Progress Thread Therapy Car-- Freshening Up the Lower Intake

Well... I'd be more than happy to, but i dont think i have the pictures needed to make it. I'll see what I've got.

Looking through my pictures I dont feel like I have the needed pictures to really do a proper "How To" write up, but I'll use what I do have and do a small write up here. I'm sure at some point I will have to do this again. At that point I'll make sure to document it well and do a real write up. I'll go ahead and do the best I can here in this thread. It might help someone.

So as everyone knows the issue with doing this by yourself is trying to get the shifter shuttle back onto the transmission shifter rod while simultaneously getting the tail housing onto the transmission. The work around that I came up with was to fashion a flexible loop to hold the spring and detent ball in the shifter during installation. The material that I use is plastic banding. The stuff that you see boxes bound in to keep lids and stuff from opening during shipping. I secure it using a metal clamp that is put on using a specialty clamping tool. All this stuff is available to me through work. We have to ship boxes of material and use this stuff. The band doesn't have to be made out of this though. The goal is to hold the spring and ball in the shuttle while you do the install. It has to be wide enough to cover the ball and hole and strong enough to not rip under pressure. If that ball gets loose under pressure it will shoot out like a cannon ball never to be seen again. Here is a picture of the strap and tools I use to fashions these things.

This is an area I would have taken more pictures.

With the spring and ball out of the shuttle I wrap the strap around the shuttle tightly and then slid it off the shuttle. Holding it in place I use the metal clamp and clamping tool to clamp it in place. Then trim the excess.



This is the widget that I will make for you if you need one. I have to guess at the size though, so if you get one from me you will most likely get 4 or more of varying sizes. You get to pick the one that works. If none work I'll make more!



The goal is to make it as tight as possible so that the detent ball isn't pushing against the floor of the tail housing as you are trying to put everything together.

Again an area I would have taken more pictures.

Now for the "How To" bit. I'm doing to assume that anyone looking to do this job already knows how to drain the transmission and get the tail housing ready to be removed from the transmission. To do this job the H-pipe will have to be removed from the car and the transmission cross member will have to be taken loose. I have a lift so it makes it a lot easier to get under the car and do all of this, but it can be done just using jack stands as well. To remove the cross member the engine needs to be supported either using an engine support that holds the engine from above or a jack or stand to hold the engine from below. The tail housing will not come off of the transmission with the engine level in the car. The back of the engine needs to be lowered slightly to allow the housing to clear the transmission tunnel.

With the tail housing removed this is what your transmission is going to look like. You don't have to completely remove the transmission cross member if you don't want to.

So now imagine that you have fixed your tail shaft bushing or done whatever it was that you needed to remove the housing for and you have cleaned everything up and prepped the transmission and housing for reassembling. I use anaerobic gasket maker to seal the housing to the transmission.

Using the strap that I made I get it, the shuttle, spring, and detent ball and find a hard surface. I use a metal table that I have in my shop, but a counter top would also work. Now put the spring in the shuttle and put the detent ball close to the edge of the table. Push the shuttle down over the ball capturing it in the shuttle. It is now under pressure and if you rotate the shuttle it will shoot off never to be seen again. While holding the shuttle down over the ball get the strap and work it under and around the shuttle. Once the strap is centered over the ball you can slowly let up the pressure and let the strap catch the spring and ball. Again, this thing is like a loaded gun. Be careful not to knock the strap off the ball.



Put that thing down in a safe place and grab the tail housing. Get under the car and slid the housing over the output shaft to the point where the shifter rod is just sticking into the pocket were the shuttle will go. The shifter rod only needs to be in the pocket about a 1/4". Get out from under the car and go get the shuttle.

Place the shuttle in the pocket. You should be able to get the shuttle to start sliding onto the shifter rod. Depending on how tight the band is holding the detent you might have to press down on the shuttle to get the detent to compress enough to allow the shuttle to start sliding onto the shifter rod.

With the shuttle started get back under the car. Reaching up with one hand get a hold of the shuttle. Now push the housing forward with the other hand. This is the tricky part. I have to get under and push and get back in the car and pull on the housing while working the shuttle onto the shifter rod. Be patient and dont try to force anything. It will work it's way all the way on eventually. You might have to push down on the shuttle to compress the detent again.

Once the housing is fully seated against the transmission chances are the shifter rod will not be in the exact position to allow you to install the roll pin. It should be close enough that you can use a punch or small screw driver to line things up. After you get the hole in the shifter rod lined up with the hold in the shuttle you can install the roll pin.

Using a hammer tap the roll pin into the shuttle to get it started then use a punch to drive it down until the top of the pin is flush with the top of the shuttle. If you drive this pin down too far it will not allow the shuttle to move and you will have to pull the housing back off to correct the issue. Dont do that.

Once the shuttle is in place you will have to cut the band holding the detent loose. You can not slide it off as the part of the shuttle that rides in the shift gates block it from coming off the end of the shuttle. You will need to use a knife or razor to cut the band then just pull it out. At this point the detent is trapped and can not come out, so you dont have to worry about being careful.

Now the rest of the reassembly is just the reverse of the disassembly.

Well you guys might get a detailed "How To" on the tailshaft housing install sooner than I'd like. I got everything together this afternoon and took the car for a spin. It ran great but I had no sspeedometer. I haven't pulled the speedometer cable yet to to check and see if the drive gear is still in place. I used a new retainer and the drive gear seemed secure. Actually when I took it apart this last time I found the old retainer and it was not broken.

Well I confirmed it. The speedometer drive gear has walked off again. Not sure why, but if I want to know how fast I'm going I will have to pull the housing again and see if I can fix the issue.