Hey guys I was wondering if I should have any concerns about a 84 Trans AM I just bought as far as the transmission is concerned. The car sat for a year streight and I wanna put it on the road again within the next 8 months, any ideas what I should do to ensure that the 118,300 Mile Transmission will hold up longer. So far its strong...thanks for the help!!!!!!!

 

Not too much you can do. Adjust the tv cable per the shop manual, change the fuild and filter and add an aux trans cooler.

 

Yep. If it's gonna die, it's gonna die. No stopping it. So if you have any questions about the reliability of it's hardparts, do it before you get it on the road again.

 

thanks guys, I was getting mixed responses from my friends who are mechanics and classic car guys saying that changing the filter/fluid would be bad if the fluid was never changed as it may be used to the particals and what not floating around inside....any truth to that?

 

Dropping the pan, changing the filter is regular maintenence. Don't listen to them. A flush is different, but it's a subject of much debate.

Changing all of your fluid can not hurt. But depending on where, or when you get a flush, it can. If you wait until you think the tranny is dead to flush it in hopes of a miracle, that won't help, and your wasting money. Also, it's not recomended to flush with anything that's not tranny fluid. ATF is a detergent (cleaner), so there should be no reason to run anything other than ATF and air through those lines. They should use fresh ATF, or the machine they use should have a SUPER FINE filter. And don't get a backflow, or anything like that (at least not with the tranny still in the car.) That could push shavings that have fallen into recessed areas back into places they should not be, and it can blow particles out of the filter, and all sorts of evil things.

 

hmm that helps a bit, well I know the tranny is fine right now. Reverse and drive work what I don't know is how it shifts since I have not driven it yet and won't be driving it for months down the line, but the guy has been honest with me so far and its shown so I have no reason not to trust him now. I'm assuming it wouldn't be recommended to drain the fluid myself and change the fluid/filter myself and just spring the extra buck and have it done professionally? Also how can I find out what tranny is in the car, its an 84' Firebird Trans AM 5.0L HO and appears to have all the options (T-Tops, Stock Subs, Power Locks, Adjustable Steering Wheel, Cowl Hood) and its an Automatic. My 85' Camaro had the 700rt4 trans but i believe it was aftermarket, shoulda kept it :-/

 

It's REAL easy to do yourself, and I'd recommend it. The more you know about your car, the better off you are. Most of these cars had the 700-R4 for autos, even the V6. But I could be wrong. If it's a 700, the gasket+filter kit from fram should be $20. You'll need six quarts of auto tranny fluid, too. If you ever plan on shift kitting the trans, do it now. Also, I'd highly recommend getting a pan drain plug kit (B&M makes one), as it makes future filter changes MUCH LESS MESSY. Get under the car, either have it on four jackstands (royal pain in the ***) or if you have with friend with a lift, use it. Loosen all the bolts on the front of the pan, then work your way to the back, having loosened the fronts more than the rest. That way you will get a smaller area of mess to try to catch with your fluid catcher thingy. After that leaks out, loosen along the front more and more, until the bolts come out. You might have to hit it with the palm of your hand for it to move at all, and it'll drain better if it's WARM. Your tranny gets hot. Don't do it after some serious driving, as it will go everywhere, and you will get burned. Eventually, you're gonna have to hold the pan up while you remove the last bolts. Try not to drop the pan or the fluid on yourself, although ATF is great for soft skin. Finish draining the pan, then check the bottom? Black sludge? Your converter is probably going out (what happened to mine) The magnet will have some metallics attatched to it, but that's normal. Use common sense to figure out how much is too much. You'll *know*. Now, the filter is the first thing to come out of the tranny. Just pull. The biggest problem I found, is the old O-ring seal (if you get a FRAM, it's orange) likes to stick up in that bore. I used a bent screwdriver to get mine out. It's rubber with a metal core, so no cutting it with a razor. Then, if you have access to a hacksaw, cut your old filter in half, and check it for metal parts. Re-assemble in reverse of removal. Lining up the new gasket is CRITICAL. DO NOT USE RTV. If you install a shift kit, use petroleum jelly to hold the check ***** in place. It dissolves in RTF, which grease doesn't. I can't recall torque specs for the pan, but they're not that much. Just ask if you need anything.

 

wow refrencing this will defintally come in handy when I spring roles around......I'll prolly ask the guy who stores it if I can use his lift, I'm sure he'll understand for a few bucks :-D anyway...any idea how much a shift kit is and how hard is it to bolt in? I'd love to make this thing manual. Granted I should worry bout criticals first, i'm on a host of other forums tryin to figure out my choke light/buzzing noise which I think is a result of my battery being shot and running streight alternator....outside of that obviously my oil,spark plugs, and other regular maitenence stuff needs to be done too. Heres one for ya, differencial fluid...change or not to change? its never been done either to my knowledge and I've been told it'd be a wise move...anyone agree?

 

Making it a manual would require either a manual valve body (I think there's a TransGo kit for this) or a Hurst Dual Gate shifter. I recommend the shifter. It looks awesome and you can get standard automatic transmission operation out of it. Originally called "His and Hers" Shifter, one side for racing (guys) and one for regular driving (girls). If you had a Camaro, there's a matching trim set Hurst shifter, but with a firebird.... You could fab your own. I'm not an expert on the interior changes there. I believe the ratcheting B&M megashifter does manual shifting. I wouldn't force the tranny to a manual though. More to troubleshoot if something fails. A good TransGo kit for regular shift time improvement is $80 or so. I got a B&M, and most people call me a moron, but it's what was available to me, and before I knew better. Save your spare parts, just in case.

Change the gear oil. I just did it in mine, and have to do it again (damn special ordering rear end gasket) if you do it yourself, use 80w-90, and get a pump for it. It's thick stuff. Also, if it's posi (should be on a tag on the diff) get the additive.

 

thats something for me to look into and yes its a posi. I wanna do something thats safe for me to do and won't deal w/ crap in the long run. If it costs an extra arm or leg it'd be worth it I'm sure in the end.

 

Well, the B&M Megashifter is a ratchet style shifter, in first, it's first gear only, in second, second gear only, in third third only, and in D, it acts like a regular auto.

The Hurst Dual Gate DOES NOT RATCHET. It relies on you shifting up and to the right to lock in to the next gear. You can skip a gear with the Hurst. You can't with the B&M.

Now, the manual valve body kit is completely different, but I do believe it works like the Hurst race gate, where your first in first, second in second, third in third, fourth in fourth. It turns your auto into a manual without a clutch. But if you can get the same functionality with a shifter instead and keep your tranny stock.... It's what I personally plan on doing.

 

a change in shifter will not make the tranny a manual tranny. he might as well leave the factory shifter in place.


the transgo shift kit is the best in my opinion. get the 700 2&3. it allows you to set up the tranny for full auto or you can set it up to be manually shifted. i would not recommend setting it up for full manual if it is gonna be street driven as it can be hard on the tranny. if you set it up for auto, it will only go up to whatever gear you put it in and stay there. unlike stock which will still upshift at a certain point(hence why changing the shifter does nothing to the tranny)

 

I know it won't make it a manual tranny. But the full manual valve body would. And the dual gate does function on the race gate as a full manual. It will go into third when you put it in third, regardless of what speed you're at. I am unsure of the B&M, but I think it works mostly the same way, except D is normal auto.