1971 Cutlass Th350 Transmission Removal And Replacement!

All right, it took two days worth of Labor a bit of doctoring on a torque converter. Not everything went smoothly, but we got this th350 pulled out of this cut list got another one put back in and it's running smooth it's running well now, if you're interested in seeing how we got this done this weekend, foreign so we're here at the warehouse getting Ready to change transmission in the Cutlass cruising the coast is coming up in uh in a couple weeks, and last year cruising the coast. We had some metal shavings in the transmission and it's been a year. I decided not to take a chance with it. So I'm going to replace the transmission and decided not to rebuild this one, because I think it's something it's it's more than just a little graphite powder and it's like shaving. So so I think there's a planetary gear or something going out. Something major don't know if it was in a torque converter or what, with this big metal in it, so I'm going to leave it alone, so I'm going to pull this th350 out doing it by myself. My spousal unit says she might come here and help me we'll see if that happens, but that'll be a good thing uh so anyway got the car pulled up, just need to get up on jack stands and get started and uh into this. Here we go. So, let's see what do we have to take apart? Well, first thing is I've got the Rocket 350 in here, but I think the big block of the small block Oldsmobile to the same size, but I've got dual exhaust. So I know I've got an exhaust flange over here. On the other side, I'm looking way up underneath there and the transmission dipstick tube is going to have to come out. Two cooling lines are right there in that corner, they're hard to get to and the downshift cable has been um. You can see where it's hitting the flange right right there. That'S where that's where I had trouble last year, which started us, started the whole process for a reason why we had to pull the pin um I'm going to drain some of the transmission fluid if I can find an aluminum pan to drip it into, and let's See what else we got? We know we got uh the cross member, so there's a cross member underneath here I got ta get two: where is it up? There yeah? I got ta get to the cross member um. Probably I don't know what the parking if the parking brake cable is going to have to come down what else uh driveshaft of course come out and pull it out at the back, I'm going to tape the front I'll tape, the Yoke, so it doesn't drip what Else, uh, shifter linkage, speedometer cable, yeah whole thing is to be able to get this because this is only shoot. This is only that high off the ground. I got to get this off the ground high enough to get the transmission out yeah yeah. I'Ve got six ton. Jack stands to do that and then three tons for the back. This is what I'm starting with. So I have a Harbor Freight two ton aluminum Jack, and I made a transmission adapter plate for it. Uh there's a separate video that I made on just that. It'S just a few minutes long. I'M gon na put the thumbnail up here the link over there, but this is a th350 that I ordered off the web. Taking My Chances with that, but um, I had bad luck with transmission shops in town and they're getting few and far in between they can work. On a 50 year, old transmission got a new torque converter that I ordered that came in two new six ton Jacks from Harbor Freight, and my issue now is to try to figure out how high up in the air do. We need to get this transmission so right now, if I had 23 inches of clearance. Let'S see this is yeah, so if I had, this is about the same height as a transmission jack. So if I had maybe 23 24 inches of clearance, I think I could get this out. So that's what I need to do is I need to. I need to go from five inches of clearance. I need to get it, you know roughly 20., 20 inches or so up in the air, the frame rail. So that's what I'm going to aim for, but I'm going to start taking apart a handful of things, I'm going to loosen up some of the bolts up top that I'd rather get than where from the top. When I can reach them rather than try to come up from the bottom, with all kinds of wobbles and and extensions, so I'm going to do that and then I'm gon na um, I'm gon na have time. When I take the the starter off, because I usually like to use the starter to turn the flywheel in order to get to the three torque converter bolts, so I'm gon na have to see how that plays out, we'll see all right underneath the car I've removed. The shift linkage took it off the frame. I don't know how to how to get it apart. So it's just dangling there, but my starter, I'm gon na leave my starter hooked up, looks like I'm gon na have to take take off this. At least one side of the exhaust in order to clear the bell housing down, I think the other one will probably be okay, but this one kind of dips underneath and that one goes up, I'm going to leave the starter attached until I disconnect the flywheel bolts. Um but I'm going to drain the transmission fluid now it'll be easier to drain it when it's in the car, so I've got some aluminum aluminum baking pans, I'm going to put underneath there and I'm going to tip that pan down and then just drain it there. You go okay, so it's draining. I just need to um loosen a little bit more, get the rest of the fluid out, or at least most of the fluid out. So I don't make a bigger mess. I'M going to pull it out all right, transmission, Pan's down and uh. I'Ve only got about 250 miles on the on the car, maybe 300 or so since um. Since we had a problem last year, but there's still - I don't know if you can see it, but there's there's shavings big shavings that are in here, so I mean it could have been left over in the transmission. I don't know what, but