Looks great ! Did you use LED's ? they are polarity sensitive. Sometimes the sockets just need there contact tabs bent for better contact pressure. Keep up the great work.
First Car -- 1968 Barracuda Notchback
- Thread starter Chained_360
- Start date
-
FISHYPETE
Well-Known Member
Great thread and welcome. I too have my first car but had a much easier starting point it being only 10yrs old at the time. I also kept my old carpet for many yrs and finally threw it out when I moved
Never heard it put this way before but, I like it!
Well, it's been a month and I do apologize for being absent for so long, Life really does just take off sometimes. I'm back in Indy now but I have some time off work this week, so here begins the debacle of my transmission:
Ever since I've owned this car, it has had an oil leak at the back of the motor and an ATF leak at the front of the transmission. I had always planned on either pulling the trans or engine and fixing both at the same time but quite frankly, I was a lazy teenager that didn't want to do either until I HAD to. That day finally came while I was home. The car would occasionally puke about a pint of ATF on the passenger side header collector at highway speeds and then stop leaking, ala James Bond smoke screen style! I still don't understand why it leaked in this manner, but when it proceeded to lubricate the entire underside of the car on a sunny Friday afternoon I understood it was finally time to fix it.
My boss at work very graciously allowed me to put it up on stands outside the shop at work and get the job done after hours; this saved me HOURS of time as we have every tool imaginable, making the job much easier. However, I was still under the delusion that it would take me 8-10 hours to drop the trans, reseal it, and slam it back in... never having done it before.
Up on the stands she goes!
And I found quite the treat when I dropped the trans pan... lots of shiny metal. I know this transmission probably doesn't have a whole lot left in her, but I'm hoping she'll hold together until I can get the 4-speed in.
The exhaust came out easy, driveshaft too:
And then came the hard part. I decided the easiest way to drop the trans would be to unbolt the transmission crossmember and lower the back end of it so I could get to the bellhousing bolts. This plan worked, but was still EXTREMELY difficult
. In order to get the engine and trans to tilt back far enough, I had to disconnect the driver's side header. Then, I couldn't get to the forward transmission cooler line, so I had to pull the ENTIRE shifter linkage assembly out of the car. The torque converter bolts came out alright, but the last piece(s) de resistance were the bellhousing bolts themselves. My hands were too big to get between the firewall and the bellhousing, and the trans wouldn't tilt low enough to get behind the engine like I wanted to. The result was this setup and about two hours of cursing:
And finally, after I think about two or three days of wanting to take a hammer to it all, voila!
Out and ready for some repairs. Oh yeah, did I mentioned it decided to rain on too?
Ever since I've owned this car, it has had an oil leak at the back of the motor and an ATF leak at the front of the transmission. I had always planned on either pulling the trans or engine and fixing both at the same time but quite frankly, I was a lazy teenager that didn't want to do either until I HAD to. That day finally came while I was home. The car would occasionally puke about a pint of ATF on the passenger side header collector at highway speeds and then stop leaking, ala James Bond smoke screen style! I still don't understand why it leaked in this manner, but when it proceeded to lubricate the entire underside of the car on a sunny Friday afternoon I understood it was finally time to fix it.
My boss at work very graciously allowed me to put it up on stands outside the shop at work and get the job done after hours; this saved me HOURS of time as we have every tool imaginable, making the job much easier. However, I was still under the delusion that it would take me 8-10 hours to drop the trans, reseal it, and slam it back in... never having done it before.
Up on the stands she goes!
And I found quite the treat when I dropped the trans pan... lots of shiny metal. I know this transmission probably doesn't have a whole lot left in her, but I'm hoping she'll hold together until I can get the 4-speed in.
