Oh yeah. I used Nicopp stem to stern for the brakes (earlier write-ups here) including stainless steel nuts and braided steel flexible lines.

And I was considering that here, too, but the cheapest I could find was $60 a roll plus $20 in shipping- welcome to Alaska- whereas a chunk of steel preflared from Napa was like $16.

I'll probably still go Nicopp later, but not 'til I either swap the engine or radiator.

Doc.

 

In a typical case of needing to do X, Y and Z before one can do A, B or C, I needed to set up a fixture on the mill for an already-overdue project. But before I did that, I wanted to bolt down the transmission crossmember while the table was still open and clear.

The issue is this- the rearmost bolt on the 2004R pan is covered by the lip of the crossmember.



That angle doesn't really show how tight it is in there, the bolt is basically inaccessible. And, the pan needs to come off to install the converter lockup kit, and to help set the aforementioned TV cable. So I was able to lever up the trans, block it with some of the pit cribbing, and unbolt the crossmember.

Once I had it out, it was a simple matter of bolting it to the mill table, and milling out a fresh groove.



I had to go quite a bit deeper than the other two, since the bolt is further back- and even that wasn't quite deep enough, but it gives just enough workable access and I didn't want to thin the metal any more than I had to.

Bolted back into place, the pan can now be removed fairly easily.



Quick overall shot:



This was actually the ideal time to pull the pan- it had just been rebuilt, and had not yet been filled with fluid. The shop also hadn't used any sealant on the gasket. While I'm usually a big fan of gasket adhesives and the like- I hate leaks- it was again lucky since the pan needed to come off.



Here, the two bits with electrical wires connecting them have to come out- the upper one is a solenoid valve that controls fluid flow, and the round one on the left is a pressure switch.

Easy-peasy. The solenoid pops out after removing two 10mm bolts, the wires simply unclip, and the pressure switch simply unscrews.



The new switch just screws back into place...



And the wires routed through the same clips, and the tail plugged into the side connector.



Also, I'm told the best way to adjust the TV is while being able to physically see the linkage- .

I then mopped the dregs of oil out of the pan and degreased the sealing edge...



Made sure the gasket didn't have any oil or gunk on it, smeared a little Permatex #2 non-hardening sealer on the lip, and stuck 'em together.



Gently flipped the cover over, made sure the gasket hadn't shifted, and stacked a bit of weight on it.



I then left that to dry/cure, so it'll be ready to install when the time comes.

Doc.

 

I took the pan outside and hit it with the last of that can of grey, since the shop painted it rather indifferently, and it got scuffed up when we slid it around to install it.



One bit I remembered to do was we'd damaged a ground cable when we were swapping the transmission, so I crimped a new eye on the end and bolted it to a convenient nearby stud.



I'd also gotten in an aftermarket bracket to hold both the throttle cable and the TV cable. It was only cad plated, and this being Alaska, would have started to rust as soon as I showed it a picture of rain, so I hit it with a couple coats of glossy black.



But mainly, of course, I wanted to start on the TV cable install. Unfortunately this thing was in the way:



The EGR valve was basically abandoned as soon as I swapped the engine over and stripped off about six miles of vacuum lines, valves and controls. Thankfully, the bolts actually came free with no real complaint.



They make commercial blockoff plates, but hey, what do I own all these machine tools for if not to make a $20 car part?

Found a ratty chunk of plate in the bins, and scribed the outline of a new gasket on it.



Bandsawed it out, milled it flat, poked a couple of holes in it...



Milled the corners off...



Rounded it up a bit on the belt sander, smoothing things here and there, and presto! We have a thing!



The new gasket, a little neverseize on the bolts, and there you have it. Easier access to the throttle cables.



The old bracket came right off, and the new one plunked back on just like it was meant to be there.



The rubber bushing in the old throttle cable, however, was a bit tired...



So I took a few basic measurements, found a stick of black Delrin, and just turned a fresh one.



Snapped back in place and completely obscured by the retainer clip.



Finally the TV cable clipped into place...



And the linkage roughly set and clamped.



The inner cable is extra long, since the aftermarket cable I'm using is adjustable for overall length. In retrospect, I probably should have just used a factory cable, since it has an adjustment built in, but this one will work just fine.

