Has anyone ever rebuilt their tranny themselves? How hard is it? Does it require any special tools? I ca nrebuild a quadrajet carb and there must be 100 pieces in/on that thing. Would it be possible that I could just buy a tranny overhaul kit and rebuild everything myself with a service manual or something?

It's possible, need a few special tools. I was ready to take the da** thing and throw it against the wall, just a tedious process Works as good as the one I had rebuilt at the shop, except mine will still shift from 3rd to 4th

Pick up an ATSG Techtran manual for your tranny from NAPA.
They are only about $20.00. Look it over and if it looks like something you are ready to try, jump right on in! As for the tools,
I made most of mine (as did some of those on this board).
You can also hire a tranny shop to replace bushings,etc, if you don't have the proper tools to do it yourself.

I want to rebuild mine this summer. (And I also want to rebuild the motor, paint the car, go on vacation, get a tan, sleep, eat, sigh....) I picked up the Haynes GM Transmission Overhaul book for $18 at Pep Boys- man, that book is great. It covers the 700r4 (as well as other common trannies) in a photo-by-photo rebuild!! It even covers the differences between years, and tells you what tools you need, and which you can get away without buying. http://www.haynes.com Also search this forum for "transmission tools", there's some info floating around.

But defiantely get the ATSG book, too. I bought mine from http://www.northernautoparts.com , and I've used it quite a few times. You won't find those diagrams in the Haynes book. By the way, the ATSG manual is almost exactly the transmission section of the GM Service Manual!! So if you have your choice between the two, buy the ATSG book.

I bought the ATSG book years after buying the GM service manual, and was disappointed at first- but then I noticed that the ATSG book covers all the year-to-year updates and service bulletins. The GM manual just covered the 700r4 for that year (86).