttoned back up and done. Here's some pics from today, but I'll have a few more tomorrow:
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Bad pic of the 4th stack, I'll get a better pic tomorrow with the brass thrust washer:

Chain and new stack, chain isn't too bad actually:

That's it for now, more tomorrow!

Yes I did. Luckily the gasket stayed in one piece so I didn't need another one. If I had one I would have replaced it, but I didn't I still replaced the channel plate gaskets even though the old ones were fine. I have the old subframe out, that thing is HEAVY compared to the aluminum one but it still has the LCAs and sway bar on it though. For now I took a break to hang out with my pops and we're building an 02 simulator for the rear 02...So if all goes well...I can put my SES light bulb back in and it'll stay off! That's a milestone for this car, lol. Pics of the subframe:
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Originally Posted by Booba5185

Yes I did. Luckily the gasket stayed in one piece so I didn't need another one. If I had one I would have replaced it, but I didn't I still replaced the channel plate gaskets even though the old ones were fine. I have the old subframe out, that thing is HEAVY compared to the aluminum one but it still has the LCAs and sway bar on it though. For now I took a break to hang out with my pops and we're building an 02 simulator for the rear 02...So if all goes well...I can put my SES light bulb back in and it'll stay off! That's a milestone for this car, lol. Pics of the subframe:
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sorry for the delay again...... did the Aluminum subframe come on GPs I see it a lot on impalas would that work???

Rear O2 simulator is done, I'm going to mount it to the cross-brace, and the load resistors are thermal epoxied to the aluminum case. Here's hoping it'll work:

Did you make that!? Cause that's pretty bad ass lol

Yep, I cut the pigtail off of my old 02 sensor, and soldered this up. After that I just needed to put it in a project box. Originally I was going to thermal epoxy it all down to an Xbox 360 heatsink I have, then normal epoxy over the connections and such to seal it up. My dad came up with this box, and since it's aluminum it'll cool it just fine. I think he got it at Radioshack, which is where I bought everything else for the project.

That's cool I'm not bueno with electronics so I wouldn't try lol that and I don't think 06 can be emulated. But that's really cool man nice car lots of work keep it up!

Thanks! I think 2000 was the last year you could do this. 01+ I think you can tune out the code with some special programming, but I don't know the specifics.

So that was all for nothing. I still have oscillating TCC problems. FML. Probably hunting for a new transmission now.