I'll need to hire some help for the final adjustment, since I want to watch the linkage on the trans while the throttle is moved, just to be sure we're solidly in the ballpark.

Doc.

 

Had a chance to get some help to make sure I had the TV cable settings right, and after a small adjustment, I deemed them spot-on.

With that, I double-checked my mental checklist, plugged the filter back in place, threw a seam of RTV around the periphery of the pan gasket...



And buttoned 'er back up, though probably not for the last time.



Also note the wire coming off the side. While I was down there I ran the wire from the plug, up into the engine compartment.

First up, I swapped the brake-light switch with this replacement from the kit...



Which gives me a second pair of contacts. This is one of three switches that have to be closed in order for the converter to lock up in overdrive.

That needed to pull switched power from the fusebox, but unfortunately, I just had the one- and it was already running the ignition. So I paired up the wires and have it a new spade connector, both crimped and soldered in place.



While I was under there, I disconnected the now-abandoned kickdown cable from the old TH350, and that left me a convenient hole in the firewall through which I could run the wire.

And finally, the last one in the series, the vacuum switch.



That's connected to ported vacuum, which means the throttle has to be open a certain amount to generate the vacuum to enable the lockup.

Pressure switch in the trans: Has to be in 4th/OD gear. Brake switch: Brakes can't be on. Vacuum switch: Throttle has to be open far enough, IE, the car is moving at a given speed or greater. All that equals true, the converter locks up.

Eventually I plan to try the delay relay, but for now, this gets me rolling.

Doc.

 

Next, since the TV cable is now hopefully set, I nipped a short chunk of small brass tubing, and crimped it to the exposed cable, leaving me a bit of adjustment room, if necessary. I snipped the rest off, and the ferrule will keep the end from fraying.



Which meant we were down to just the shifter modifications, which amounted to a new cable, a new quadrant and a new lever on the transmission itself. I removed the original... and it was immediately clear the shop that rebuilt the unit didn't remove the shift lever or shaft, and more importantly, didn't replace the seal.



That... rather annoyed me. Admittedly the seal apparently wasn't leaking, but still, new seals are part of the rebuild process. And in this case, it starts making one wonder where else they may have cut corners... Did I actually get a shift kit? Did they replace the old, worn clutches, or just rinse off the old ones and throw them back in? Bushings, bearings, internal O-rings?

The shop has a decent rep locally, and clearly gets plenty of business. Hopefully this was just a single oversight, and not indicative of other issues.

Anyway, there was one bit of luck that came out of that. Last fall, I'd thought that seal on my old tranny was leaking, and bought a kit that included a new seal and a tool set to replace it in place. Turned out that seal wasn't the leaker- the input shaft seal was, which eventually led to this whole fiasco. And I still had that kit. Screw in the tool and winch out the old seal...



Drive in the new one. Easy-peasy.



Then I could put the new linkage arm on...



And crack open the console to start working on the shifter itself.



In another case of my outsmarting myself, I used a couple dabs of RTV to "glue down" the center insert when I originally installed the console. That proved more effective than I'd expected, and it was a bear to pull that panel off without breaking anything. When I go to reinstall, I had two useful recommendations- rubber cement or magnets- which I thought a couple bits of thin material cut from a fridge magnet, and some sheetmetal, might do the job. What's the usual recommendation?

After dismantling the whole mess and extracting the shifter and old cable...



It was a simple job to install the new quadrant to the assembly...



... Fit the cable at the upper end and slip the whole thing back into place.



After that, it was a simple matter of making about 386 trips up and down into the pit, to adjust both ends of the cable and the pin connection on the arm and then check the action at the shifter. Pretty sure I have it right, but we'll see when I can finally fire it up.



After that, I could finally drop the column linkage back in (of course necessary to operate the neutral start and the ignition lock.)



There was just one last thing to do before I could light 'er up... okay, two things, I still need to fill the tranny with oil. But the other thing to bolt back on proved to be an entirely predictable but still unforseen problem... More on that later.

Doc.

 

Definitely consider a delay relay in your lock up circuit. Makes a big difference.

