Texas82GP's GMT900

[motorheadmike]

Just be really conservative with the 1-2 accumulator spring in the Transgo HD-2. I should send you the Jakes kit I have that I am probably never going to use... LOL.

http://www.jakesperformance.com/wp-...1/Recalibration-Kit-Instructions-12222016.pdf

 

[Texas82GP]

Not much progress to report. I didn't work on it this weekend. Worked in the yard all day Saturday and could hardly move on Sunday. Haven't heard anything from the builder yet. Was hoping to hear from him on Friday. I'm trying to be patient. I did finish the paint job on the transmission pan and lower bellhousing cover. It won't win any academy awards but I guess I'm glad I gave it some detail and it is good enough to go under my daily driver and get filthy dirty. I painted both pieces with VHT Engine Enamel. The lower bellhousing was initially cleaned up with mineral spirits. The transmission pan got a little dirty from the mockup so it got cleaned with brake spray. Then I wiped them down with lacquer thinner on a micro-fiber cloth and Sean helped me mask them up. Then I primed them with the grey VHT Engine Enamel primer. I had a bad can of primer. It took about a minute of shaking to get the mixing balls freed up. I shook it for several minutes but I guess it wasn't enough. It spit and fussed ended up not wanting to spray. I still tried to follow the instructions as best I could. I ended up with some fuzz in the paint from the micro-fiber cloth since both castings are pretty rough. I tried to brush that stuff out with a soft brush and it started taking the primer off so I blew that off. The black sprayed well. I used GM Satin Black (basically the same color on a "LS" truck block). That was Sunday before last. On Tuesday, after I dropped off both transmissions, I started sanding the paint off the fins on the transmission pan. The fins were 'as cast' so a sanding block didn't work well. I ended up just hand sanding it with small pieces of 80 grit sand paper. It took about 2 hours. It's far from perfect as there are some pits and low spots on the fins that still have paint in them but it's good enough for me. Here is part way through the sanding....

Last Thursday I finally got around to spraying the clear coat on both parts. This was in accordance with the recommendation from VHT (use the primer, use the color, use the clear). I liked the more satin finish before the clear better but the clear helped hide some of the boo-boos so its fine. The clear shot really well so I just had a bad can of primer. I've had a little of that with VHT. I've had a few bad cans of the chassis and roll bar paint. Anyway, here's a pic of the finished product.....

I think I'm going to paint the transmission the same way (primer, black, clear). That's it for now guys. I hope to follow up with some news on the overhaul sometime this week. Until then,

Best,

Jared

 

[Turbolq4]

 

[motorheadmike]

View attachment 110100 View attachment 110101 View attachment 110102

Jokes on you: my TBSS just made a crisp 2-3 shift under boost. Ha!

But, mine's a Level 11.

 

[Turbolq4]

Jokes on you: my TBSS just made a crisp 2-3 shift under boost. Ha!

But, mine's a Level 11.

Always exceptions to the rules!

 

[motorheadmike]

Always exceptions to the rules!

Or a finite number of shifts.

 

[Texas82GP]

Update:

My buddy at the transmission parts house reached out late yesterday afternoon. He was running most of the parts over to the builder. The builder spec'd. all Kolene steels and Raybestos Stage 1 frictions. He's putting in the high performance piston kit and replacing both sprags. He mentioned to my buddy that he wanted to put a heavy duty front clutch hub in it as well. I had verbally passed on this with my buddy, thinking it was unnecessary, before I had taken the transmission to the builder. I reconsidered since the builder recommended it.

I gave the builder a call. He had the transmission torn down and said it looked pretty good with the exception of the clutches that were failing, hence the clutch material we found in the filter. He recommended the front clutch hub to me and I authorized it. This was close to 4 PM yesterday. My buddy got the hub over there earlier today. The builder and I discussed the installation of the reprogramming kit. He recommended we go conservative since he can go back in the valve body and firm it up more if wanted but its hard to go back if it is too firm. I advised him that this is my daily driver and I put around 300 miles on it a week. I told him to go conservative to middle of the road. He seemed to like that feedback. I'm guessing he'll have the transmission together in the next day or two.

