DIY Install of Torque Converter.
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From: Chicago IL/ Lake Geneva WI
DIY Install of Torque Converter. Anything I should know before jumping on this? I had a Vig 3600 that blew up last year that was put in by a shop. (Cracked my top bolt hole off the bellhousing, stripped a converter bolt, crossthreaded another converter bolt). Shops mostly **** me off, so I'm going to try to do this one myself. I'm going to go with a Fuddle Racing Converter this time, is there anything odd I need to know before starting? Do I need different bolts and such? TIA!
Staging Lane
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 99
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From: Fargo, ND
Bah, it's not hard at all. Let's see from memory:
Jack that sucker up.
Drain Tranny fluid & put pan back on. (Might as well change it)
Take off Tunnel Brace (4 bolts)
Put the car in neutral so you can rotate the shaft as necessary
Pop the Drive Shaft off. (4 bolts on u-joint, slides out of tranny.)
Take the torque arm off (two bolts to differential, 3 on tranny)
Pull all the electronics you can reach.
Drop the Starter (2 bolts) and hang it out of the way with a coat hanger.
Pull the cover plate behind the starter (one bolt)
(Rotate the crank as necessary for the next step)
Pull the TC bolts from the hole where the starter was (3 total Stock will be Allens).
Unhook the Dipstick Tube (1 bolt ont he back of the block)
Pop it out of the tranny pan.
Put a jack under the tranny.
Drop the Transmission Cross Member (4 bolts)
Unhook the rest of the electronics you can now see.
Pull the Coolant lines.
Drop the Bellhousing bolts. (Yes there is a bitch one in the top dead center)
Give her a good tug towards the rear of the car to pop it off the dowels.
Lower the jack.
Slide the old TC off (It's fairly heavy!)
Fill the new TC with some fluid, slip it onto the shaft, while spinning it.
(You will feel 3 distinctive enguagements)
Reverse the above steps for reinstallation.
(I think that's got it all!)
Jack that sucker up.
Drain Tranny fluid & put pan back on. (Might as well change it)
Take off Tunnel Brace (4 bolts)
Put the car in neutral so you can rotate the shaft as necessary
Pop the Drive Shaft off. (4 bolts on u-joint, slides out of tranny.)
Take the torque arm off (two bolts to differential, 3 on tranny)
Pull all the electronics you can reach.
Drop the Starter (2 bolts) and hang it out of the way with a coat hanger.
Pull the cover plate behind the starter (one bolt)
(Rotate the crank as necessary for the next step)
Pull the TC bolts from the hole where the starter was (3 total Stock will be Allens).
Unhook the Dipstick Tube (1 bolt ont he back of the block)
Pop it out of the tranny pan.
Put a jack under the tranny.
Drop the Transmission Cross Member (4 bolts)
Unhook the rest of the electronics you can now see.
Pull the Coolant lines.
Drop the Bellhousing bolts. (Yes there is a bitch one in the top dead center)
Give her a good tug towards the rear of the car to pop it off the dowels.
Lower the jack.
Slide the old TC off (It's fairly heavy!)
Fill the new TC with some fluid, slip it onto the shaft, while spinning it.
(You will feel 3 distinctive enguagements)
Reverse the above steps for reinstallation.
(I think that's got it all!)
Last edited by Ouija; Aug 23, 2005 at 10:53 AM.
Maybe it's just me, but I dont' think it's that hard.
I ripped mine out last week to get the tranny built.
After you've done it once you'll probably think it's not so bad.
Dropped mine twice now, and have helped drop 2 or 3 others.
It is really nice to have a friend help, but the only part I really NEED someone there for is the actual dropping of it after you have all the bolts out. Even with a Tranny jack, it's nice to have someone there to drink beer with ya.
(Oh, the gotchas are the bell housing bolts on the top of the tranny, the dipstick bolt, and getting the tranny off the dowel pins. Other than that, it's jsut time consuming. A creeper and an air conditioned garage makes it much nicer too!)
I ripped mine out last week to get the tranny built.
After you've done it once you'll probably think it's not so bad.
Dropped mine twice now, and have helped drop 2 or 3 others.
It is really nice to have a friend help, but the only part I really NEED someone there for is the actual dropping of it after you have all the bolts out. Even with a Tranny jack, it's nice to have someone there to drink beer with ya.
(Oh, the gotchas are the bell housing bolts on the top of the tranny, the dipstick bolt, and getting the tranny off the dowel pins. Other than that, it's jsut time consuming. A creeper and an air conditioned garage makes it much nicer too!)
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Here's a tip that took me a while to find out. The third bellhousing bolt up on the drivers side is a real B!#CH to get to due to the curvature of the bellhousing and lack of clearance. I used the following combo to get it out. 1/2" wobble socket - 6" extension - flex knuckle - 24" of extensions. Oh, and it's really helpful to have at least 36" worth of extensions while pulling those bellhousing bolts.
