need some transmission advice on a chevy

[hedz]

so the prospective buyer who was going to buy the car backed out. the torque converter destroyed itself while he was with me in the car doing a test drive. this was very embarassing.

so i put less than 15 miles on that new torque converter from oreillys before it went bad. it was bad out of the box. it bent my brand new flywheel i had just installed about 6 months prior and in the process of destroying the new flywheel it toasted my servo bushing? i'm not sure what you call it but it's the outermost bushing on the end of the input shaft at the tip of the bellhousing where you slide your torque converter on. all the stress also caused my tailhousing seal where the longtail bolts to the bellhousing body to blow out. the torque converter almost killed my transmission. shot a bunch of metal shavings into the trans. i shifted through all of the gears right before i parked it. it's still good. the torque converter i bought from oreillys is called proking. it has tabs where the flywheel bolts engage. on this model you actually have to torque down nuts on your flywheel bolts instead of threading them in. me being a newb to transmissions didn't realize the fault in this design as a indicator that i'm buying chinese garbage. well once again i have paid for my mistakes. and of course oreillys refused to provide me a new flywheel or bushing or even a apology. i returned the torque converter full of transmission fluid and proceeded to curse out the store manager and will never provide them my business ever again. i thought i was never going to go back to autozone after the airtex crappy fuel pump.... but this beast is a whole different monster. I'll go back to autozone before i ever step foot in another oreillys. napa sells proking as well. horrible brand. prokings next model up from the one i bought provided by napa and oreillys and the lord knows who else has screw in threads where flywheel bolts actually thread into the torque converter instead of fastening with bolts. this runs anywhere from 150 to 175. I decided to go to my local transstar dealer. They sell the exact same rebuilt torque converter - which is what prokings is - a rebuilt torque converter... transstar sells a rebuilt torque converter that isn't rebuilt by the chinese for $65. It's got a solid return policy to boot. I bought a new flywheel, torque converter, and stator bushing thingy all for under $100

the transmission is out again and i'm doing it right this time and overhauling the speedometer stuff in the process to ensure i have a accurate speedometer. i had to order a drive gear, a speedo gear retainer clip, and a retainer tab for the bullet housing that the speedo cable hooks to.

i doubt many of you use gm transmissions but i just wanted to share this company with you

http://www.transmissioncenter.net/speed ... ____va.htm

this company is a great company for hard to find gm and chevrolet transmission parts. They have excellent customer service and quick shipping. they also have many useful calculator tools included on their website to help you figure out certain things before you place an order. I highly reccomend them.

I'll keep everyone posted on this repair.

I expect my speedo parts to be in today and will hopefully have the car put back together by this weekend. i'll also be tuning the engine as soon as i'm done as i've never given it a good ol neck breaking fine tuning as of yet. i'm aiming for 20mpg and i think i can get there with what i have. i may or may not sell the car after this i don't know now. i shall see when the dust settles and i can actually drive this thing without a catastrophic failure

[Donnie]

The converter with the bolt & nut was stock supplied from the factory on Chevy engines. The converter with the threads cut into the converter was the stock unit used from the factory on BOP engines... There is a SLIGHT difference inside.......it has always been a crap shoot which is better.......I've built a ton of both.........What color was the $65 dollar converter?....Don't forget to flush all the old converter fins out..Donnie

[hedz]

The converter with the bolt & nut was stock supplied from the factory on Chevy engines. The converter with the threads cut into the converter was the stock unit used from the factory on BOP engines... There is a SLIGHT difference inside.......it has always been a crap shoot which is better.......I've built a ton of both.........What color was the $65 dollar converter?....Don't forget to flush all the old converter fins out..Donnie

the $65 transtar torque converter has yellow paint. don't know what it was originally. probably a different color. looks to be a much better core. the tabs are a junk design in my opinion. i torqued the crap out of those bolts to make sure they wouldn't come loose and they didn't. but it seems alot more likely that that style would come loose before a threaded torque converters bolts would come loose. if there are going to be tabs then why don't they design them with enough room to put lock washers that can actually seat on enough metal with a nut on top of them? seems like risky garbage. i bet with the tab design that the bolts receive alot more stress from the revolutions too. the proking also had alot of visible dents and had a shiny coat of blue paint to try to hide the wear. live and learn i guess

[Donnie]

The Chevy converter originally used a flanged pinch nut, but they usually got tossed somewhere along the 40 years of use.
What part of the country are you in ? I'm wondering who is building 65 dollar converter's...Donnie

[hedz]

