Lost 3-4 clutch pack...exploring options...

I got off the phone a little bit ago with the guy I bought the engine and trans from. I called to check the history from when he had it and he had sent it back to FLT three times. All three times were because it was slipping from 2nd to 3rd. The 3rd time he sent it back they changed the converter and he said he didn't have any more issues but also didn't have it for much longer after that. This is just what he told me and I'm just posting it because it's more history about the trans. Not bashing FLT.

Greg knows about trans and so do I. It didn't help. I just remembered that non-metallic check ball I found just inside the case (where there is no way any ball should be). Not sure about the hole(s) in the input drum. The wrong valve body gaskets has probably been explained. Piston seal? Just depends on what piston. There's at least one for every clutch pack. I brought some sizers, etc. but did not have one for lo/rev or one of the others. Not sure how that affected anything...think I was taking a smoke break then.

LOL

Let us know how it works.

I bet Moze wished he had the cheeze to just throw that one in the ditch and upgrade to a 4l80. If my wife had not ordered me to buy so much furniture in the past few days I'd order an upgrade.



Heck I may still upgrade. . . . . .. I will have to do some thinking on it. I thought I had made a decision. Oh well.

I was researching why I lost all forward drive on my 60e and was reading a post by another performance transmission shop and he said something interesting. I'm not sure if its factual or just opinion but he said you're never supposed to use an aluminum clutch piston with steel forward clutch piston in the input drum. Nathan kind of questioned it when he saw it and we put it back in. I'm not sure if there is a basis for this builder's opinion.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zeake

I bet Moze wished he had the cheeze to just throw that one in the ditch and upgrade to a 4l80.

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He's got the opportunity to do it whenever he's ready. :thumb:

What I want is a BUILT turbo 400. They can be had to hold a claimed 800-1200+ hp for not a whole lot of money. A whole lot less to go wrong and they even come with an option for overdrive:

Gear Venders 22% Overdrive mounted on a GM 400 transmission. These overdrive units can be combined with our performance TH400 transmissions and converters to produce an overdrive transmission rated at over 1000 horse power.

They have the same internals as an 80e. $2200 for 4th gear is pretty pricey.

At this point with all the headaches, I believe I could deal with a 3 speed if I knew it was going to hold up for a while. Even after I get this back I'm going to be paranoid about getting on it.

Hope this fixes your trans moze, but just be prepared for the worse.
I've seen a transmission built several times by several builders and mess up every time.
Sometimes the best solution is to start from a stock, untouched core.

The problem is, each builder has techniques and ways of doing things, start having different builders touch it and things happen.

We had an S-10 in here, the trans had been built by a local builder 5 times!!!! Each time the clutches would eventually slip.
Once he was tired of the same thing, he brought it in for us to try. Not us personally, but a local trans guy i use for light builds. (FLT is still my choice for the record).
Our local guy built this trans twice and the same damn thing happened. We decided to use a different core and I haven't seen the customer back in 6 months; everything is ok.

Just to throw my opinion in there, I can't see Greg doing some of those things and the trans still acting the same way and having the same parts fail.

It's very possible the case is bad.

good luck,
allen

Dude an almost stock 400 would handle what you have going on.....if it were an early 70's or older core that came stock with torrington bearings. I've built 3-4 400's in my time that were all stock rebuilds, all for cars running 8.00 or better in the 8th, and none of them broke. The good thing about a 400 is they're about $150 of craigslist and the parts are cheap. I had an all roller bearing furnace brazed 1/4" anti-balloon plate 3400-3600 converter in the Chevelle that was only $650 new.