Sometime after the weather warms up this year, I'm going to pull the engine and tranny out of my car. The tranny is starting to act up again, and I'm not about to let some other garage or schleprock mechanic touch my baby. I need suggestions, ideas, thoughts, etc. about this whole process, as I've never pulled both out of any vehicle before.

I plan on getting into the tranny and building it "correctly" for my liking, and I bet I'm going to find some parts inside. I've got the ATSG manual on order to study beforehand, so hopefully it'll get me back to having the sportier tranny I had when I bought this car originally.

Far as the engine goes, I plan on taking it apart, cleaning and maybe opening the passages up, replacing the egr/solenoid, all the gaskets, hoses, etc...

My goal is to make max power/tq with no major mods, and to massage out the creaks, clunks, and crap that keep popping up.


Everyone here has been a big help before, and I'd just like to hear what you all have to say about this undertaking. I don't think I'm going in over my head, but I'd like to hear suggestions about methods, parts, tools, etc...that I'll need through all this.

Many thanks in advance.

 

so basically, new rings, bearings and gaskets for the motor?
and replacing crap from the PO?

nothing wrong with that, you'll need a hone for your drill, to hone the cylinders, if you want to go that route. If your compression is ok now (perhaps do a compression test), then you might be able to get away with just honing it, and not boring it out.

might want to consider porting the heads a bit, and *maybe* a mild cam. If you've already got the engine apart, it isn't a lot of work to add a bit of power then.

if you have a digital camera, use it during the tear down. also write notes, and don't lose your notepad!!! holy cow that's annoying. Anything you remove, and it's slightly ambiguous, you WILL put back in backwards. Make a note (ie, short bolts go in bottom 3 holes, triangle area points towards sky... etc). Get a bunch of ziplock bags in different sizes, and a sharpie, label the bags so you know which bolts go where.

a small tip: buy allen capscrews for your intake manifold, makes things easier. Other little tiny cheap things make life a lot nicer.

 

Don't use a bottle hone on a drill to refinish the cylinder walls. He said he's trying to squeeze all the power out of the motor with no major mods. Which means that if he's tearing it down to freshen it up he's going to need to take advantage of the stock parts. Which also means a good cylinder wall surface for the rings to seal against. A bottle hone leaves irregularities in the bores and the rings wont seal properly not to mention the rough finish is going to make more friction.

Get it out and take it to a machine shop you trust to get the block prep done. Have them get the block ready for assembly and it you feel comfortable doing it yourself, go for it.

 

I guess my car heard me talking about it today, because as I went out for the evening, I lost 3rd gear. This is just f*@!ing wonderful. I limped home in 2nd gear at 15 mph.

Maybe I'll be starting this project sooner than later.

As far as stock parts go, to hell with 'em. I'll keep what I have to or what I can't afford to replace. Maybe I'll build this thing up a bit and have some fun. I know someone is going to say buy a HSR, miniram or a 350...I don't want to right now. A 305 can be fun. I've had it to 105 mph on the interstate before, that's fun to me.

Keep talking to me fellas. I appreciate all the input.

 

Just to throw this out there.....bump the line pressure on your trans. Lotta times you can recover slipping gears or sticky valvebodies by going up on the pressure, via your TV cable. Worked on my buddy's car for months til the trans finally fragged completely and lost all forward gears

 

Take lots of photos. Buy lots of solvents & rags. Bag & tag all the parts.

It's a big job and will take three times longer than you think it will.

Good Luck!

 

Charlz, im doing pretty much the same,
i decided on a reman 700 2400 shift kit corv sevo etc,$1200
my old trans was junk
im not much into trans work
you can clean up the block your self,but its fairly cheep to machine it with new cam bearing etc. i paid 275 bored 030
course its on your budget,
ive got like only $2400 into my lower end,and heads,
but its all new,
pull it apart as the post recommends,look at pists and crank etc,
and decide.
yes you can do it for under a $1000,but its your eng,
go from there.

 

Your heads you can prep/hog out/port if you got shop air, or a dremel,ive never used a dremel, but works fine im sure.
Gm likes to put little bumps on the intake side,
take a carbine bit,remove the bumps and hog out the intake holes a bit,keep them square, then waste as many stone bits as you can to polish them smooth,make sure not to get too thin on the walls,or outer edge where gasket goes,
i also like to get rid of the casting left from the factoy on top,
you will see on each head,like 4 t0 6 oil drain holes/punched out,
get rid of the cast around them,then send out to machine shop,to get magchkd,
doing this can ruin your heads,if you dont know what your doin,
but its very simple indeed,
post a pik of your stuff if you are not sure

 

If you have the "blue book" you might want to get the "green book" (Updates). GM made many running changes to the 700R4 since the early versions: 82-87 were having durability problems. I was amazed how different the transmissions were between 87 and 88. The changes were by transmission manufacture date and not car year model. A lot of good info if you are working on an "old" design transmission, about building it with newer design parts.
Book is here:http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/GM-70...1370QQtcZphoto
No sense in putting back together "old style" parts that GM found out won't last.
The whole 700R4 automatic transmission field is so shrouded in secrecy that I decided to learn about it. After reading up I found out why: In 1988 alone, GM put 32 different 700R4's in vehicles. Earlier year models, it's even worse (46 in 1985). Not like the good ol' TH350 where only the case or torque converter was different.
(disclaimer: not affiliated with the book seller in any way)

 

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who posted. Great ideas to ponder over.

I'm looking at master rebuild kits for the 700r4 and got to wondering. Who out there makes or stocks "the best" complete kit? Like I said before, this isn't a 400hp+ tranny crusher I'm working on here, but I still want to have great pull off the line, tight shifts, and enough high end that the car is fun to drive again.

I was looking at some of the stuff on ebay just to see what people are trying to sell, "this part is made from...", "Best on the market..." You get my drift. I just want some advice to help separate the good from the chaff.

I'm much obliged to you all!