Build Thread 1978 Fairmont. I bet somebody back home’s thinkin’…I wonder why he don’t write..?

I must have something wrong with me.

I put the trans back together today..hopefully it’s gonna stay that way. While putting it back together, and before installing the valve body, you’re supposed to replace the assorted check balls that sit in little cups under the valve body. there were originally 9 check balls. The shift kit has you remove 2 of them. When I had to take the thing back apart last week, I removed the check balls, and put them in the trans pan. For whatever reason, ( and it didn’t dawn on me until I was putting it back together) I had only put 6 check balls back when I had it together last time. I distinctly remember telling myself that only 6 balls go back.
But today, I’m looking at the instructions, and I count the balls that are supposed to go back.....Seven...there’s supposed to be 7 balls, not 6. And I had no idea where the other 3 were. After wasting an hour looking, I decide to get a telescoping magnet, and run it around the bottom of the drain pan where I originally dumped out the remaining fluid..I swish the thing around, and all of the sudden i hear “ click!” One ball....just sitting in the bottom of that drain pan. It was all I needed, but just to think of what wouldn’t have worked as a result of that missing ball..
It’s back in the car now..so forward movement again.
The adapter is showing its cheapness over the others..Dude used threaded inserts in the adapter plate..After tightening the trans 1 time, one insert broke, and another popped out of its hole..with 2 of them gone now, I’m having to use a nut that is a bitch to get to the back side and hold..
The tail shaft mount is half done..I don’t take pictures of half done sht, so I got nothing there. I did take a picture of the EPS unit though..With the trans out, and that section of tunnel removed, there is absolutely no better vantage point to see that thing hanging there, so I couldn’t resist.
20200827_170852.jpg

I guess you can also see my “ extendo-pedal“ bolted on brake pedal too..( Kinda stole that from MM)
 
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How much were the non cheap ones??? Let’s hope the damned thing is made well enough to not allow vibration.
Why in all things holy would you plant that thought in this mans head.... what with the carmunchins disorder and the 3amd coming after him every night..

heneedsthatlikeheneedssomeonetocomeintohisnewthreadanduseacompletelackofpunctuationandlotsofspellingerrorsDONTFORGETTHEUSEOFTHECAPSLOCKKEYHEDONTNEEDTHATNEITHER dotdotdotspacebarsmileyemoji

:nonono: I mean WTF were you even thinking
 
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Why in all things holy would you plant that thought in this mans head.... what with the carmunchins disorder and the 3amd coming after him every night..

heneedsthatlikeheneedssomeonetocomeintohisnewthreadanduseacompletelackofpunctuationandlotsofspellingerrorsDONTFORGETTHEUSEOFTHECAPSLOCKKEYHEDONTNEEDTHATNEITHER dotdotdotspacebarsmileyemoji

:nonono: I mean WTF were you even thinking

Honestly, I’d send it back in favor of a solid one. I can’t help but wonder how if two bolts are already not very secure, how the f*ck the other bolt sleeves won’t come loose and create vibration. Sorry Mike, just saying bud, sounds like a problem waiting to happen with your solid engine mounts. I’d hold the manufacturer accountable if it’s coming apart before the the engine has even turned over.
 
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Honestly, I’d send it back in favor of a solid one. I can’t help but wonder how if two bolts are already not very secure, how the f*ck the other bolt sleeves won’t come loose and create vibration. Sorry Mike, just saying bud, sounds like a problem waiting to happen with your solid engine mounts. I’d hold the manufacturer accountable if it’s coming apart before the the engine has even turned over.

He's right - When properly installed Helicoil inserts DON'T COME OUT without a special removal tool and some extra effort.
 
Ahhhhh,...nothing like a little robust discussion weighing my the condition of my mental state..

I called the guy..He said in xxx years, he’s never had any of those inserts break..I told him in xx years,...he has one now. I told him the other one had fallen out on the floor, and now wouldn’t stay in..He said they were removable so that they could be replaced if there was ever damage to one of them.
( You mean like the one I just busted all to hell?)
His HD plate kit is 900.00..the others are over 1000..( actual drilled and tapped aluminum plate).....Do we really need to go over the options here?

