Hey there,

I'm going to have to let someone change my flywheel. How much could I expect to spend on his labor? How do you think he'll go about changing it? I have an 88 IROC w/ a 700r4. Thanks in advance.

Tom

 

Depends on how long it takes the shop to do it and what they charge. Get a writen "Quote" first, not an "Estimate". How many miles are on the tranny? Might want to spend an extra $125.00 and get a reman. Torque Converter, or spend a little more and get a nice "Sat Night Special" (2000-2200 stall). It will take no extra time to install since the shop will have the tranny out anyway.

 

If your car has an auto trans, you don't have a flywheel. You have a flex plate.

You don't have to take the trans out to change the flex plate. What you do is take out one bolt on each side, and put about a 6" long one in place of them; take the crossmember out and the torque arm mount off, undo the speedo cable and the cooler lines and the converter bolts, and remove the othe r4 trans bolts, and slide it rearward far enough to get a long box-end wrench on the flex plate bolts. Takes about an hour and a half in most cars, maybe 2-2½ in one of these because of the extra work with the torque arm. So, given a typical $65/hr shop rate, I'd expect a labor bill in the $150 neighborhood.

 

Sorry, RB83L69 is right. When I stated "pulling the tranny out" I didn't mean completly out from under the car. I am assuming that doing it the way he stated with the bolts leaves only the shifter cable, kick down cable, and wiring harness connected to the tranny and the tranny connected to the motor via some 6 inch bolts?

A friend of mine that runs a tranny shop, puts the car up on a lift and uses a stand with wheels that holds the tranny so he can lower and move the tranny out of the way.

So in theory, if you wanted to have the TC changed, is still shouldn't take much extra time to install the TC by setting the tranny on a tranny jack and pulling it a little further away from the motor to change the TC vs. using the bolts. But I do not know how the shop you pick will do the job (bolts vs. jack).

 

Yup, pretty much; you need to support the trans somehow obviously, a stand like the trans shops use, or a floor jack if you're laying on the ground, or whatever.

The object of the exercise is to disconnect no more than necessary, avoid draining the fluid, and eliminate the need to do a complete trans R&R. Although, some shops can do that so fast, if they're set up for it and experienced at it, that it hardly matters. And of course if you do go ahead and do the complete R&R, then a TC swap is basically free as far as labor, because it will only take about 2 extra minutes to do the swap.