 

Yep. As a spoiler alert- this is all reposted from several weeks ago- I've already driven the car, and can feel it lock a split-second after going into 4th. The Bosch-style relay 10 sec delay, I think, is too much, I think for most of my driving it needs to be 3-5 at most.

I have since gotten in an adjustable relay I think will work, but I'll have to crack the pan off to change the internal wiring to run it. Turns out I'll need to drain some fluid to swap speedo gears anyway- we thought we had the gearing dialed, but it's running 10-15% or so off.

Doc.

 

The big problem? Turns out the driver's side exhaust hits the now-repositioned transmission crossmember:



I couldn't mount it properly, so, after some pondering I pulled the pipe back out, and set up to do some hackery.



Basically the dogleg bend needs to move rearward, so I need to chop a bit out behind it, and add a bit back ahead of it. So I sanded and wire-brushed off as much rust as I could, made a couple cut marks, and added some witness marks with a piece of angle iron, so I can weld it back on in the same orientation.



Ahead of the dogleg, the best place to cut was at the welded join.



I got out the abrasive chopsaw and first sliced through just behind the weld...



And then lopped 6" out of the middle of the rear portion.



Extracting what was left of the overlap and grinding away a few burrs left me with a good spot to rejoin the front and back halves, after stretching/shrinking.





The chopsaw made nice square cuts, so it was easy to line them back up and tack...



And then fully weld with the TIG.



Not some of my best work, since the pipe was still pretty rusty, but it got good penetration and should be plenty strong.

The front section got similarly lined up and welded...





And then reinstalled and closed up with the MIG.



Yeah, the old weld join was "bent" like that, and I was forced to do the new one that way too to clear the crossmember, at least without redesigning and doing additional cuts and welds. Either way, this one too is solid and leak-free.

Et Voilá!



We're finally at the point to fill 'er back up with fluid and get it started.

Doc.

 

No pics, but I got 'er filled with fluid and started it up.

I'd taken the fast-idle vacuum pot off when I removed the EGR, and it seems that was setting the idle, not just bumping it up. I had to tweak the actual idle screw to get it back to the 850-900 range.

It was raining all last night, and only just stopped- temporarily, according to the forecast- so I didn't even try backing it out yet. Tomorrow's supposed to be more of the same, though the rain ought to taper off around noon.

No leaks yet, though one of my cooler line fittings appeared to be just starting to weep. I snugged it a little more, but if it keeps weeping, or worse, turns into a drip, I'll have to replace the whole line. Which is not as bad as it sounds- use the same nickel-copper line that's easy to bend and fit by hand. It's not cheap, and I probably ought to have done it in the first place, but it's still an option. If it only keeps lightly weeping through the summer, I may just put it on the list for next winter.

The other interesting thing is the hard linkage- the original column shifter rod down to the trans- is now too short. I had to extend it out to the very limit of it's adjustment just to be able to relock the ignition. I'm assuming the yoke on the 4-speed shifter starts at a greater angle than the 3-speed. I may have to stretch the rod an inch or so.

Other than that, she starts and runs just fine, the tranny doesn't leak, and the exhaust is as quiet as it used to be.

Doc.

 

To channel my inner Gene Wilder, "It's Alive! It's Aliiiiiivvvee!"

I had way too much to do today, but the forecast is calling for intermittent rain- and even possible snow, welcome to Alaska!- pretty much all week. It wasn't actually raining this morning, relatively dry by around noon, and the forecast said low chance 'til evening.

So I took care of the one thing I noticed yesterday- the hard link from the column shift mechanism, in order to be properly adjusted, was right at the very limit of its travel.



I therefore extracted it and tweaked it in the vise, slightly "straightening out" both of the dogleg bends, till I'd gained about an inch and a half:



I then cleared out all the tools, got all the junk out of the way, lit 'er off, backed out of the shop and gingerly wove my way past all the mudpuddles in the driveway. Got out to the asphalt and gave it a smooth run up the street- carefully, trying to see how it shifts, what speed it likes, etc. (Not that this wimp engine can muster much of a banzai run, anyway. )



Shifts fine, lockup seems to work properly- I can feel it engage a half second after it goes into 4th- and it cruises easily enough to keep up with traffic at about 1500-1600 RPM. Which was just about exactly what I calculated.

