Thread: 2000 GTP: Still Alive! New Trans?

I disconnected my battery last night then held the positive and negative together for a full minute, then got in the car and held the key in the start position for another minute. Then I left it disconnected for about 13 hours. I connected it up today, started it and drove it around a bit, good news is no TCC oscillation at all, yet. The 1-2 shift still has it's moments, but I think the PCM is still figuring it out. It mainly has the shifting problems when I'm not giving it much throttle, like neighborhood driving. I'm wondering if the boost valve is sticking or something. Either way, I'll have my buddy reset the TAPS via the Tech II and check to see what they look like before hand. They're basically like fuel trims, if the PCM has to add PSI then there's a slip or a stuck valve, if the PCM has to subtract PSI, then there's a stuck valve or a clog or something. I think. I read about it all here: http://www.sonnax.com/articles/179-P...essure-Systems . After that, I'm gonna drive it and see what happens. It's not THAT hard most of the time, so it'll most likely correct itself.

Put in a new blower motor, and swapped out some interior pieces from the parts car, window switches (show less wear), underside carpet on the dash, little stuff like that. I'm trying to think of anything else I could grab off of this car before it goes to the scrapyard...hmmmm...

Wow, so 4 times total into the transmission and I think it's fixed. The 1-2 shift was entirely too harsh, and I thought it was because a clip was missing from the valve body. I tore into it, then found out those clips were for the assembly line, so they weren't needed. No worries though, I found a broken screen on the EPC solenoid, and the 2 screens in the separator plate were sitting inside the valve body. Needless to say, that's all fixed and it's all back together now. It's shifting the best it ever has, nice and firm and fast. I blame the EPC solenoid. We'll see how long it lasts, haha. Here's some pics:
Busted screen on EPC:

These are the screens that were inside the valve body. I know they didn't come out on dis-assembly because they are a PITA to clip in all the way. On top of that, They couldn't have have fallen up into the valve body:

Channel Plate, you can see the Sonnax TCC relief valve on the lower left. See the check ball? See the flat top under the fluid next to the check ball? That's it.

This was just a pic I took for reference, to make sure the check balls were in the right places:

Productive weekend, I guess. Alternator was intermittently working so I replaced it under warranty, the new one is blingy. I dunno if I like it or not. I also did a pan drop and swapped out the 1-2 accumulator spring for a 2-3 spring. That made a world of difference in the 1-2 shift, It's now down to .100 seconds, sometimes lower. It's a hard shift, but much more precise than before. My spoiler was cracked from me over tightening it, and I have a spare but it was the wrong color. My dad came over to hang out for fathers day, so he sanded it down and we plasti dipped it. It was my first time, and it didn't turn out all that great. I like the color, but that's about it. I'm mainly excited about the transmission, this is by far the BEST it has ever shifted. Next up is touch ups on the body, and building the more complex 02 simulator since mine failed...
Pics, my wife put the overlays on the other day:

I've started some touch ups on the car, and it's gonna require some wet-sanding. I wanted to get into practice on wet-sanding so I decided to throw together a new relay box cover from the parts car. It actually looks pretty good, depending on how the paint's finish lasts, I might pull it off and shine it up real nice. I doubt a shine like that would last though, so I don't want to put THAT much work into it if it won't last. Here's some pics:


Installed:

Thanks man, I've learned most of what I know by reading online and just plain doing it. Engine bay is getting a little dirty so I decided to clean things up a bit after I put the new relay cover on. I polished up the cross braces, STB, and got a good start on the dog bones. The sun was out and drying the polish as I put it on, so they get to wait a little longer. I also cleaned up the headers with some never dull, and used my touch up paint to touch up the scratches on core support and strut towers. I have a dream of putting this car in a show some day, I doubt it'll ever happen, but I get an A for effort, lol.

So after a long and irritating battle with the transmission, it has one. It gets to be destroyed, just like it apparently wants. The 1-2 shift won't get any better and the reverse is clunking worse and worse everyday. So I went to the pick n pull and bought a 130K 02 GT transmission from $67, then went and bought GXP chains, valve body and channel plate gaskets, and new thrust washers. I'll be swapping my new valvebody, channel plate, shift kit, differential, output shaft, hardened 4th hub\4th stack, and possibly the torque converter to the new transmission. I dropped the pan on the transmission at the JY and it was surpirisingly clean for 130k, I must say. I'll take a picture when I tear into it.
Here's some preliminary pics:

I'll be using my pump shaft:

Tags:


Parts:

GXP chains, identified by the 2 blue links:

If you look close you can see where one link says "HY-VOS"

I dunno if I would consider this built, but it'll be a lot more solid than what I have now. I don't need anything too crazy, I don't drive my car very hard at all. I have fun occasionally, but it's getting more and more rare.

