Re: Butch's 64 Sport Fury 383.... torqueflite education

[Dave64 <lt7dave@xxxxxxxxx>]

Both emails are good reading, Butch - thanks.  Enjoy your car!

Dave

--- On Sun, 7/25/10, Butch Edison <waedison@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> From: Butch Edison <waedison@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Butch's 64 Sport Fury 383.... torqueflite education
> To: 1962to1965mopars@xxxxxxxxxx
> Date: Sunday, July 25, 2010, 11:47 AM
> 
> Pat Blais is nearly a legend in the Northwest for his
> ability to rebuild
> Torqueflites. The best I've heard it put is that Pat was
> the first one in
> this region (back in the sixties) to take a TF apart,
> figure it out, and
> build them out the way they should be. He's an Ebay seller
> as well and is on
> our forum's vendor page. I removed my first ever TF, Pat
> swapped out a
> similar TF with me that he rebuilt, taking mine as a core.
> I wanted to stay
> with authentic ball & trunnion look of the car, but Pat
> was not happy about
> that, as he said the 64s had some inherent problems that
> were corrected in
> 65-66. But he found a way. I think he said the TF I got was
> out of a 65
> Imperial or some such, the last car Chrysler put the ball
> and trunnion on,
> then he beefed up the internals and the shift points a
> bit.
> 
> So, I get the transmission, install it, and I'm feeling
> pretty darned good
> about myself having never done anything like that before.
> Lesson learned....
> don't tighten up those Schumacher headers before installing
> all the TF
> bolts, because there's not quite enough room to slide one
> bolt by the header
> on the right side.  Having paid attention on this
> forum and listening to
> Pat, I carefully adjusted the Neutral Safety Switch tangs
> to the proper
> position in Neutral and Park before putting the pan on. I'd
> already
> pre-loaded the convertor with one quart of oil, put in 5
> more. I left the
> transmission cooling return line off the tranny per Pat's
> instructions,
> started the car for about 20 seconds, draining a quart of
> TF fluid off. Then
> I buttoned it up, put in 2 more quarts of oil, started the
> engine and filled
> the tranny the rest of the way. Now I'm feeling
> near-brillant, soon to be
> humbled again. Keep in mind, this is all with the headers
> off, so I'm not
> hearing anything coming from the tranny.
> 
> I put the console shift lever in Reverse,,,, no reverse.
> Instantly I'm
> thinking "I wonder what refunds I can get from the Hot
> August Nights
> people?", but I fish around with the shifter and find
> reverse, almost in the
> Park position. Well, not time to worry about it right now,
> I've got to get
> the car over to the exhaust shop and get the pipes welded
> on, so I drive it
> out of the garage and into the trailer. Not going to sleep
> well tonight
> thinking about the Torqueflite.
> 
> I leave the car overnight, the owner of the shop calls,
> says the exhaust is
> on and "by the way", he noticed that the tranny wasn't
> properly adjusted but
> he did that, so all the gear shift positions work and are
> in their proper
> place and the car only starts now in Neutral and Park.
> Lesson learned....
> just getting the tangs correctly positioned on the Neutral
> Safety Switch is
> not the end-all be-all for getting the shift points right.
> You still may
> have to use the control cable adjustment wheel to fine tune
> the shifter.
> 
> The car is still on the rack when I get to the shop, we
> check out the
> exhaust system,,,, I'm a happy albeit poorer $$$$ guy. He
> starts to back the
> car off the rack and HOLY CRAP !!!! The tranny is
> clattering like crazy!
> Again.... I'm like totally deflated. What the H***! 
> He's much calmer. The
> car is on a rack that allows you to "drive" the car, so he
> starts it up,
> puts it in gear and I listen as best a deaf guy can, feel
> along the tranny
> till I come to the Park Lock cable. AHAH!  That's the
> problem area, what's
> the problem? When I took the old tranny out, I was careful
> to note that that
> the park lock cable was in as far as it would go, so was
> very diligent about
> putting this one all the way back in till it stopped. I
> anxiously call Pat
> and he says "Hmmm, I gave you a sheet that tells you how to
> adjust that
> cable Butch. You want it in just far enough to make PARK
> engage on a slope
> but not so far in that it makes any noise. AND he says, you
> should never
> assume that Park will hold the car on a hill. It could
> fail. (never knew
> that). " Whew... we adjusted it, pull it off the rack and a
> couple of
> minutes later...HUGE puddle of TF fluid under the car! Here
> we go again.  We
> put the car back on the rack and see that it all came out
> the filler tube.
> The shop owner surmises it was an air bubble that cut loose
> and pushed the
> TF out. We refilled it and I start putting miles on the
> car. 
> 
> Well, not many. I get above 40 mph and the damn thing
> starts clattering
> again. I know what to do now though, so my wife (how thinks
> and deals in
> micro) helps me adjust the Park Lock pin in 1/8ths, then
> 1/16ths, and
> finally 1/32nd of an inch using a variety of washers and
> shims to accurately
> gauge travel movement of the pin. You have to do something
> like that because
> once you tap the holding bolt loose, unless you have 8
> hands, the pin will
> move a little.
> 
> So, I've now put about a hundred miles on the car. It runs
> cool, sounds
> great, and the Torqueflite feels super.
> 
> I'm sure you have nodded off by now and I surely need a
> nap, so this is the
> last of my great adventure notes (HOPEFULLY!)
> 
> /Butch/Ferndale, WA 
> 
> 
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