Paul M
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2022
- Messages
- 269
- Reaction score
- 235
- My Car
- 73 loaded Q code car w/a 351 4v C6 it came with 2 cars in parts.
Ye, it was driving fine. There were 3 of us headed to the park on a beautiful day. I stopped to make a left turn & it didn't move. I tried again "what the" I looked under it and there was a puddle of tranny fluid. I ended up getting a ride to get my truck and having a girl tow me home in my truck w/a tow strap. I already knew it was going to be a pain in the @ to fix since it leaked out of the front in the middle, so I blew it off for a week before getting after it. I built the tranny, and it performed flawlessly for a year. Actually, I'm impressed with the C6's performance. So, I pulled it out & noticed a slight groove in my converter surface, pulled the front pump and noticed the gears had a slight wear pattern in them where the converter hits. The seal didn't look that bad or the pump gasket and outer seal. I almost installed a sleeve on the converter with new seals n gaskets on the pump. I just couldn't see the reason for the pouring out of fluid, so I hit the internet and looked at the installation of the front pump bushing. You'd think the notch is supposed to line up with the drain hole like the others in the back of the pump and tranny. The front bushing in the pump is installed backwards so that the fluid isn't directed toward the front blowing out the seal.
Pulling the front pump: you can just tilt the tranny upward & tighten the band down enough to grab the drum. Just reset the band afterwards. I didn't have threads in my pump, so I used a tap, made some threads & put 2 adjacent bolts in, then pulled it with a small slide hammer. You can also remove the pump with a pry bar if your pan is off. I never pulled it off. I did install a sleeve on the converter even though the groove is very small. You have to position them right where the seal rides. I used red grease to see where it rode while rotating it. I went ahead and replaced the gears. Anyway, I was down for a month & was back to doing burnouts right before this weather hit. With fluid this repair was @ 150.00
pic 1 jack on a roll around cabinet, much faster than fenagling a tranny jack to fit. pic 2 upward angle tighten band. pic 3 create thread pull pump 4. "DO NOT" install the bushing this way even though the others are & it looks correct. pic 5 Install the bushing this way pushing the fluid away from the front seal. pic 6 slight wear in gear pic 7 making sure the new gears are the correct size pic 8 making sure sleeve is down enough pic 9 is the converter worn & where does it ride. 10 back together. Needless to say, a pin came out of my neutral safety switch and no start took me 2 extra days. They are proud of those switches luckily, I found the pin. Bolted together it's pretty solid.
Pulling the front pump: you can just tilt the tranny upward & tighten the band down enough to grab the drum. Just reset the band afterwards. I didn't have threads in my pump, so I used a tap, made some threads & put 2 adjacent bolts in, then pulled it with a small slide hammer. You can also remove the pump with a pry bar if your pan is off. I never pulled it off. I did install a sleeve on the converter even though the groove is very small. You have to position them right where the seal rides. I used red grease to see where it rode while rotating it. I went ahead and replaced the gears. Anyway, I was down for a month & was back to doing burnouts right before this weather hit. With fluid this repair was @ 150.00
pic 1 jack on a roll around cabinet, much faster than fenagling a tranny jack to fit. pic 2 upward angle tighten band. pic 3 create thread pull pump 4. "DO NOT" install the bushing this way even though the others are & it looks correct. pic 5 Install the bushing this way pushing the fluid away from the front seal. pic 6 slight wear in gear pic 7 making sure the new gears are the correct size pic 8 making sure sleeve is down enough pic 9 is the converter worn & where does it ride. 10 back together. Needless to say, a pin came out of my neutral safety switch and no start took me 2 extra days. They are proud of those switches luckily, I found the pin. Bolted together it's pretty solid.