Here's the front hub that we went with....

https://www.sonnax.com/parts/1997-heavy-duty-forward-clutch-hub

That's it for now. I'll update when I hear more. Thanks for following along.

Best,

Jared

 

[Texas82GP]

There is progress to report. I called to check on the transmission last Wednesday. The builder said it was all together with the exception of the valve body, which he was working on at that time. He said it would be ready Thursday. I went and picked it up Friday. With my truck broke down (obviously) and my brother out-of-town on business, I had to go get it in the Impala. The builder and I put it in the trunk without too much difficulty. Once we had, he said "Good luck getting it out."

I was concerned that it was going to be difficult getting it out of the trunk by myself without damaging the car, the transmission, myself or all three. Fortunately, I was able to get a friend of mine, who is self employed to come over to the house and help me get it out. He came over about 2:30 Friday afternoon. By then, I had my engine stand put together and had hardware picked out of my bolt containers to mount the transmission to the stand. Man, the 4L80E is a heavy unit, even without a torque converter.

The builder got it pretty clean but I let my OCD get the best of me. The 4L65E out of the truck looked better so I decided to paint the 85E before it goes in. I didn't go crazy on prep. I wiped it down with a microfiber cloth with lacquer thinner, let it flash, and taped it up....

Two coats of VHT Engine Enamel Grey Primer...

Don't worry. I sent my little helper inside the house when I was spraying and didn't let her come back out until about five minutes after I finished spraying. She loves to hang out in the garage and is really great about staying in the garage so I try to accommodate her as much as I can. I waited 30 minutes and then started spraying the GM Satin Black per the instructions. I did two light coats, separated by 10 minutes each followed by one medium wet coat per the instructions. Then waited another 30 minutes and did the same with the Gloss Clear. Again, it's a little more glossy than I'd prefer but it will match the lower bellhousing cover and transmission pan that I already painted and I think it looks better than it did.

And unmasked....

I'm working today to make up for being off yesterday. We have a lot of chores around the house tomorrow but my brother is going to help me get it down off the stand, get it over to the storage and get it on the jack. I should be going back together soon. The only major detour left is that I'm going to replace the engine mounts while it is this far apart. I bought custom fabbed polyurethane engine mounts about a year ago and just haven't made time to install them. I've long suspected having a bad mount. With the way the engine dances around at idle with the cam and having 176k miles on the clock, I won't be surprised if that's the case. Otherwise, this thing is going back together and thank goodness for that. This has been a ghastly expensive undertaking. I'm not sure I would do it all this way if I did it over again but I'll be glad to have a 4L85E in it when it's all said and done.

That's it for now friends. Thanks for following along. I'll update when there is news to report. Until then...

Best,

Jared

 

[Turbolq4]

Yeah, they're heavy pigs! I deadlifted mine from the floor to the bench which is 41ish inches tall. CrossFit is for losers.

 

[motorheadmike]

Yeah, they're heavy pigs! I deadlifted mine from the floor to the bench which is 41ish inches tall. CrossFit is for losers.

I am currently doing Build the Monolith, and on Thursday in the gym at work I had three young pups (2 skinny fat males, 1 female) setting up their WOD. Me? I was just deadlifting my shrug weight on the trap bar (our dumbbells only go up to 100lbs) up off the floor while they were spouting off CrossFit catch phrases and buzzwords. When I was done my hundred reps and needed to set the bar back the girl was taking her time changing her bumper plates... leaving me in a half-seated position with the bar resting on my upper quads.

Her: Oh, sorry - yada yada.
Me: NP.
Her: Nice Punisher shirt.
Me: Thanks (thinking its not the shirt, its the man inside it).

Then I was off to do 100 face pulls.

My point? Talking about CrossFit when you could be lifting impresses no one.

Build Dad strength.