The Chevy converter originally used a flanged pinch nut, but they usually got tossed somewhere along the 40 years of use.
What part of the country are you in ? I'm wondering who is building 65 dollar converter's...Donnie

i'm in Alabama. The company i bought from is called transstar. they provide great service. they have a location in downtown birmingham. they are in other cities across the nation.

http://www.transtar1.com/

their catalogs are very thorough

[Donnie]

I'm very aware of Transtar Industries...I started buying from them around 1980, when Monte only had one outlet...I was not aware that they had a line of inexpensive converters. Before he sold out, Transtar bought Recon converters in Pittsburg & I was thinking that Recon, who builds a good unit was their only supplier.......Then I thought about the industry buzzing when he sold Transtar to a private equity firm about 8 or 10 years ago
About the time that I closed my shop........give or take a year or 2.
When I last heard they had bought over 50 competitor's warehouse's ........Now I realize that Recon could not keep up with so many stores.
That may be where the YELLOW converter comes in......just a guess?????????? Recon builds a good converter & were always BLUE...Donnie

Monte Ahuja is a well respected individual who built an empire from 1 location to over 50 & has given away MILLION'S of dollar's to the health care industry........

[hedz]

I'm very aware of Transtar Industries...I started buying from them around 1980, when Monte only had one outlet...I was not aware that they had a line of inexpensive converters. Before he sold out, Transtar bought Recon converters in Pittsburg & I was thinking that Recon, who builds a good unit was their only supplier.......Then I thought about the industry buzzing when he sold Transtar to a private equity firm about 8 or 10 years ago
About the time that I closed my shop........give or take a year or 2.
When I last heard they had bought over 50 competitor's warehouse's ........Now I realize that Recon could not keep up with so many stores.
That may be where the YELLOW converter comes in......just a guess?????????? Recon builds a good converter & were always BLUE...Donnie

Monte Ahuja is a well respected individual who built an empire from 1 location to over 50 & has given away MILLION'S of dollar's to the health care industry........

they were very helpful during this process i will deffinitely continue to use them in the future. they have blue torque converters too btw.

a good friend of mine told me that i need to change out my torque converter to a 10' vega torque converter if i ever do any mods to the 305 or change to a mild 350 sbc.

anywho the mc is up and running. the new trans shifts great. i used valvoline high mileage atf and then added lubegard transmission additive. the shift display isn't precise. i may have installed my shift linkage incorrectly or had the column in a improper position when installing the linkage. i'll have to work that out. i can't manually shift to first. also when it shows that i'm halfway between drive and neutral that i'm in drive. and i think first is in 2nd gear display and i think 2nd is in between drive and 2nd. i need to adjust my shift cable or get a shorter one. vacuum modulator is adjusted properly. i found the sweeet spot at 3/4 backed out. i ordered some exhaust wrap which i'm going to wrap around the exhaust to keep the heat off the trans cooler lines. everything is too close together for comfort.

aside from all the little things though it was a success. a slow success

[averagef250]

Transtar is the basic low end standard of auto transmission parts, actually now that they bought out Alltrans they are in the stickshift biz too.

Transtar builds a lot of converters. If they don't have what you need in stock they will buy from other local builders and put it in their box.

I would buy a converter from a reputable local builder if you can. I haven't found a converter shop that won't sell to a walk in.

[hdpusher]

Been awhile since I swapped a 200 out for a 350 but I thought the drive shaft was the same length. Or was that the 4 spd 200 metric?

If you can find and do the Vega converter you will have to have you flywheel redrilled for the new bolt pattern but that's no big deal. A few flywheels fit but only a few. A friend of mine cut a Vega converter and a B&M Hole Shot converter apart one time and he claimed they were basically the same thing inside. I currently have the my last Vega converters in my Chevy II. They do work nice.

You should be able to make your adjustment for the indicator on the rod that comes down from your column. Pull it into low gear loosen the bolt and pull things into place to make the adjustment. Then tighten it back up. If it was a 4spd you can buy a sticker to place over the existing indicator so you can tell what gear its in.

[hdpusher]

Also you can run F-Type ATF in your 350 turbo. It will make the shifts firmer.

[hedz]

Been awhile since I swapped a 200 out for a 350 but I thought the drive shaft was the same length. Or was that the 4 spd 200 metric?

If you can find and do the Vega converter you will have to have you flywheel redrilled for the new bolt pattern but that's no big deal. A few flywheels fit but only a few. A friend of mine cut a Vega converter and a B&M Hole Shot converter apart one time and he claimed they were basically the same thing inside. I currently have the my last Vega converters in my Chevy II. They do work nice.

