Shop or myself for TC install?
Shop or myself for TC install? Wondering if it is worth the money to have a converter installed by a shop or just get some jacks and a day off of work. I have a vig 3600, and want to know if I can use the stock bolts off the OEM TC? I know a few people running into problems with the TCI converter bolts being to big. I bought my Vig used and rebuilt and no bolts, anyone run into problems like this with the vigs not fitting the stock bolts? Thanks
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Joined: Dec 2002
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From: Chattanooga,TN
You can save yourself some money by doing it yourself. A friend and I put my Vig 3600 in and it wasn't that bad once we figued out how to get the tranny down and away from the motor (unbolt stall first). We stripped out the stock bolts trying to remove them (we had to use hammer and chisle to get them off). We went to Autozone and got some TC bolts and ground them down to fit. If you have the right tools you can did it easily. It will probably take a good day to get it done.
"We stripped out the stock bolts trying to remove them (we had to use hammer and chisle to get them off)."
Stripped out the TC bolts not the tranny bolts.
"We stripped out the stock bolts trying to remove them (we had to use hammer and chisle to get them off)."
Stripped out the TC bolts not the tranny bolts.
Last edited by 1ORANGEWS6; Apr 28, 2004 at 04:50 PM.
I had a shop do mine but he was my neighbor. Only charged me $100 for it....but if he didn't give me such a good price I probably would have done it myself. Would have hated it but would have done it. 
Originally Posted by JakeY2KZ
I had a shop do mine but he was my neighbor. Only charged me $100 for it....but if he didn't give me such a good price I probably would have done it myself. Would have hated it but would have done it.
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Joined: Dec 2002
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From: Chattanooga,TN
Putting the the TC in yourself is not that hard. Just pay attention to what your doing and where things go and take your time...everything will work out. The only tricky parts to the job is you have to unbolt the TC before you can remove the tranny and make sure you fill the 3600 with some tranny fluid and seat the 3600 imput shaft all the way until you hear three clicks. Put the tranny on spin the TC to make sure its installed correctly and bolt the TC to the flex plate, put all the other stuff like hoses, wire harnesses, drive shaft, TQ arm, and exhaust should take care of the hardware part of the job. Then you need to do some tuning on the tranny with LS1edit to change shift points and if you want delete TM but on a 98 I don't think it will matter. Its not hard it just takes a little time.
Originally Posted by 1ORANGEWS6
Putting the the TC in yourself is not that hard. Just pay attention to what your doing and where things go and take your time...everything will work out. The only tricky parts to the job is you have to unbolt the TC before you can remove the tranny and make sure you fill the 3600 with some tranny fluid and seat the 3600 imput shaft all the way until you hear three clicks. Put the tranny on spin the TC to make sure its installed correctly and bolt the TC to the flex plate, put all the other stuff like hoses, wire harnesses, drive shaft, TQ arm, and exhaust should take care of the hardware part of the job. Then you need to do some tuning on the tranny with LS1edit to change shift points and if you want delete TM but on a 98 I don't think it will matter. Its not hard it just takes a little time.
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Staging Lane
Joined: Feb 2004
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From: pittsburgh
there is only a couple main things to pay special attention to..
1. make sure you get 3 clicks when spinning the tc onto the tranny..
2. after tc is in...put straight edge accoss bellhousing and measure distance between the tc and the straight edge..you can get this measurement from ls1howto.com..i do not remember the clearance needed of the top of my head..just a little insurance to make sure it's fully seated into the tranny...
3.take your time..you will get frustrated at times..that's when you end up breaking something...
1. make sure you get 3 clicks when spinning the tc onto the tranny..
2. after tc is in...put straight edge accoss bellhousing and measure distance between the tc and the straight edge..you can get this measurement from ls1howto.com..i do not remember the clearance needed of the top of my head..just a little insurance to make sure it's fully seated into the tranny...
3.take your time..you will get frustrated at times..that's when you end up breaking something...
