Some time ago, I forget exactly when, I acquired this '65 Oldsmobile off a chum in exchange for a '67 Rambler I had. This was my daily driver for a while, petrol must have been a bit cheaper then I guess as its a fairly thirsty old beast being a two ton tank with a 7 litre V8 in it. Always went well enough though
However, as with a disappointing number of my car stories this is one where I start off with a reasonable running machine and end up with dead metal.
There was certainly no attempt at a rolling burnout which caused this, and certainly nothing like a neutral drop promoting that, but the transmission on the old beast failed in a fairly special and spectacular fashion.
And so into the garage she went...
the first fun bit is that the car is a little too low to go on the jack, but having suitable heroic heman type strength its easy enough to lift it onto the saddle...
Its a reasonably tight fit in the garage, serves me right for building such a small one I guess
Anyway, what seems like an age ago I was ably assisted by Canuck and Pillock off this very forum to get the trans out of the car.
'cos those things are muthafunkin heavy. IIRC its 175 lbs for a TH400....
The removal was high on trolley jacks and low on health and safety
"hands across the ocean, hands across the sea"
And its out!
While it was in bits and on stands I decided to do some degreasing and fettling underneath the car and get some good antirust primer and chassis black on there.
I partially succeeded
Anyway, Paul from Derby was called upon to lead the charge on the rebuild of the dead box.
I did a low-level help-out as I know nothign about the inside of an autobox but am always keen to learn this stuff
Sadly this photo of the sprag doesn't show how badly busted up it is. Twisted and partially friction welded up!
rebuilt box arrives home
and the volunteers stand by to assist (Pillock and Benzboy)
Much tea was drunk
many slot mags had to be cleared out of the garage to make space to work...
high levels of safetly were observed while working on the car
and many trolley jacks were used
to me, to you....
Got wood?
nice retro line up
anyway, that was February I think, and we got about as far as you can see in the photos.
The box was propped into place with jacks and stands, 4 of the bellhousing bolts were in finger tight and the torque converter was sitting in the right place but not lined up.
So I left that for a while to marinade.
then this weekend PaulMi16 and my chum and non-forum-user Steve popped round to help with the Cadillac but as that was a non-starter due to insufficient lifting tackle we set to on the Oldsmobile again.
Can you see the light? I seeeeeee the light
Shaft! Can you dig it?
Some people have suggested Paul is not very tall. Such accusations are unfounded.
there are four ways to fit the crossmember. We tried all six.
I wanna hold your hand...
Well, having got the box correcly lined up, aligned the torque converter with the flex plate (what a fag of a job that was) got the bellhousing bolts all in, connected back up the exhaust, twice, don't ask, but it goes the FLOOR side of the transmission crossmember if anyone wondered... and of course, fitting the crossmember itself, we were left with a few minor jobs like re-attaching all the handbrake cables, in what I can only call the "chinese laundry" style, and refitting and adjusting the gear selector.
the outer bush was missing so we have adapted a special "get outa jail" temporary fix of using a section of airline as it seemed about the right size...
Jazz hands!
then time to refit the prop
which astoundingly is retained with these little u-bolts
I mean, its not like its holding the prop onto a 500 lb/ft 375 BHP 2 ton car or anything, right?
Satisfaction Stance Steve
And the car back on the floor in the first time in what feels like 2 years but is probably only 18 months LOL
Work still to do...
Replace and refit all the bits I robbed off it to bodge other cars back into life, fill the trans and let it soak the seals up for a while before attempting to start it, free off a slighly sticky front brake, order a proper selector bush, and then - whallop - it can go up for an MOT
assuming that it starts and runs
assuming that the trans doesn't blow ATF around my garage like the bathroom scene from Last Tango In Paris...
We shall see.
Many many thanks to all who have assisted so far in this project. You are all superdudes and I love you.
However, as with a disappointing number of my car stories this is one where I start off with a reasonable running machine and end up with dead metal.
There was certainly no attempt at a rolling burnout which caused this, and certainly nothing like a neutral drop promoting that, but the transmission on the old beast failed in a fairly special and spectacular fashion.
And so into the garage she went...
the first fun bit is that the car is a little too low to go on the jack, but having suitable heroic heman type strength its easy enough to lift it onto the saddle...
Its a reasonably tight fit in the garage, serves me right for building such a small one I guess
Anyway, what seems like an age ago I was ably assisted by Canuck and Pillock off this very forum to get the trans out of the car.
'cos those things are muthafunkin heavy. IIRC its 175 lbs for a TH400....
The removal was high on trolley jacks and low on health and safety
"hands across the ocean, hands across the sea"
And its out!
While it was in bits and on stands I decided to do some degreasing and fettling underneath the car and get some good antirust primer and chassis black on there.
I partially succeeded
Anyway, Paul from Derby was called upon to lead the charge on the rebuild of the dead box.
I did a low-level help-out as I know nothign about the inside of an autobox but am always keen to learn this stuff
Sadly this photo of the sprag doesn't show how badly busted up it is. Twisted and partially friction welded up!
rebuilt box arrives home
and the volunteers stand by to assist (Pillock and Benzboy)
Much tea was drunk
many slot mags had to be cleared out of the garage to make space to work...
high levels of safetly were observed while working on the car
and many trolley jacks were used
to me, to you....
Got wood?
nice retro line up
anyway, that was February I think, and we got about as far as you can see in the photos.
The box was propped into place with jacks and stands, 4 of the bellhousing bolts were in finger tight and the torque converter was sitting in the right place but not lined up.
So I left that for a while to marinade.
then this weekend PaulMi16 and my chum and non-forum-user Steve popped round to help with the Cadillac but as that was a non-starter due to insufficient lifting tackle we set to on the Oldsmobile again.
Can you see the light? I seeeeeee the light
Shaft! Can you dig it?
Some people have suggested Paul is not very tall. Such accusations are unfounded.
there are four ways to fit the crossmember. We tried all six.
I wanna hold your hand...
Well, having got the box correcly lined up, aligned the torque converter with the flex plate (what a fag of a job that was) got the bellhousing bolts all in, connected back up the exhaust, twice, don't ask, but it goes the FLOOR side of the transmission crossmember if anyone wondered... and of course, fitting the crossmember itself, we were left with a few minor jobs like re-attaching all the handbrake cables, in what I can only call the "chinese laundry" style, and refitting and adjusting the gear selector.
the outer bush was missing so we have adapted a special "get outa jail" temporary fix of using a section of airline as it seemed about the right size...
Jazz hands!
then time to refit the prop
which astoundingly is retained with these little u-bolts
I mean, its not like its holding the prop onto a 500 lb/ft 375 BHP 2 ton car or anything, right?
Satisfaction Stance Steve
And the car back on the floor in the first time in what feels like 2 years but is probably only 18 months LOL
Work still to do...
Replace and refit all the bits I robbed off it to bodge other cars back into life, fill the trans and let it soak the seals up for a while before attempting to start it, free off a slighly sticky front brake, order a proper selector bush, and then - whallop - it can go up for an MOT
assuming that it starts and runs
assuming that the trans doesn't blow ATF around my garage like the bathroom scene from Last Tango In Paris...
We shall see.
Many many thanks to all who have assisted so far in this project. You are all superdudes and I love you.