You should be able to make your adjustment for the indicator on the rod that comes down from your column. Pull it into low gear loosen the bolt and pull things into place to make the adjustment. Then tighten it back up. If it was a 4spd you can buy a sticker to place over the existing indicator so you can tell what gear its in.

thank you for the advice. you are correct the driveshafts are the same length. i learned that the hardway. me being a newb thought that since the th200 was half a foot shorter than the longtail th350 that the driveshaft should be cut accordingly. i was wrong. same driveshaft for the th200 to a th350 whether it's longtail or shortail.

[Donnie]

MISCONCEPTION : a Vega converter has crimped only fins both on the turbine & the impeller & WILL NOT hold up long under High HP stall conditions....Performance converters have either furnace brazed or tigged fins for added strength. PLUS A DIFFERENT STATOR....
This old wives tale comes from the fact that the small 10 " Vega will stall at a higher RPM because the fin angle & stator blade configuration was meant for a 4 cyl low HP , lo torque engine......Sure the brake stall is higher, but under duress it will rip loose the fins.
Over the years I have had them carried into me "can you fix this, when shook, the rattle sounded like it was full of marbles.
Driven easy they will last, but under HI TORQUE no cigar...ask me how I know...............Donnie

[Donnie]

Transtar is the basic low end standard of auto transmission parts, >>>>>>>>>>THEIR KIT'S CONTAIN TRANSTEC paper, rubber, rings & seals....
Transtar also offers Borg Warner, Raybestos, & Alto clutches..........

Average, I don't understand your statement :Transtec/Corteco is the major supplier for over 80 % of the OEM's GLOBALLY. Their kit's are FINE.
Are there others , sure, I also like Precision International .....Toledo trans kit also owns Bryco, now . Bryco was the go to source years ago for foreign stuff.....but that has long past....Toledo packs a good kit...........I fail to understand why you feel that way.....
Whose kit's do you like?...............Donnie

[averagef250]

Transtar is the basic low end standard of auto transmission parts, >>>>>>>>>>THEIR KIT'S CONTAIN TRANSTEC paper, rubber, rings & seals....
Transtar also offers Borg Warner, Raybestos, & Alto clutches..........

Average, I don't understand your statement :Transtec/Corteco is the major supplier for over 80 % of the OEM's GLOBALLY. Their kit's are FINE.
Are there others , sure, I also like Precision International .....Toledo trans kit also owns Bryco, now . Bryco was the go to source years ago for foreign stuff.....but that has long past....Toledo packs a good kit...........I fail to understand why you feel that way.....
Whose kit's do you like?...............Donnie

Donnie, You're absolutely correct. I did not state that very well, I was vague with just saying "parts" as if everything they supply is low end. No that is not true and their rebuild kits are good quality and the industry standard as far as I'm aware.

My gripes are their converters are dirt cheap, they go on and on about their quality and how they're remanned in the USA, but they sure don't impress me in the diesel stuff I'm around. My understanding of their converters is the parts and QC aren't as good as smaller shops with lesser equipment.

Their sales guys don't know a thing about converters. If you don't believe me try to buy a stock stall speed transtar converter (I believe that would be an -S1).

They bought Alltrans so they now control the largest supplier of aftermarket stickshift hard parts and, atleast locally, the sales guys are the same people for auto, stick and diff parts. They also have an entire division for used automatic hard parts. I believe that sales force is the same number now too.

I can't see how that could possibly work. You call up- I need to order a Dana 60 bearing kit, bearings and brass for a ZF6 speed and an overhaul kit and converter for a 4L80E and they want you to do the deal with the same sales guy for all of it. That's way too much stuff for one guy to be familiar with.

[Donnie]

Average, you are now making sense..I only know the Old Transtar, the one started in Cleveland 35 some odd years ago...
Now that they have over 50 outlets & are no longer owned by the Ahuja family, but by a group of financial investors, I have no idea of what they are doing.........Mostly, when these things happen to a business, they get large too quick, can't keep up with demand, think only of the bottom line, & you know the rest............Donnie

Suncoast converters in Fla. can build a good diesel converter..........so can I ..........but I'm retired now & the machinery collects dust
Don't do anything in the old shop anymore, but work on my own project's, & that keeps me busy
That and a half dozen forum's....The trans industry has been good to me & I am a firm believer in "pass it on" so I try to share my knowledge with others that are trying to do their own repair's....They are vast becoming "a piece of history." The DIY's I mean...........sad, isn't it