I didn't get the speedo calibration quite right, though- it's reading probably around 10-15% high. Keeping up with traffic, which by normal experience is 60-65 on the highways, it was reading 70-75. I have the rest of the gear kit, and should be able to dial it a little closer, except I gotta drain some fluid from the trans to do that.

And, whilst I was cruising about, a helpful couple in a truck behind me let me know one of my brake lights wasn't working. Once I got it back to the shop, I discovered the bulbs were fine, but I have no signal from the loom. I may have broken one of the wires on that flat ribbon cable when I did the floor work...

Unfortunately that's not something I can just ignore, so I'll need to see if I can fix or even just patch that- without having to rip up all the carpeting.

Long story short, while there's still plenty to do on the rest of the car, we can call the transmission swap complete! (With the exceptions of the aforementioned adjustments, of course... )

Doc.

 

And this, ladies and gentlemen, finally catches us up to today, May 7th:

Since it was already wet n' drizzly outside, and I had way too many other things to do today, I just did one quick task, that I really wish I'd done last September when I first pulled it into the shop.

On one of my many trips to the parts store, I picked up a can of spray engine degreaser- thankfully the engine bay is less "greasy" and more just coated in road dust:



But, after a squirt of the degreaser, a little scrubbing with an old brush, and a light power wash- and a quick mist of fresh black on the rusty air cleaner- things looked a lot better.



Still never gonna win any car shows, but it's certainly a nice improvement in my book.

Doc.

 

Progress is progress...no matter how little...lol. And is that a leaky gasket on the master cylinder cap? I see what looks like fluid on the master cylinder.

 

-No, I'd painted the MC with POR-15, having been told that that paint was resistant to brake fluid.

It is not.

Eventually, after several bleedings (I did the front and rear brakes separately, and had 'nut behind the wheel' issues with the proportioning valve) it started to peel. So the grey is paint, the brown is rust.

Dic,

 

Haven't had a chance to take it for another drive- too busy plus it's been rainy- but I took a moment to chase down that nonfunctioning taillight. Turned out, after some chasing, to be a loose contact in the connector at the steering column. Only took two hours to solve that one...

After that, since the shifter seemed to be pretty well adjusted, it was time to put the console back together.



The only thing remaining to do with that was to run the harness for the lights- and here I had an issue. I'd gotten the wiring harness for the console with said console. but I found out later it needed an additional pigtail to connect to the dash. I ordered one, and found out when I did so that there's two kinds:



The one on the left is the 1970 four-pin for the harness, while the right is the three-pin pigtail from the dash for a '71-'72 Cutlass. It looked like the only difference was the ground- the '70 had it running back up the dash, the later ones have it as a loose wire inside the console. So I bought a connector kit to convert the 3-pin to a 4-pin. I could have gone the other way, either works.

But, in another case of chasing the wrong wild goose, I tried a color-for-color swap at the plug end, but one light didn't come on at all, and the one that shouldn't have, at the time, came on very weakly.

Now, while I can diagnose a bad lathe bearing at fifty paces an a dull endmill by the chips, my brain doesn't think in "electric". Generally speaking, I'm lucky to get both batteries back into a flashlight right-way up two tries out of three. So amongst my attempts to diagnose, I checked the wiring diagrams for both cars, and even pulled some of the (nonadhesive) wire wrap so I could be 100% sure of the wire routing.



Long story short, turns out half the problem was a bad ground and the other half was a bad socket. It works, but sometimes you have to wiggle the bulb to get it to come on.

So with that, I crimped a terminal on the new ground wire and connected that to the front console mount...



Then, after sitting the main part in place and snugging it down, I trimmed the old RTV off the back of the insert...



And fitted the new OD indicator panel that came with the Shiftworks kit.



And back together!



... Just in time for it to start raining again. Forecast says "100%"- which I've never seen before- 'til Saturday morning. When it tapers off to 96%.

Testing and playtime, it seems, may end up waiting 'til next week.

Doc.

 

Excellent!!