The plate won’t bring out the 3AMD,....the Pump will...I’ll do my best to tell him to go fck himself....but..he has a mind of his own...
 
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He's right - When properly installed Helicoil inserts DON'T COME OUT without a special removal tool and some extra effort.
Its a design flaw for sure, but these aren’t the inserts that you’re thinking Joe.
This is what dude has “ inserted” in each of the 6 holes that the trans bolts to...
image.jpg

a potentially weak solution to securing the transmission to the plate.
Because if you really pull that trans tight...( the thing make a little twink noise just before it fails)..and you get this.
image.jpg

The picture that the guy shows of the plate doesn’t show the back side where these things are inserted, you only see the threads from the face side, leading you to believe that they’re helicoiled.
 
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Its a design flaw for sure, but these aren’t the inserts that you’re thinking Joe.
This is what dude has “ inserted” in each of the 6 holes that the trans bolts to...
image.jpg

a potentially weak solution to securing the transmission to the plate.
Because if you really pull that trans tight...( the thing make a little twink noise just before it fails)..and you get this.
image.jpg

The picture that the guy shows of the plate doesn’t show the back side where these things are inserted, you only see the threads from the face side, leading you to believe that they’re helicoiled.
WTF!! T nuts? they aren't cheap but a time sert would be much better if you have enough thickness to support
 
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I’m talkin to voice inside my head last night..He says that he thinks I’m gonna have to replace the front pump in the trans.
After thinking about it myself in the light of day, I’m afraid that I have to agree with him.
Its my fault. There are so many reasons to do it, It’s a wonder it even got to the stage where the 3amd needed to talk to me about it.

We’ll start at the beginning though...As all good stories start there.

While following the recommended modification procedures to the front pump, one of the two holes that have to be drilled in that thing was supposed to be mega-tiny,.. the prescribed range for the hole size was between .042-.055. ( slightly smaller than a chicken peen)
Do I have a bit that small? Well fck no. What I have, is a .062 bit..my thinking being that it can’t make that much of a difference.
After talking with dude at Transgo last week and telling him what I did, he tells me that that was a bad thing. Said something about it could potentially cause the trans to go into reverse at speed :eek:
That seemed to me like it could be a bad thing too, so I decided to add a restriction to the hole with a piece of .030 mig welding wire, folded at both ends so it couldn’t slip out..
But that made the actual hole only .032 in my head.
So I remove the wire, find another bit,..measure it, ( .077) and drill it, planning on sticking a piece of .035 mig wire in the hole instead. .077-.035 = .042 Right?
Then I let it sit..and ultimately go to bed. The 3amd has got his lab coat on when he wakes me,..playing fluid dynamics physician...He’s wondering if the restriction will truly net a .042 hole size...

At this point, i’m sorry I ever drilled the damn hole.

While modifying the thrust washer behind the pump to get the proper rotating clearance in the transmission, i had the pump separated into it’s two sections, the part that backed up to the rest of the trans internals was all i needed to set that clearance, so i just bolted that part to the front of the trans when checking that.
I used the same bolts that came with the pump, but since they’re were now too long, added spacers to take up the gap. Then tightened them down.

after the clearance was checked, and I removed the bolts, i find that the spacers had left small imprints in the cast iron where they had sat. Now I have compromised sealing surfaces. When I put the pump back together, i added a very light coat of grey rtv in those areas,...but here I am......worrying that it will fck me.
And finally, the pump gears..Whether it makes a difference or not if that outside ring has a “up” or “down” is the final straw.

Since the plate has to have something done to make the inserts more robust, the trans has to come out to do that. If the trans is out, there is no reason on earth to leave that fcked up front pump in there waiting to stick me in the eye..

It aint easy being me,...but somebody’s gotta do it.