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

[Rich Kinsley <rlkinsley@xxxxxxxxx>]

I didn't see that you had reattached the trans cooling return line. I 
was expecting fluid to shoot all over the place! Now that would've been 
exciting :-)

Rich Kinsley '64 Dodge Polara 4dr 318poly w/goodies
====================================================================
W.A. Edison wrote:
> 
> 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 
> 



Rich Kinsley '64 Dodge Polara 4dr 318poly w/goodies


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