LS4 Performance - Removing/ installing transmission

I searched but didn't find anything, any do a walk through on replacing the transmission on our cars? I'm getting ready to order one from TTP but would like to know what I'm getting into. I've done my share of wrenching so i don't think I'll have a problem. Just didn't know of Any problem areas/ things to watch out for or special tools needed.

I just came across this the other day.
http://pontiacbonnevilleclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1483&sid=bcd61cbc817e12522d4ded8ea3d98752&start=20
There's some pics of a home made engine support bracket.

When I did mine I disconnected the headers,cold air intake.Then I removed all wiring and moved out of way.I took off both front tires to get to the cv's and removed those as well as the lower front & rear motor mount and trans mount on driver side.From the passenger side I loosened the tension pulley then removed the belt from the top with a screw driver.I pulled the motor and trans out as one as shown on my avatar and put in as one unit. There were a few other things I can't think of at the moment, but I got pics a GMLS4 in pics of rides under the the tramp.

When I did mine I disconnected the headers,cold air intake.Then I removed all wiring and moved out of way.I took off both front tires to get to the cv's and removed those as well as the lower front & rear motor mount and trans mount on driver side.From the passenger side I loosened the tension pulley then removed the belt from the top with a screw driver.I pulled the motor and trans out as one as shown on my avatar and put in as one unit. There were a few other things I can't think of at the moment, but I got pics a GMLS4 in pics of rides under the the tramp.

guess you cant just drop the engine and transmission out the bottom like you can on an fbody?

guess you cant just drop the engine and transmission out the bottom like you can on an fbody?

Too much work on top of getting an alignment, easiest way for me was too remove from top as one unit.For the OP make sure you send out your ECM and tcm next day to Dave to retune for the 3.29's and adjust the shift points.The trans has been one of the best mods I did!

I'll second the 3.29 upgrade. I have had my TEP for almost a week and 1k miles. Love it, the 3.29 upgrade and Dave's touch on the TCM are a perfect fit for my GXP.

i'm just getting his basic performance rebuild. love to get the gears and a tune but i got a camaro in my garage i need to get running first lol

By far the easiest way is out the bottom.

You will need either a 4X4 wood post to lay across the strut towers to hold the engine, or do it the SAFE way and purchase a $99 transverse engine support as seen here :

http://shop.tripleedgeperformance.com/images/13311866562791573629814.jpeg

With the engine supported with this you can drop the entire engine/transmission cradle and you will have all the room in the world to drop the transmission from underneath.

If you have dropped any FWD transmissions in the past, you will have no problem dropping this one, its very similar to other GM FWD cars, as well as the Ford Taurus layouts.

The most aggravating part is the transmission dipstick, you need to do your best to prevent damage and bending, the bolt is a feeler process.....you know how that goes.

If you get stuck, just reply here or PM me I can help....

Ha! The image is tiny.....its on TEP's website, just go here....


http://shop.tripleedgeperformance.com/Engine-Support-Bar-AP5820.htm

You can also get these at Harbor Freight Tools....

so you leave the engine in the car? just take the cradle out and then pull the transmission out the bottom?
that doesn't seem too bad, but this is my first front wheel drive experience.

i'm guessing theirs no good place yo put a jack under the engine to support it.

Either top or bottom let us know how it goes,good luck! :cheers:

love to get the gears and a tune but i got a camaro in my garage i need to get running first lol

3.29's won't cost you any more, you would just need to pay for the tune (50 bucks maybe?) if you can't do that yourself.

who's dave that does the tuning?

Dave @ TEP

http://www.tripleedgeperformance.com/

A jack won't work mainly because you are removing the engine cradle. By doing so you are removing all engine mounting with the exception of the tiny dogbone style one on top.

The engine support will hold the engine safely as you work under the car with no engine cradle. I used a 4x4 myself, but have since purchased the support tool. Trust me its worth the small cost. Not to mention makes re assembling much easier.

Where are you located, you can drive with 3.29's with a tune, it will just throw a MIL until you get it calibrated with HP tuners

I meant without a tune...

i'm in st louis mo.

ok i wasn't sure if it was the same Dave or not.
i'll have to contact him regarding it, I'd like to gain a little performance out of this.

I'm in Louisville, KY. If u wanna make the drive, I've got HP tuners and we can get you squared away....

To quote Dave @ TEP, driving with 3.29s without a tune "will set trouble codes and could damage the transmission." So I'd be really careful about that drive I guess!

To quote Dave @ TEP, driving with 3.29s without a tune "will set trouble codes and could damage the transmission." So I'd be really careful about that drive I guess!

I drove it that way for 50 miles or so to get to the dyno with no obvious issues other than a MIL. The MIL was something to the effect of speed sensor, go figure... Now I didn't gun it everywhere either, I just wanted to make sure everything shifted fine, after the rebuild and upgrades.

The transmission parameters can be adjusted for almost any condition, cruise on, cruise off, tap shift, normal driving, shift points at WOT, shift points normal, shift time, etc. I was not about to pay someone time to dial the transmission in how I wanted it. I purchased HP Tuners and haven't looked back.

Transmission has 20,000 miles on it so far....so hopefully it will provide a long, abused life for me...lol

Sure... I'm not at all saying he shouldn't make the drive. I just know how much more fun my car was with the 3.29s and I'd have had a real hard time behaving for 50 miles :p

I'm in Louisville, KY. If u wanna make the drive, I've got HP tuners and we can get you squared away....
thanks for the offer but thats a bit of a drive. i'd love to get hp tuner but cant justify 300-400 dollars right now... wonder if i can find someone local that needs lt1 tuning and i'd swap with them lol.

regarding the gear swap how many rpm did that raise your at say 60-70 mph?