it's just it's just not good see a little cloudiness over here. The the flu is just not a healthy color, and this is brand new fluid. It'S only got a couple of hundred miles on it, so I don't know if it's good or bad, but I've decided to just you know not not risk a failure, because every time I take the car out, it's someplace distant, usually um. So I just don't want to take a chance, so we're going to change transmission, no matter what all right. Now that I got the fluid out, I got it cleaned up underneath there with my all dry Matt, and you know you're, going to sooner or later get transmission fluid in your hair. It'S like usually all the back of your head's, all matted. When you change the transmission, but I got a piece of cardboard that I'm laying and sliding and that's helping that's a lot better than the creeper um. But anyway, I'm I'm on my way. I'M going to now start disconnecting torque, converter, bolts and things like that, while the car is low and then I'm gon na Jack it up when I'm ready to pull the whole thing out, so I'm gon na start doing that use a starter to bump bump it And get the get the bolts where I need to be and um yeah so we're on it all right. Torque converter bolts are 9 16, so I got a ratchet wrench. So hopefully I can break this one and then once I get this one I'll get in I'll bump the starter and oh yeah, that's easy I'll get to the other ones. One two three Slide the slide. The torque converter back and uh I'll be able to continue on I'm gon na, have to fight and find my way to these bell housing, bolts, there's one up here. I got the two in the top. Let'S see, I think, can you see what I'm doing? Oh, you can't see what I'm doing yeah there's one way up here and I need to get to way way up there. I got the one at the absolute top of the bell housing. I got that one already one of those two, but now I'm gon na get these bolts on the torque converter off. First, oh, that's, nice! Oh yeah! I think the most tiring thing about or the thing about changing transmission is uh, the in and out up and down up and down up and down it will it's like doing StairMaster it'll wear you out, let me bump the starter and get to it. I was smart and pull the coil wire to make sure it doesn't start, but I just need to bump a little bit. Let'S see what that did all right see it might be backlashing with the compression. Oh, it is one all right got that one all right. So I'm gon na keep going I'm gon na loosen this one. It'S been a little bit more get the other one slide. The torque converter back and that'll. Be that all right now we're back at the rear, tail piece and there's a speedometer cable. I need to take that out. I think I need to recover my gear two, but I'll do that. After all the fluids drained. Hopefully we got a channel lock here, we'll get this done. Oh yeah, easy. It had all kinds of leaks in this. Damn thing. Oh, I had all kinds of leaks in this transmission. I don't know what the heck's going on with it doesn't matter all right. That'S out Speedos out one last thing: all right I'll leave the gear um I need to get the cross member out. I still need to get the drive shaft out now that I'm finished with the starter, disconnect my ground and and uh not have the risk of power hitting me man. I tell you what that starter is so close to the exhaust. I got a story for you I'll tell you one day: um we almost lost the car, almost burned it to the ground cruising the coast a couple of years back, that's a heck of a story! I'M going to save that for a separate video um, but all right we're getting the ground off now. Power will be dead to the car. I can pull the starter down, pull the starter down. Hopefully I don't have to disconnect everything off the solenoid. I don't know that I want to pull it completely out. Maybe I can find a coat hanger or something to hang. It we'll see all right, I'm half exhausted, but we got. I got everything disconnected. I got the crossmember disconnected uh starters down starters completely out. Um. All six of the belt housing bolts are out torque, converter or disconnected and slip back axles. At I mean the drive shaft is out, you can see I'm punched drunk um yeah. So now what I'm trying to do is I'm going to jack the car completely up. Put on a jack stand since everything's disconnected and then use my Jack, and I put the the adapter on the bottom of it. So I can get to the bottom of the of the pan. Take the weight off slide the cross member back and hopefully lower the transmission enough to get the two coolant lines off and then pull the transmission completely out. So I've been at this, maybe now for about two and a half to three hours. Maybe so that's not bad and my spousal unit did show up and she did. She is helping me she's handing me tools, but she does not want to get on camera. So here we go all right. I got her about six inches off the ground in the back, probably a little bit higher and I'm gon na use these little three ton. Jack stands underneath the rear axle so right now, I'm just trying to jack it up and get it get it. I can afford to go as high as high as possible right now, because I've got everything disconnected so working overhead isn't going to be a big pain in the foot and that's what I've been worried about. So I don't know. Maybe I'm creating work for myself, but all right, so it's getting there all right. Let me put these jack stands underneath here and um I'll go to the front and put the six ton. Jack stands, it'll, be even higher in the front. All right, I got the car jacked up as high as I can. With my Jack. I mean I had it fully extended and those are the six ton. Jack stands they're underneath the two A-frames, but now I got my transmission, a adapter plate plate on the bottom of the pan, and