The exhaust came out easy, driveshaft too:
And then came the hard part. I decided the easiest way to drop the trans would be to unbolt the transmission crossmember and lower the back end of it so I could get to the bellhousing bolts. This plan worked, but was still EXTREMELY difficult
. In order to get the engine and trans to tilt back far enough, I had to disconnect the driver's side header. Then, I couldn't get to the forward transmission cooler line, so I had to pull the ENTIRE shifter linkage assembly out of the car. The torque converter bolts came out alright, but the last piece(s) de resistance were the bellhousing bolts themselves. My hands were too big to get between the firewall and the bellhousing, and the trans wouldn't tilt low enough to get behind the engine like I wanted to. The result was this setup and about two hours of cursing: And finally, after I think about two or three days of wanting to take a hammer to it all, voila!
Out and ready for some repairs. Oh yeah, did I mentioned it decided to rain on too?
Kendog 170
Let the boy go !
Hope you took down the canopy. I had one over my car bolted thru cinderblocks. Bad wind still pulled them up into the side of my Dart. Had to fix and paint whole left side. .
Once I had the transmission out, I went to take a look at the back of the engine to see if I could trace where my oil leak was coming from. I was certain it was the rear main seal, until I actually got under the car:
Here, let me enhance that for you like they do on CSI:
Yup. That's the back of the camshaft. Where did the cam plug go? Who knows? How did the engine not dump the entire oil pan onto the ground whenever it was running? No idea. How much did it cost to fix this "rear main seal" leak? $1.97 and a LOT of RTV. That son-of-a-gun is going nowhere (hopefully)! Yes, I did hammer the new plug in properly, but I wanted to be extra sure it wouldn't leak. I don't want to have the pull the transmission out again unless it's to put in the new one! Plus, you know what they say: The bigger the gob, the better the job!
While this was setting up I pulled the converter out and got ready to pull the front pump out. I didn't know which seal was leaking but I had access to all three, so I just went and replaced all of them. This was my first time inside an automatic so I was nervous, but after some research on this forum I felt much better about it. I tightened down the front band snug and went to pull the pump out. It took me about 15 minutes to figure out that the slide hammer goes into a smaller set of threads IN the pump, not into the transmission casing itself...
Blunders aside, the pump came out very easily -- the problem was scraping the old pump gasket off. Once I got the new seals in (input shaft seal, front pump gasket, front pump o-ring), I couldn't get the pump to seat in properly, so I stood the transmission upright in a garbage can, still no luck. All it took was a 1/4 turn loose on the front band and it dropped right into place! I bolted it in, adjusted the front band as best I could, and got ready to put the transmission back in.
I don't really have any pictures of the reinstallation of the transmission, but it took a couple days. I couldn't get the transmission and engine lined up properly. I ended up bolting the transmission crossmember back into the car and lifting the back of the engine and front of the transmission at the same time until the converter hub slid into the register on the crank. This got it close enough to where I could bolt everything back together! When I was finished and went to start the car for the first time (still on stands), it cranked and cranked but wouldn't even start. The culprit? My own idiocy:
After I put the rotor back in the distributor, she fired right up and shifted like a dream! She runs great, still does excellent burnouts, and doesn't leave a puddle where she's parked.
This was about as far as I got on the car while I was home, the only other thing I did was fix my wide-open-throttle issues. I'll see if I have any photos of that and post them if I do!
I hope everyone is doing well during this pandemic. Please stay safe and wear your mask! Many of us are either immunocompromised or know someone who is. And, wash ya dang hands! Take care everyone!
Here, let me enhance that for you like they do on CSI:
Yup. That's the back of the camshaft. Where did the cam plug go? Who knows? How did the engine not dump the entire oil pan onto the ground whenever it was running? No idea. How much did it cost to fix this "rear main seal" leak? $1.97 and a LOT of RTV. That son-of-a-gun is going nowhere (hopefully)! Yes, I did hammer the new plug in properly, but I wanted to be extra sure it wouldn't leak. I don't want to have the pull the transmission out again unless it's to put in the new one! Plus, you know what they say: The bigger the gob, the better the job!
While this was setting up I pulled the converter out and got ready to pull the front pump out. I didn't know which seal was leaking but I had access to all three, so I just went and replaced all of them. This was my first time inside an automatic so I was nervous, but after some research on this forum I felt much better about it. I tightened down the front band snug and went to pull the pump out. It took me about 15 minutes to figure out that the slide hammer goes into a smaller set of threads IN the pump, not into the transmission casing itself...
