Grandpa Car: 1979 Cutlass Thread

[DRIVEN]

Engine and transmission in and running just before midnight last night. No pics -- not really anything to see yet. I ran out out ATF so I couldn't test drive. I'm probably 2 qts low but it does engage all forward gears and reverse. Gotta wait till Napa opens then I can top it off and check my line pressures. Nothing like an untested transmission with a shift kit in a car it didn't come in to make you feel uncertain. Wish me luck.

 

[papabearxl]

LOVE those wheels, my friend....

 

[DRIVEN]

This has been the longest, most unproductive week of my life. I keep trying to make progress but it's just been one interruption after another. After it was all said and done, engine runs great and looks okay. The transmission seems to be wounded. The line pressures are all over the place. Some gears high and some low. Reverse seems pretty good. Won't build more than 220psi no matter what. Gauge check is important.

Got in contact with Superior and they believe the pump is weak. I'll talk to some transmission builders on Monday for more opinions. Since I had other jobs to do, she spent the night outside for the first time in probably 10 years.

On to the next one...
My brother's bus needed a transmission swap. More in the COMPOUND thread.

 

[DRIVEN]

So, here we are 10 days later. This is the update:
-Finished the bus transmission swap.
-Cleaned the shop REALLY well.
-Pulled the exhaust manifolds (in the owner's garage) on a '55 Chevy convertible show car to get them ceramic coated.
-Transported the '62 409 Impala to my house and handled a laundry list of small issues to be addressed before it will be sold.
-Transported a '57 Tbird from one storage spot to the owner's house. It will be delivered when the Impala is finally done.
-Completed a couple other bread-and-butter jobs. Got bills to pay, you know.
-Did some more work on the bus (alternator, etc).
-Finally got a chance to work on the Cutlass again. As I stated earlier, the guys at Superior indicated that my pump was weak. After trying a couple things I decided to just eliminate the possibility that I did something wrong and wanted to start from scratch. As luck would have it, last weekend was 1/2 off sale at PnP so I went out and yanked another transmission. It turned out to be a KC code out of an '86 Parisian. My research uncovered that it has one of the more desirable valvebodys. Brought it home, cleaned it up, replaced a couple seals, new filter and installed it. Completely stock and unaltered with it's matching TC. Lucky me! No second gear and slipping in 1 & 3. Pressure test revealed that it could not produce more than 120 psi. URG!!! Pulled it back out and spent a day trying to come up with a solution. The solution I came up with is to put a rebuilt pump in trans #1 and swap in my KC valvebody from trans #2. This would give me a rebuilt TC, pump, known good internals, and an unmodified valvebody. The pile of leftovers below.

Got it all swapped over and installed. Now it shifts into all gears with no slipping. But, it shifts hard and late. There is no passing gear kick-down function. It also has a very noticeable downshift when decelerating. A gauge check revealed that there was 275-300 psi almost all the time. It actually split the hose on my gauge in the middle of my testing. Cable adjustments made no noticeable difference. I give up. It's going to a transmission shop for a professional diagnosis. Depending on my mood I may just let them fix it. We'll see. Looks like it probably won't be making it to the show in Pendleton this weekend. I'm still going -- just probably in something else.

 

[DRIVEN]

Since the Cutlass wasn't going to make the show, I borrowed my dad's '64. I left at 4am, drove 250 miles -- much of it raining. Gave it a quick wash at a buddy's house. Met up with my parents and rolled into the show. Sat around for about an hour until the rain stopped. Dried the cars off and took in the sites. Collected a trophy for best in class on the '68. Fueled up and drove 250 miles home. No issues and home by 8pm. It was a good day.

 

[DRIVEN]

Sure wish the transmission shop would call with some news. I hate being a customer :? .

 

[DRIVEN]

Just got back from the transmission shop. $125 bucks lighter, all they found was that my pressures are high (reason I brought it in), it shifts late and hard (again, reason I brought it in), my cable was not adjusted properly (I told him when I dropped it off), my lockup isn't working (duh, there's no wiring at all), and my cable geometry wasn't right (he couldn't explain how it was wrong though). I have stock Qjet, cable and brackets. It's right on. Anyway, he proceeded to explain to me that I'd be farther ahead to just buy a rebuilt transmission than try to fix the one I have. But he was happy to sell me an ATSG manual at full mark-up so I could fix it myself since I'm "clearly mechanical enough to tear into one of those since you've already replaced the pump and valvebody. You should be able to figure it out" Basically, I paid for a diagnosis but only got a verification of my complaints. At least I got it back a week late and filthy from sitting outside. Like I said earlier, I hate being a customer.

 

[Oldsmoletick]

:| You should've told him to go piss in his hat for a bs deal like that. Can't have too many repeat customers with relations as such.....

 

[DRIVEN]

It would be really tempting. Unfortunately, his shop shares a lot of business with a shop I work for frequently. I do fill-in work when guys go on vacation or they get really busy. He knows who I am and where I'm from so I don't want to sour that relationship. On the other hand I would think he would have treated me even better because of the relationship. Actually, it's a really good transmission shop when it comes to later model stuff. I just don't think they wanted to be bothered with it when they could be slamming 4K rebuilds in regular customers' cars. Still not happy with the service -- and I know he knew that. Last thing he said when he pulled my car around was, "Good luck and let me know what you find out". I just told him not to wait by the phone.

 

[Oldsmoletick]

Ah, see there's the problem, you're not really a customer per say, dealerships are the same way, people who work for them, or do side work for them get jack sh*t for service when it comes down to it. At my old job it took a week for the service dept to inspect a car that I had purchased from them.......Really? a week to pull it in, hook up the computer, slap on a sticker, and give me the bill . They are never busy at that place either.