I just I just put the pull of weight. So I pull the weight off of the off of the cross member and not a cross member loose. So my Jack looks like it's going to work, so let's go ahead and pull it out. Well, I got it it's coming down, so there it is now. I just need to find a way to fish that bell housing uh from here, and I think what I might do is. I bet I need. If I take this tire off, I bet I can get it right through that little opening. If I tilt it, that's what I'm gon na do I take this tire off: let's fish it through there, because I'm not quite 24 inches off the ground, I'm nowhere close. So I mean it's like it was designed to come through this little opening. It'S ridiculous! How it's like just right there like, oh, mainly stuck a little bit, but what am I on? I don't know, but it's right there. It'S out, I'm swapping out a whole bunch of pieces parts that have to go on here. I had to recover my my shifter linkage that goes on here and then I had to recover my inverted flare adapters. That must be like a quarter inch pipe thread here in the in the transmission body and it's an inverted flare fitting. So that'll receive my two cooling lines I had to put the new. I got a new shifter on that one: shifter, downshift, cable, passing gear, cable and um, I'm putting a new o-ring on my on my dipstick tube, but those of you of a certain age will remember this remember in the late 70s, when the metric system came and You had a car that had half half SAE, half standard and half metric. This transmission must be from a 77 or 78 or 79 or something like that. Still a th350, the drive shaft splines bits, the torque converter, splines fit put. The bolts and the nuts are different. I had to go to the hardware store and go pick up some Metric, a metric nut for the uh for the shifter linkage and the metric bolt for the passing gear, cable, and that set me back about an hour. But you know okay, we'll get it done, we're gon na get it done. So let me let me show you something on this. This I just slipped, this torque converter, on pull it off at the front of the torque converter, has two grooves for the to engage. The pump so there's two sets of splines there's an inner shaft, an outer shaft and then there's a third that has to engage here. The pump, but one of the things that a lot of people mistakenly do - and this is every most everyone's well aware of this. But torque converters got to go back a certain amount and it's got to you heard it's hit hit the back of the the pump so right now what I've done is I've taken a straight edge and I put a straight edge across the front of this, and I made sure that my torque converter is back um, it's about three quarters of an inch to an inch on this one, and I compared it over here and made sure of this one that I know is engaged at the same thing. I put it on the front of that and it's the same depth back so I know this is far enough back to where it won't get into a bind because you'll burn it up. If this is all wedged up, so we know that that's all aligned in a good position. I remember my bolt was at seven o'clock for uh when I slip it in so I know I'll be able to get this torque converter aligned with the flywheel the flex plate. So I'm almost ready to roll this thing underneath the car and put it in all right. I roll the transmission underneath the car went through that little Gap right behind the lower A-frame and I got the bell housing underneath it. So it's got my floor, jack there and um yeah. So now, I'm about to lift it into place. Wish me luck all right. The regular viewers to my channel will know this. I work by myself today. I have to be I'm happy to be fortunate. My spousal unit, my wife, is helping she's handing me ranches and she's just making sure I don't kill myself because I'm not at home I'm away from home. So there's nobody else here. So that's why she's she's uh she's hanging around but she's been running back and forth at the hardware store, helped me sort out all this standard metric stuff so anyway, that's that's why I keep her she's a good one, and you can tell her. I said that so the transmission is jacked in place. It'S lined up I've bolted. I'Ve already got three or four bolts started on the uh bell housing. The last thing we're sorting out is there's a metric problem right here with my transmission rubber block. That'S here the the holes here and the boss are metric and I had standard bolts, so she's getting metric bolts to fit that and then I'll be able to slide my cross member backs speedometer cable, starter uh. The cooling lines are attached, the kick down, cable is attached, but not at the pedal, not at the accelerated pedal, and then I need to put my uh. The very last thing I think, will be my my um emergency brake. So I'd have the camera on letting you watch underneath here, but it's you can see it's hard to watch anyway. So carry on all right. How about some honesty I had the transmission completely in. I was on the very last thing. The only had left to do is just tighten the three torque converter bolts and then put the starter and the driver's side exhaust on fluid in it. Fire it. And I was done and just as I'm bringing the torque converter up a problem. And let me show you his small he's an old torque converter, so you can see it's got. The the built-in um threaded bosses for for three bolts is a replacement, torque converter that I got and you can see it doesn't. It'S got spot Wells plug welds in here, so this big plate on this Oldsmobile, the flex plate, has a balancing pleat on it. You see that plate that looks like uh all kinds of holes drilled in it see right next to the Bowl tool for the um, the torque converter, long story short. I got ta modify this torque converter. I got ta, take it grinding tips off, so