- Joined
- Jul 27, 2012
- Messages
- 3,127
- Reaction score
- 491
- Location
- Brisbane - Australia
- My Car
- 1973 Mustang Convertible
Hi to all,
This post is a follow up on my recent post, Austin Vert's Engine Rebuild From Hell. In that post, i mainly talked about the bad experience i had in deciding to rebuild my 302 Windsor motor. I also touched on and mentioned that my stock factory standard C4 Auto Transmission, had decided to start playing up for the first time ever, when shifting into third gear from second when going up steep hills. This problem started to happen around two years after the motor was rebuilt. The motor was dyno tested on and off the car, and the specs showed 400 ft lbs and 410 hp at the flywheel. At the rear wheels, the Dyno test showed 347 hp. All good.
I consider myself fortunate, because i have a Transmission specialist who i have known and has operated his company locally for the last 42 years or so. He is one of the best Transmission go to guys in Australia. We had a chat a few months ago regards my slipping issue, and we both agreed it was time to rebuild the tranny for the first time, and beef it up to meet the higher powered engine's output. In my ignorance, i thought the standard C4 would handle the extra engine power. Nobody ever told me it would not.
I have just come away from the trans rebuild yesterday. I am noticing a difference in the performance already when driving around, as the trans is now shifting gear more positively, smoother, and has no time lags when shifting gears. Great! It should now take the pounding the extra horses and torque the engine is throwing at it. What i found interesting was i ended up talking with the team who worked on the rebuild. I asked them what overall condition they thought the trans was in when they pulled it down. Bare in mind that my car had only 35,000 genuine miles on the clock when i bought it back in 2011. It now has 41,000 miles clocked up. It has also been looked after well all it's life. They told me that the trans was in overall fair condition, but had a few issues regards age and wear, and therefore would have needed to be pulled down and rebuilt anyway regardless of the upgraded engine or not. I found that interesting, as in my mind, i thought that these transmissions were bullet proof, and more or less went on forever without needing rebuilding. Silly me.
I guess it shows that with any old car, all parts will eventually age, wear out, fail or deteriorate, and it's a non stop exercise replacing or refurbishing them as the years roll on one way or another. So to finish up, i have included a list of parts needed to rebuild my tranny below. This will mean something to all you transmission tech savvy guys out there, but not a lot to me. The other thing to mention is that labor costs for any mechanical work done here in Australia, have become quite expensive over the years. I am confident that a good quality job was done on my trans rebuild, but my hip pocket nerve took a heavy beating, as the final bill came to $4,095.00 Australian, or $2,981.00 US Dollars. OUCH!!!!!!!!! I also decided to replace the complete steel transmission fluid lines with steel, plus purchase and connect a small separate trans cooler with thermo fan, as well as running the trans fluid cooling through my main radiator. With the trans rebuild now out of the way, this now means that close to 97% of all the mechanical components in my '73 Vert has either been refurbished, rebuilt, or been replaced since 1973.
(Braking system, engine, transmission, differential, cooling system, front and rear suspension, steering, fuel system etc) Owning my '73 has proven itself to be a very enjoyable, rewarding hobby for me over the years in so many ways. The downside is that it is a hobby that comes with a high price tag. But as they say, what price can you put on the experience of owning and driving these old and fun cars!
Cheers,
Greg.
This post is a follow up on my recent post, Austin Vert's Engine Rebuild From Hell. In that post, i mainly talked about the bad experience i had in deciding to rebuild my 302 Windsor motor. I also touched on and mentioned that my stock factory standard C4 Auto Transmission, had decided to start playing up for the first time ever, when shifting into third gear from second when going up steep hills. This problem started to happen around two years after the motor was rebuilt. The motor was dyno tested on and off the car, and the specs showed 400 ft lbs and 410 hp at the flywheel. At the rear wheels, the Dyno test showed 347 hp. All good.
I consider myself fortunate, because i have a Transmission specialist who i have known and has operated his company locally for the last 42 years or so. He is one of the best Transmission go to guys in Australia. We had a chat a few months ago regards my slipping issue, and we both agreed it was time to rebuild the tranny for the first time, and beef it up to meet the higher powered engine's output. In my ignorance, i thought the standard C4 would handle the extra engine power. Nobody ever told me it would not.
I have just come away from the trans rebuild yesterday. I am noticing a difference in the performance already when driving around, as the trans is now shifting gear more positively, smoother, and has no time lags when shifting gears. Great! It should now take the pounding the extra horses and torque the engine is throwing at it. What i found interesting was i ended up talking with the team who worked on the rebuild. I asked them what overall condition they thought the trans was in when they pulled it down. Bare in mind that my car had only 35,000 genuine miles on the clock when i bought it back in 2011. It now has 41,000 miles clocked up. It has also been looked after well all it's life. They told me that the trans was in overall fair condition, but had a few issues regards age and wear, and therefore would have needed to be pulled down and rebuilt anyway regardless of the upgraded engine or not. I found that interesting, as in my mind, i thought that these transmissions were bullet proof, and more or less went on forever without needing rebuilding. Silly me.
I guess it shows that with any old car, all parts will eventually age, wear out, fail or deteriorate, and it's a non stop exercise replacing or refurbishing them as the years roll on one way or another. So to finish up, i have included a list of parts needed to rebuild my tranny below. This will mean something to all you transmission tech savvy guys out there, but not a lot to me. The other thing to mention is that labor costs for any mechanical work done here in Australia, have become quite expensive over the years. I am confident that a good quality job was done on my trans rebuild, but my hip pocket nerve took a heavy beating, as the final bill came to $4,095.00 Australian, or $2,981.00 US Dollars. OUCH!!!!!!!!! I also decided to replace the complete steel transmission fluid lines with steel, plus purchase and connect a small separate trans cooler with thermo fan, as well as running the trans fluid cooling through my main radiator. With the trans rebuild now out of the way, this now means that close to 97% of all the mechanical components in my '73 Vert has either been refurbished, rebuilt, or been replaced since 1973.
(Braking system, engine, transmission, differential, cooling system, front and rear suspension, steering, fuel system etc) Owning my '73 has proven itself to be a very enjoyable, rewarding hobby for me over the years in so many ways. The downside is that it is a hobby that comes with a high price tag. But as they say, what price can you put on the experience of owning and driving these old and fun cars!
Cheers,
Greg.
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