OK - so I pulled the 430 in my '67 Riv to do the headers and noticed the flex plate was bent. I guess that's why it was making nasty noises upon starting. I attributed that to the starter that was full of mouse nest. With the engine out, might as well replace the front seal in the transmission, right? That's when I saw this (see pic) behind the front seal. The trans shifted fine when I got the car and I've only put a couple of hundred miles on. No squealing tires or manual shifting - just driving it. Seemed like the switch pitch worked as it should. The odometer says 114k and I'm assuming that's what is on the trans. Fluid looks/smells good. Any chance I can take care of this without pulling the transmission for a full rebuild?
If I could get away with just pulling the front pump and working on that, I'd be happy. Not sure what would cause that violence to the bushing in the first place though.
Sometimes, flex plates flex a bit too much and too long, and they disintegrate. Have seen that happen on the flimsy 350 plates, but never on the BBB. Hard to see if the flex plate is bent, but I'll take your word for it. Maybe someone forced the transmission and engine together when the converter wasn't fully seated. Who knows?
Thanks for sharing your experience with flex plates. It was definitely bent. The crud layer on the bell housing bolts and the "patina" on the torque converter bolts makes me think they haven't been separated in a long time, if ever. I've got a bad feeling that I may replace the bushing and flex plate, put it back together, and never know the cause...
Is the spot at about 4 o'clock on the pump housing what you are referring to as missing chuck of metal? That looks a drilled/machined hole to me. I think lots of transmissions have them as a drain back around the front seal.
Those are just the seal drain. If you investigate farther, you may find a couple small holes drilled from there. Damage on that scale would not leave the bushing untouched. Of course if a half century trans has never been apart, it needs at least new "soft" rubber seals put in before something blows and does serious damage. Bruce Roe
Ah - OK. I see that now. I guess it would be near impossible to take that chunk out without harming the bushing too. Thanks.
Thanks for the input. When you say "soft rubber seals" do you mean all the O-rings and seals that are accessible without removing the trans from the vehicle? I'm thinking rear seal, front pump seal (doing that now), governor cover, speedo gear, etc...
No, as opposed to the hard (mostly metal) parts not affected by age, I am referring to the age sensitive (mostly rubber) internal parts. The critical ones seal the edges of the pistons that force the clutches together at high pressure, to control the entire power of the engine. If the seal lets go, you lose pressure, the clutches slip, and soon you have burned up and poisoned what was a pretty good trans. Of course the critical parts require complete dis assembly to replace, the labor of an overhaul, though only in $30 parts if you can do it yourself. Of course shops like to do a complete overhaul, when in fact your very old but low miles trans doesn't need it. The other thing they like to do is throw away the switch pitch parts (that are harder to get) and put in a fixed converter. Take care that doesn't happen. The switch pitch might increment the mileage a bit, but with electronic control it can pep up performance. Bruce Roe
OK - thanks for that explanation. I certainly want to keep the switch pitch. Time is an issue. If I don't do the rebuild myself I would probably send it out to Tri-Shield. I'm not sure there's a local shop I would trust...
