I gave my 16 year old son my 91 rs convertible on his b-day with 138,000 miles on it. Car runs like a raped ape, and has only a few bolt on mods. underdrive pulleys oversized injectors, 3/4 tbi riser, 3 in exhaust, and a few others. Well hes been driving it for about 7 months now, and when i took it out the other day i noticed the trans acting a bit funny. A few days later i took it again, and noticed the trans hanging going into second gear, and not hitting third at all until i nailed it to the floor. I have heard of the valve sticking on these 700r4's, and pumping the pedal while its not running sometimes frees the valve up for awile. I tried that, and it worked..for awile. It still has that flare shift, and wants to hang, so im guessing the trans is on its way out. Any fixes for this apparent problem, or is a new trans in order? the 700R4'S seem to be a bit pricey, right around 700 bucks or so, and some even higher. I have no ambition left in me to tackle rebuilding it myself, but dont mind swapping a tranny. I can pick up a 350th for a couple hundred any day of the week..Will this bolt right up to the motor, and if so will i have to do a bunch of mucking around to get the shift cables, oil lines and such to fit right? The kid cant afford to have the work done, and im not gonna put up the cash for him ( they have to pay to play). Any suggestions, advice, or otherworldly knowledge would be much appreciated.

 

A 350 will bolt right up to the motor; but requires a great deal of other "mucking around". It will need a different (longer) drive shaft, unless you can find the relatively less common long-tail one, and a different crossmember. Then, you lose the overdrive, so whatever you save in up-front cash, will get eaten up by fuel in not too many months of use.

Best way out, really, is to just buy a known good rebuilt one, and do the R&R yourself (or rather, your son do it himself...) Not only will it teach him some things he can't learn any other way about taking care of a car, it will also impress upon him the importance of not abusing things that aren't obvious and familiar and out in plain sight like ... transmissions. Kids, even smart and generally trustworthy ones, aren't born knowing that things that seem innocent enough can be highly destructive (this coming from the parent of a 19-yr-old and a 17-yr-old).

Here is a source you can use for a trans, or at least to compare prices and specific parts & services against. http://transmissioncenter.net/

Incidentally, a transmission is DEFINITELY not something you want to buy from the low bidder, just because it's the low bid. A good one costs what it costs, for a reason. A cheeep one is cheeeep, ..... for a reason. Remember, you get, AT BEST, what you pay for; that's AT BEST, and usually you don't do as well as that. So if you pay the cheeeeeeepest, you get, AT BEST, .... the cheeeeepest; and probably something even worse than that.

 

He will definatly be doing the knuckle busting mostly himself, when i was a kid i didnt have anyone to hand me a grand to drop into my car, so i had to do it all myself, and learn as i went. I want him to at least put forth the effort even if i have to get into it and do most of it myself. I was hoping this was something along the "common" line of problems that there may be an easy fix for, but it looks like there isnt. The car did get hung up in the snow, and i was thinking perhaps something came loose somewhere, but i cant see it. Before doing a full awap, i may throw in a shift kit, and if the valve is easy enough to get to i may clean it up, polish it or whatever else may keep it from sticking. The trans doesnt slip at all, and when it does engage it will chirp the tires. maybe a good power flush, filter will help it out until he can afford a quality job. the 75 bucks for that will hit him, and or me a little less harshly in the wallet. Does anyone know if the cable to the carb can be adjusted in some way to help this thing hit the gear? Perhaps a spring in back of the valve to help it from sticking? By the time i do all of this im sure i could the same time could have been put to better use by just pulling the old and throwing in a rebuild, but he just cant afford it.