What is the best way to remove the drive shaft and longitudinal torsion bar. Those 4 long bolts have nuts on the backside of the torsion bar.

I found this.....I think I answered my question. Check this out...someone is mfg a C4 torsion Beam plates:

www.zfdoc.com/c4beamplate.htm

List is $189.00 Sure would have been nice if GM would have though about this.

If you can support your transmission, you can take the 2 bolts out of the differential and bolts out of transmission, slide (HA) the I beam back and pull the front down, remove it out toward the fron of the car. That's how I did my automatic.

ORIGINAL: mech259

If you can support your transmission, you can take the 2 bolts out of the differential and bolts out of transmission, slide (HA) the I beam back and pull the front down, remove it out toward the fron of the car. That's how I did my automatic.



It is diffcult getting to the 4 nuts on the top of the torsion beam. www.zfdoc.com/c4beamplate.htm has these. Makes removing the boalts a breeze. I might have to look into these.

The tranny is out. It was impossible to remove the Torsion bar before removing the tranny, but removing the 4 bolts and sliding the torsion bar to one side allowed me to remove the drive shaft. Then I was able to lower the tranny with the Torsion bar still in place around the rear end (Bolts removed and pushed to the side.)

The tranny is Numbers matching. The VIN is stamped on the case near the middle shift rod connection on the drivers side.

I Bought a spare tranny from a Junkyard and will put it in next.

local://upfiles/3893/F7202A627DEF4EE29E709AA1921254A1.jpg

Man that does not look fun without a hoist. Buy the way how do you check the oil level in the overdrive unit . I have done everything else but that ,since I got my 86 vert.
Cheers

There are two ways to fill the overdrive portion of the tranny and one way to fill the 4spd manual portion of the tranny.


To fill the 4spd portion of the tranny, locate the two screw style square headed plugs. The top one is the fill the bottom one is the drain. Fill the top until it starts to overfill (level with the top plug).

To fill the overdrive portion look for the square headed screw (on the od portion of the tranny), remove it and top it off so its level with the plug. The second way was done during assembly. there is a plastic hose (black) that is routed to the drivers side of the fire wall. The factory filled the overdrive tranny through this hose (using a measured amount), then put a vent cap at the end of the hose.

Remember to use ATP tranny fluid in the overdrive, and SAE 90 gear oil in the 4 spd portion.

If you have leaks...chances are your OD is dry. Check the manual transmission fluid today before you cause $2800 in damage[:@]

(Nothing like old school removal and replacement of a transmission...... A lift would have made this job too easy)

I got the replacement tranny back in the car last sunday. Everything went great until I tried to reinstall the torsion bar (c-beam) to the rear differential.

The bolts lined up great for the tranny, but not having much luck geting the top hole in the c-beam aligned to the rearend (missing it by 1/4 inch). I'm going to try lifting the differential with a jack to see if it will tilt it enough to align the bolt holes.


I dis-assembled enough of the original tranny to find first gear had a broken tooth on each associated gear (cluster/main). The original tranny I removed was a numbers matching tranny (Vin # in stamped into the tranny next to cover).

ouch, how'd that happen? you like to gorilla the shifter :P

cause i do haha :)

Bought it that way. The guy I bought it from replaced the clutch with a kelvor clutch, and soon there after 1st gear went. I bought a tranny out of a corvette salavge yard. Kinda hard to sell a car without 1st gear.

ORIGINAL: 86 Ironhead

Bought it that way. The guy I bought it from replaced the clutch with a kelvor clutch, and soon there after 1st gear went. I bought a tranny out of a corvette salavge yard. Kinda hard to sell a car without 1st gear.


this is true :)

Finally got all four bolts through the c-beam and it all lines up. I still need to tighten the nuts down on the c-beam, which maybe a challenge, since there is no space to get a hand and a wrench in the same spot[:@]

I see "light at the end of the tunnel" for this project. Maybe this weekend I'll finish it up.

Everything is back together and the car is off the jack stands. Found two thing's I need to do before taking it for a spin.

1) Bleed the clutch; I replaced the throw out bearing and got a little air in the lines. hense, does not completly disenge the clutch from the pressure plate).

2) Charge the battery....its only one year old.


I will try to get help on monday to help me bleed the clutch and the battery should have a full charge.

Well I bleed the clutch today. I still do not have full engagement when the clutch pedal is depress, unless I pump the clutch a few times. I'm figuring the slave cylinder seal is worn or dry and needs rebuilt.

Does anyone have anythoughts on rebuilding the slave cylinder and possibly the master?

I'm going to look for a rebuild kit.

The car did shift great with the junkyard tranny, but the speedo read zero the entire time.

I pulled the slave cylinder and took it apart. other than cleaning and light grease around the seal the cylinder looked good. I'm now leaning towards the master cylinder....maybe remove it and check the seal...and grease/reassemble. There is not much too a slave cylinder spring, clip, seal/plunger, and clutch rod.

I'll have to look for a breakdown on the clutch master cylinder. Looks like just two bolts and one line.

I took apart the master cylinder and found the seal was worn out and the plunger arm that attaches to the clutch pedal was worn to the point of almost failure.

Took a look at the web to see who had whatfor my 1986. I hate to tell you, but not to many stores have clutch master/slave parts or replacements.
It took two stores to get the stuff from special order.

Checker Auto has a Slave rebuild kit (plunger seal and seal/cap for bleeder valve ($12.98 +taxes) Bendex part# 22267. Checkers calls it a master Cylinder repair kit, but what actually is inside Bendix's 22267 kit is the slave cylinder kit.

I could not find a Clutch master cylinder rebuild kit any where, so I started pricing new. Found AutoZone had fenco complete master cylinder for the clutch for $39.99. I could not believe the price, since the closest thing I found was $80 +shipping online. Autozone part #is 12070.

I hope to get this completed over the next few days.

Good luck with Autozone parts. There is a reason why their parts are cheap. Autozone is the laugher in my repair business, since their parts are so cheaply made. We don't buy any Autozone parts.

I personally found Autozone and Checkers Auto have lifetime warranty. I do all the work myself, and have bought Advance Auto and NAPA in the past.

I like the fact that Autozone and Checkers:

1)have 24 hour stores7 days a week.
2) Many of there parts are brand name...same part numbers
3) If I'm out of town, they take my warranty without a reciept (name and part is in their computer).
4) Right down the street.
5) Parts fail all the time...just ask GM, Ford and Dodge

Items I find not equal are tires, hoses, and belts. I only buy brand name tires (Goodyear)
Since I don't worry about the cost of labor.....exchanging parts is not expensive.
I am a GM Parts advocate, but most parts for my 1986 vette are discontinued...meaning quality control is hit & miss with any third party supplier.