Tearing into the new transmission today, so far so good! I though it had hardened chains at first, but they only have 1 blue link. Everything seems to be good and clean, I only had to cut one bolt off! lol Damn channel plate bolt. I'm also going to redrill my flexplate for the GT torque converter so I have a higher stall and lighter TC. I'll finished taking out the differential and such, then it's pretty much going to sit til Friday when I pull mu transmission out and swap all the goodies over to it. Progress pics:





What do you guys think?

That's cute

Yea, I've successfully taken pictures of everything I'm going to replace, lol. Well, most of that stuff will be replaced.

Well I decided to go ahead and tear the entire transmission apart since I was literally RIGHT there. Good news is everything seems to be in fantastic shape, not new, but a very healthy transmission, nonetheless. I will be stealing an extra steel from my current transmission to firm up the 2nd shift, but other than that she's going back together the way she came apart (minus the upgrades I've already mentioned). I had .070" gap on the input and 3rd clutches, and .100" on the 2nd clutches, I'll be adding another steel to bring that down to a smaller gap, and I figure I'll leave the input\thirds alone. I took like 30 pictures, so here's a link to the album:
http://s14.photobucket.com/user/boob...?sort=3&page=1

teardown\install start Friday!

So I cleaned up everything, restacked the clutch to be tighter, lubed everything up, put in the hardened chains (with the GTP gears), 4th shaft, HD differential stuff, new 4th stack, and then I went through the valve body to make sure all was well. I actually found a burr on one of the check ball seats in the channel plate. I filed it down and held the ball in it up to light and saw nothing, so I called it good. I added an extra steel to the 2nd clutch stack, and added a shim to the third stack. Install was straight forward, I was able to use my buddy's garage, so that was a LOT better than dirt. I used the torque converter from the GT trans since it was a higher stall, 130,000 easy miles (based on the rest of the transmission), lighter, and I think my old one was going bad.


Sadly I don't have many pics of the install, but I'll take some pics of the aftermath tomorrow:



I've used ratchet straps to hold up more weight, but I still left a jack kissing the oil pan whenever I could. Nothing ever budged though:


The end result is one of the best shifting transmissions I've ever driven! Admittedly, I've never really driven performance cars, so that's not really saying much. Under light throttle, the shift is so quick you barely feel anything. It gradually gets quicker and harder with the throttle, lock-up is nice and strong, everything is GREAT. I'll change the fluid in a few thousand miles just to make sure all is well in there, and I'll probably throw a Transgo shift kit in there. I have a DIY kit in there now.


I also learned that I have an oil leak of some kind coming from somewhere under the passenger side. I think it's the oil pressure sensor so I'll swap it out at some point in the near future. Next major project after fixing the truck is to get rid of the rust. Strut towers need some attention but it's not horrible yet, same with the rockers.

Finally took the core back for my transmission stuff, so I went ahead and bought a few things while I was there. I picked up a Aztec front bumper support, and an aluminum steering column thing. Between the headers, aluminum subframe, aluminum bumper support, aluminum steering shaft cover thingy, and my recent increase in Taco Bell consumption, I think this weight reduction stuff if finally to the point where I think I can feel a difference. My wife swears up and down she can feel a huge difference, so I guess that's a plus. Good news is I found 2 lost sockets and a small flat blade screw driver.

Aztec bumper support goes right on, after you cut the alignment studs off the bumper support and drill news holes for the inner 2 bolts. It'll bolt on upside down, but then the styrofoam stuff doesn't fit on like it should. I opted to drill the holes, and naturally I drilled them too low, so they are a little egg shaped. Oh well. Steering column cover thingy wasn't as straight forward. I ended up cutting a lot of it off and drilling new mounting holes, lol. No pics of that stuff. But here's some pics of the bumper support install:
Ripped apart:

New vs. Old:

Alignment stud needs to go bye bye:


So it did:

Upside down in this pic...I figured it out really quick:

Hole I drilled in the wrong spot, should be about 1\4" or so up higher:

On it's way back together:

Steering column cover thingy:

Read this thing start to finish. Wow you have put in work. I want to buy another one to DD while I tear mine apart and go through it piece by piece like you did.

Great work man

Thanks man, it's mind boggling to read back through the pages. It's only been a little over a year that I've REALLY been working on it. Believe it or not, I still have plenty to do. Remote start, a little more weight reduction, 04+ seats, a tune, (re) build the 02 simulator, and I'm sure there's more.

You forgot turbo..