I got ta. I got ta cut some of this back. I'Ve got them marked, so I'm gon na have to take this home and do that, but I had the whole Transmission in. I was almost done now. I got ta keep going so frustrating but fight another day, so I'll be back at it not tonight, but tomorrow we'll see well good morning. It'S day, two on the replacement of that th350 automatic transmission. My 1971 Cutlass, I'm back at home, I'm at my home garage, which is where Christine is I've, been working with Christine, but not this weekend trying to get the Cutlass ready for cruising the coast. It'S a week-long cruise event. I think they've got over 8 000 cars registered this year. I'M sure they're going to break records this year, looking forward to getting out there it'll be the first week of October. So last night I had the transmission 90 towards being buttoned up and the torque converter. I have to modify it so I brought it home where my grinder in my welder is, and I'm gon na go ahead and make some modifications to this. But let's talk through it a little bit. So this is a rebuilt, torque, converter um. It is I bought it from AutoZone made in the USA, pretty sure it's remanufactured um, this b1a torque converter. So it's uh it's this! This torque converter is different than the one that I have that that I had on the car and it's these little brackets. That are in the way the little mounting bosses. So what I'm going to have to do is I made some templates. I'Ve marked these things A and B and I've got I'm just going to grind away some material just to clear my my flex plate balancer plate which crosses over this one and on this one. So I'm gon na I'm gon na take these to grind these down and in the event that I get too close to the weld I'm going to go ahead and weld this back, but um. That'S what I'm gon na do so that's the project at the moment. All right, I got it cleaned up. Put my template on here marked it grinded it out, and it looks like this must be a a weld where they, the whole plate is fused. It must be like a pinch weld um. I forget what they call it, but it's it's where the two the two plates fuse together instead of a spot weld, so it's welded throughout the entire surface. So that's not going to be very weak. It'S it's super strong right now so got this done now. I'M pretty sure I'm going to clear it on both both sides, but I'm going to bring my grinder to the to the warehouse just in case so we're going there next all right now. I'Ve got the torque converter slipped back into place. I'M gon na grind it out where I'm going to clear that plate. I'M gon na show you the plate. I'M climb, underneath the car show you what I was dealing with there. It is that plate right there was in the way, so my two bolt holes are uh here. Let'S see right there and over here, and I had to grind away enough to clear this corner in this corner, but it did it and now we're going to put it in so there we got underneath, and I got that adapter plate on my Jack and uh. Here we go all right: I'm underneath the car got the emergency brake connected, drive, shaft back in universal joint tight um shift. Linkage, I just put fluid in it and it looks like I'm getting some drips. I don't know what that's all about shouldn't be leaking got. My coolant lines connected um 12 converters bolted up starters in uh yeah, it's all bolted up to the motor tight doesn't seem like much until you, you lose two days doing it. What what are we gon na? Try to turn the key all right ready to start? It I also changed the oil while we had it. Let'S see so that's reverse dry. We got propulsion, take it off. The jack stands, take around the block, all right. It seems to be doing okay staying in gear. It'S been slipping for about five minutes or so I've had it in the garage and uh couldn't tell um. It was taking a little while to settle in man. Just makes me nervous, you know, but I know it's rebuilt, so yeah it's slipping a little bit, but it's shifting, maybe it'll, take a little bit for that fluid to get circulating, get the air pockets out of the system. Maybe oh, no! I was going yeah, I'm in third now three speed, I'm shooting, but my speedometer is not working. That'S not good! Why not? Why is that not working? I put the gear back in so, let's see who just go through the neighborhood. Oh yeah, it's pulling a lot better. Now, yeah just took a little bit to get that fluid circulating, but I don't like that. My speedometer is not working. So all right, I know, put the cable back in it would be dripping otherwise, and the dripping that I had the dripping that I had earlier was the the transmission pan see it slipping right. There yeah it's just got to work out the Kinks. I guess, but I had to change the transmission pan and this rebuilt transmission uh when I pulled it off the crate. The bottom of the pan was like completely pushed, I mean pushed completely in. It was horrible, so I took my my pan off of mine and put it on this one, so it seems like it's doing. Okay, all right, let me put this phone down and let me get it back to the shop all right. We got it done so I got it back in the shop now still got that that speedometer cable to fix, but um, hopefully it'll, be minor. I don't know, but I'm still. I still have my other th350 in case. I need a part off of it. You never do know so. Anyway, that's going to be it for this episode. I do appreciate you watching if you enjoyed this check out my other videos, we'll ReStore in that 1956 Bel Air and stay tuned for the month of October, when we're going to be shooting you some videos, we're cruising the coast from the Mississippi Gulf Coast beaches. It'S an awesome time over 8 000 cars registered so far, really looking forward to it so until next time take care yourself cheers. Thank you.