50 - 1500rpm
60 - 1800
70 - 2100
80 - 2300

thats not to bad. i'll probably do it if i can find some cheap tuning.

3.29's are definitely more fun than stock, I catch myself hitting the loud pedal just for effect!

ordered my transmission, did go with the 3.29 as well. still need to work out the tune part of it, but if all else fails i'll just have tep tune it.
also got a transmission cooler, i went with a bigger one so i can cut the radiator out of the loop. i'm sure its full of crap from failing transmission.

Awesome, you won't be disappointed. I fell in love with my car all over again with the TEP tranny and 3.29s.

Also FWIW if you didn't bypass the radiator you'd have to flush that crap out anyway or TEP's warranty is void.

Flush your radiator transmission cooler with a product called "Kooler Kleen".

http://www.lubegard.com/~/C-184/Dr.+Tranny+Kooler+Kleen

This way you can run both the factory cooler inline with your aftermarket unit, thus allowing the fluid to be brought up to temperature much more effectively. Your shift pressures are also affected by the fluid temperature thru the TCM.

Has anyone here bypassed the factory cooler?

Anyway if your still worried about contaminants install one of these between your new cooler and the transmission....

http://magnefinefilters.com/Magnefine-1-2-Magnetic-Inline-Transmission-Filter-R012M.htm

I have had very good experiences with re-using factory coolers when properly flushed and installing the magnafine filters inline after the tranny cooler. Ford actually will not warranty a reman tranny if you do not have one of these intstalled.....

i'd assume someone else has bypassed it, when i asked about a transmission cooler dave gave me a few options and bypassing was one of them.

i might change my mind depending on how nasty my current fluid is.

any manuals you guys recommend for these? i was looking at the haye but it cover like 20 years worth of grand prix in one... seems a little to spread out for me.

this transmission needs to get here soon, damn things on its last leg.

I drove my car with 3.69s without a tune for quite sometime.
The speedo was fine it just shifted late at wot, and was hash

Has anyone here bypassed the factory cooler?




I have mine bypassed. I'm using a 20k btu cooler, temps are about 25-35 (164-177 cruising) degrees lower than stock on average. Before the cooler, 194-205 cruising.

i think i'll end up having dave tune it. that way there wont be any finger pointing if something goes wrong.

i just stopped driving it, it was getting bad and i figure i'm saving myself a tow bill, plus the thought of it breaking down with 2 kids in the car.
dave said the transmission would be about 3 weeks, so i got another week and a half... probably start pulling it apart next weekend.

By far the easiest way is out the bottom.

You will need either a 4X4 wood post to lay across the strut towers to hold the engine, or do it the SAFE way and purchase a $99 transverse engine support as seen here :

http://shop.tripleedgeperformance.com/images/13311866562791573629814.jpeg

With the engine supported with this you can drop the entire engine/transmission cradle and you will have all the room in the world to drop the transmission from underneath.

If you have dropped any FWD transmissions in the past, you will have no problem dropping this one, its very similar to other GM FWD cars, as well as the Ford Taurus layouts.

The most aggravating part is the transmission dipstick, you need to do your best to prevent damage and bending, the bolt is a feeler process.....you know how that goes.

If you get stuck, just reply here or PM me I can help....
transmission should be here today, so i'm gathering the things i need. i'll just do the 4x4 post, what do you end up hooking to the motor? i was thinking about getting a ratchet strap and chain to hold it...

transmission never showed up, but did work on getting the old one out.

got the front wheels and cv pulled out. i had to cut the bolt off both tie rods, they both got to where they were almost off and then froze up, i probably should of cleaned the threads before i started unbolting them. of course the 1st side took me a couple hours had to figure out what i was needing to remove and what i didnt need too... 2nd side took 15 minutes lol.
every where i was reading was saying leave the a arm on and just undo the ball joint at the end to separate it... i found it easier to just take un bolt the arm fro the engine cradle.
so far the only issues besides the tie rods is getting to one of the transmission cooler line. the vertical one is in a place its not easy to get a wrench on strait.
i've got it pretty much to the point i'm ready to unbolt the transmission. going to wait till my new one shows up so the engine isnt dangling all week on my home made support fixture.

almost got it back together. man i would love to have a conversation with gm on why they thought it was a good idea to have 4 transmission bolts going from the transmission to the block... then throw one in the back going from the block to the transmission. i think i spent half a day trying to figure out why i couldnt get it apart... and finally wedge my arm in their enough to feel a bolt... then had to put 3 foot of extensions together so i could get it from the passenger wheel well.

that and the whole inch in space between the transmission and the frame... doesnt give you much room to pull it back to clear the flywheel.
if you dont have the engine and transmission perftectly level its not coming out.

got it back together and running... what a nightmare, a ground broken on the engine side and i spent a day trying to figure out why i couldnt get it started.

anyway the car shifts great now, better than it has ever before. i still need an alignment and a minor leak on the cooler line.

anyone know what type/size of fitting the cooler line is going into the transmission? i hate to by a whole new line just to cut it up so i can use it with my transmission cooler.

pretty much anwsering my own question but figured i'd post in case anyone cared...

The fitting and the lines are two different parts... the line just has a flare end on it that goes into the fitting and is held in by a clip. the fitting has an o-ring in it that can fall apart when you are removing the line... dealer has the fitting for 13 bucks so its not to bad.

pretty much anwsering my own question but figured i'd post in case anyone cared...

The fitting and the lines are two different parts... the line just has a flare end on it that goes into the fitting and is held in by a clip. the fitting has an o-ring in it that can fall apart when you are removing the line... dealer has the fitting for 13 bucks so its not to bad.



Good info, thanks blk!