400Z28Racer

iTrader: (4)

I am in the middle of a 700 tranny rebuilding and I got few questions:
1- about the bushing: the kit comes with three bushing, one of them goes to the tail shaft bushing, but where is the other two go to?
For bushing installation: should I hammer it in with bushing driver or press it in with a press.
2- 3-4 clutch pack: I have Red Eagle clutches and it did not come with instructions and I am little confused, the gap I got is .30” what gap should I be looking for?
My tranny did not come with spring assembly for 3-4 clutch (those little 5 pieces that go on the side between 3-4 clutches and input drum) and I also looked in my other tranny and it did not have it. Do I really need those little square things??
My tranny is 1988 thanks for your help.

Floor guy

Most kits come with 2 bushings. 1 for front pump and 1 for tailshaft. Match up the 3rd or ask the kit manufacturer. Be sure to inspect ALL bushings for wear. Change as needed or all. New bushing kit retails for 20 bucks. If you need em buy em. They set the pressures in the trans based on clearances. They should be hammered in or pressed in using the correct drivers. Measure them before you pound em. Most do not have stops and can be pushed too deep. The trans I just did had the same pack. I kept them on the high end of alto's spec. Spec is listed in the instructions. If you need it I can dig it out of my notes. You do not need the springs. However you must drill a hole in the sererator plate as per atsg manual to compensate.

400Z28Racer

iTrader: (4)

thanks for your advice, espacially the drill for the hole on the spacer plate. My question now is do you have to drill the gasket? if so how do you drill a hole in the gasket? (the gasket seems to weak to drill a hole in it)

Floor guy

The hole falls in the gasket opening . No problem there.

400Z28Racer

iTrader: (4)

I just called alto and I got no real help. they told me to match up the bushings

Floor guy

There are 12 or 13 bushings in a 700. The rear housing bushing is unique it has the circular impressions in the center. The case bushing has a distinctive spiral groove in the inner wear surface. Measure it and I may be able to help.

Pro Built Automatics

The .030 3-4 clutch clearance is on the tight side. Use the Trans-Go Hi-rev spring kit. This eliminates the five 2-spring assembly clips that are used with the original 3-4 clutch setup. The Trans-Go setup will keep 3-4 clutches out of trouble until about 7,800 rpm. The kits cost about $20.00. Are you using the Corvette servo?

TKOPerformance

I'm not totally familiar with the Red Eagle frictions, but .030" seems way to tight. Borg Warner Hi-Energy frictions want about .045-.055". If you need more clearnace dissasemble the 3/4 pack and take it all the way back to the 5 tanged basket made from steel that sits inside the input drum. Get a perfectly flat surface (I use a glass plate) and tape a sheet of 180 grit paper to it. Then sand the legs on the basket down by moving it across the sandpaper. It takes a while to get this right, and I advise you to assemble things several times in the middle to make sure that you don't end up with too much clearance. This will work well though, and the end result will be a much more durable trans. Another option is to substitute one of the steels with a Koleen steel, which is thinner. This will get you the right clearance, but the 3/4 clutch pack won't be as durable or able to withstand heat as it would be with all non Koleen steels. If you're using Koleen steels now I would advise against it. They don't handle heat as well as the Tubulator steels.

Definately ditch those 5 2-spring deals in favor of the Trans-Go kit. You must hae a fairly new 700R4, because older transmissions don't even have these. These were a stopgap measure by GM to try and get more durability out of the 3/4 clutch pack without really doing anything major or looking into the problems. I mean if the clutches slip and fail then they just need more preload pressure right? Why go to the trouble of investigating better friction and steel material, or designing the clutch spring pack properly? We can just slip these little helper springs in place. Hey, as long as it's cheap, right?

You may end up with an extra bushing or two. Make sure that you replace all of the bushings in the trans. Different aplications and models had different bushigns in different spots, so often there are a couple extras provided. I've got several tailshaft bushings laying around because you don't use them with a 4X4 trans. Just make sure that every time you encounter a bushing you pop it out and repalce it. I always install bushings with a bushing driver and hammer. The set up time using a press would be long and tedious, and the bushings aren't so tight that you need to use a press to avoid damaging them. Pay particular attention to the input sun gear bushings. GM drives them in way too far. You can gain some durability by only driving them in a hair below the bevel (an exact spec should be given in the instructions, but you'll see what I mean when you look at where the bushings are from the factory).

400Z28Racer

iTrader: (4)

Wow that was a lot of great information. I kept playing with 3/4 clutches 'till I got .040. The steel is Koleen, and if I use the stock plates I won't have clearance at all, but I am going to use big tranny cooler to prevent from over heat.
I am also using a vette servo. For 3/4 retainers spring I will give the Trans-Go riv kit a shot <----- thank you very much for this advice.
For the bushing my kit came with three bushing, one for pump, rear bushing (in the case), and tail shaft bushing. I already replaced them all, but my friend's dad told me when he rebuilds tranny he tired to avoid replacing bushings unless if it is necessarily because the new bushings sometimes tend to get lose and come right out of thier bores.
Anyway I am almost done and I just have to put the parts back in the tranny housing.
I thought it was an easy job which it is, but it takes a lot of time

mdricken

About how long did it take you from the time you had your tranny out? I 'm gonna start the same project this week.

400Z28Racer

iTrader: (4)

So far 10 hours and I am almost done. I always try to make my projects fun, and fun means wasting time while you are working.

mdricken

nice hat.

brutalform

That guy is truly "THE BEAST". He even has the crown to prove it....LOL

Cadillac

Man... I wish I had the skills and the garage to do my tranny. The 1-2, 2-3 flare up gets annoying sometimes.

Whereabouts in CA are you located?

TKOPerformance

My total rebuild/blueprint operation took me about two weeks of working nights if I could string all the time together. In reality it took about a month as I couldn't devote time every night to it, and I had to get the pump machined which took a couple of days to get back. The next time only took about three days, because I was familiar with the operation.

The time wasn't important to me. I wanted it done right the first time, and that often meant taking stuff apart a couple fo times, trial fitting to get the right clearance, ect. I also didn't need the truck it was going into, so time was a luxury I had. If time's a factor I'd say get someone else to do it. It's way better than having to rush a job you've never done before, and it would relaly suck to get the trans back in and then find out something's wrong or doesn't work.