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Joined: May 2003
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From: Southeast Texas
my b/f and his friend did the install along with the cam install....
i didn't hear anything bad really except the the jaw puller tool (dont know if that is what its called) that we rented from o'reillys broke and busted his lip and had a trip to the emergency room and stitches... that was when they were taking off the pully....
i don't know if that was for the cam or converter.... good luck!
i didn't hear anything bad really except the the jaw puller tool (dont know if that is what its called) that we rented from o'reillys broke and busted his lip and had a trip to the emergency room and stitches... that was when they were taking off the pully....
i don't know if that was for the cam or converter.... good luck!
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Joined: Sep 2003
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From: Atlanta, GA
yeah you want a big *** breaker bar and a cam lock (gm dealer thing) so you dont end up busting your *** on the 240ft/lbs bolt lol.
hows it drive now? You might have to drill your TB or adjust the tb idle spot if its bitchy.
hows it drive now? You might have to drill your TB or adjust the tb idle spot if its bitchy.
biggest PITA for me was the damn trans dipstick bolt on the back of the block- otherwise it's not that bad. Make sure to lube up the converter input shaft with some fluid too- all my **** was bone dry, and I must have damaged the trans seal with the input shaft cause I have a very small leak now.
fwiw i did my head/cam install with the help of some friends yet paid $175 for my TC install and was glad I did. There are several parts of the install that made me cringe...like when the hex bolts got stripped, the new bolts were too big for one of the 3 holes which seems the norm for 98's...they also didnt drop the ypipe which If i had done the install wouldve done since it was recommended in the writeup i saw...btw when i did my headers a month later 4 of the 6 manifold to ypipe bolts broke so i wouldve been looking at not only a TC install but a rushed header installed at the same time.
lata
Bill
lata
Bill
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Joined: Dec 2002
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From: Chattanooga,TN
I stripped out the TC bolts as well they were way over torqued. We had to use a lillte sledge hammer and a good sharp chisle to get them out. That was the only hasle of the hwole job. As far as the replacement TC bolts they were to long so we had to grind them down to fit. I think that I could get the job done a lot quicker the next time now that I've done it before.
Originally Posted by foff667
fwiw i did my head/cam install with the help of some friends yet paid $175 for my TC install and was glad I did. There are several parts of the install that made me cringe...like when the hex bolts got stripped, the new bolts were too big for one of the 3 holes which seems the norm for 98's...they also didnt drop the ypipe which If i had done the install wouldve done since it was recommended in the writeup i saw...btw when i did my headers a month later 4 of the 6 manifold to ypipe bolts broke so i wouldve been looking at not only a TC install but a rushed header installed at the same time.
lata
Bill
lata
Bill
Drilling the flexplate took me a few minutes max.
I did mine without removing the Y-pipe. It never really got in my way.
My biggest problems:
Putting dipstick back into trans when replacing trans. Put the grommet in first
Replacing the dipstick stay bolt
Removing the trans from the engine. Pins corroded and stuck
Getting at some tans bolts:Have a 13mm swivel
15mm heads on starter are a pain on the '98. I had to trip some of the plastic inspection cover to get a socket on the bolt.
Some problems with shifter cable because I thought I had to dismantle it instead of popping the whole unit off of the selecter arm.
well god to see i'm not the only one with trans issues.iv'e had mine out six times soon to be seven here in a few weeks.it's really not that big of deal once ya get good at it.ocourse the idea is not to get good at it i suppose.when you put the tc in the car just listen for the tc to bottom out.it will make a small clinkity noise of sorts.that's how i do it.trans are a pita see i used to have a stick car and went to a auto.350 turbo did.nt like it.4l60e now with fuul manual valve body.well i don't have enough coller for it so i nuked it twice not knowing why.love these things.anyway don't wanna babel on.just one more thing when ya put it back in i don't know about 98's but my 2000 it's alot easier to lift the tail shaft over the y pipe first the lift the trans.provided you left the y pipe in.good luck man and don't get frustrated it takes a little patience. 
Originally Posted by CamaroCain
if i remember correctly you DO NOT want to reuse the stock bolts
The TCI converters are tapped for a different size fastener. 7/16x20 I believe.
If your converter is tapped for the metric OE size (10mm 1.5 I think) you should be able to reuse them. They are SPS socket head capscrews. Top quality stuff.
I would just go get some new ones from the dealer if I had a converter tapped for stock size bolts.