Blunders aside, the pump came out very easily -- the problem was scraping the old pump gasket off. Once I got the new seals in (input shaft seal, front pump gasket, front pump o-ring), I couldn't get the pump to seat in properly, so I stood the transmission upright in a garbage can, still no luck. All it took was a 1/4 turn loose on the front band and it dropped right into place! I bolted it in, adjusted the front band as best I could, and got ready to put the transmission back in.
I don't really have any pictures of the reinstallation of the transmission, but it took a couple days. I couldn't get the transmission and engine lined up properly. I ended up bolting the transmission crossmember back into the car and lifting the back of the engine and front of the transmission at the same time until the converter hub slid into the register on the crank. This got it close enough to where I could bolt everything back together! When I was finished and went to start the car for the first time (still on stands), it cranked and cranked but wouldn't even start. The culprit? My own idiocy:
After I put the rotor back in the distributor, she fired right up and shifted like a dream! She runs great, still does excellent burnouts, and doesn't leave a puddle where she's parked.
This was about as far as I got on the car while I was home, the only other thing I did was fix my wide-open-throttle issues. I'll see if I have any photos of that and post them if I do!
I hope everyone is doing well during this pandemic. Please stay safe and wear your mask! Many of us are either immunocompromised or know someone who is. And, wash ya dang hands! Take care everyone!
Thankfully it wasn't all that windy that day, I didn't have any issues with it. Plus, my paint is already FUBAR'd so it wouldn't matter anyway!Hope you took down the canopy. I had one over my car bolted thru cinderblocks. Bad wind still pulled them up into the side of my Dart. Had to fix and paint whole left side. .
intergalactica
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2006
- Messages
- 416
- Reaction score
- 30
Chained_360, I admire your tenacity. Dropping that tranny was, indeed, a mission!
Just think how much easier it will be next time.
. Congrats on getting it fixed and back on the road.
. Congrats on getting it fixed and back on the road.
Re-Living my youth. I did my first tranny in the winter after working all night long. Nice work and keep it coming. 
Well, I never thought of that but it would certainly explain the occasional drops of water I feel on my ankles when it rains hard! The radio isn't for sale at the moment but you will be the first person I come to if I ever do sell it.
No, I didn't use LEDs, but that would make sense. I think I most likely just missed something.
Kendog 170
Let the boy go !
Nice Job. When I was young I pulled my tranny out of my Dart like that . Had it bench built and new converter. Got it all together and the car wouldn't budge. Tranny guy gave me the wrong converter. I was so mad I got the thing out in 20 minutes the second time. Of course it was still up on stands and all the tools were right there.It's great to read your posts. Good luck on your next project.
Hey everyone, I can't believe it's been three years since I've updated this thread last... You may have followed my failed road trip attempt in this car (Cross-Country Road Trip in a '68 Barracuda), which still resulted in me getting the car to Indianapolis.
It wasn't soon after that school and then subsequently work consumed most (almost all) of my life. I'm happy to say I graduated in May of 2022 and started working full time, though I wish I had just a bit more spare time since then. A lot has changed since this thread was last updated, some good, some bad, and definitely many things to be looking forwards to. Hopefully I will have some more time in the near future to fill everyone in on the latest happenings with the car, namely the engine finally being pulled out...
So stay tuned and in the next couple weeks I'll have some more good stuff coming!
It wasn't soon after that school and then subsequently work consumed most (almost all) of my life. I'm happy to say I graduated in May of 2022 and started working full time, though I wish I had just a bit more spare time since then. A lot has changed since this thread was last updated, some good, some bad, and definitely many things to be looking forwards to. Hopefully I will have some more time in the near future to fill everyone in on the latest happenings with the car, namely the engine finally being pulled out...
So stay tuned and in the next couple weeks I'll have some more good stuff coming!
Congrats on many levels!
Looking fwd to next installment
Looking fwd to next installment
440jimr
Well-Known Member
Good to hear from you again!
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