Story thread

[hotrodpc]

I guess I was being a smartass on this one. I've been buiding transmissions for years so I have tons of stories, build pics, carnage pics etc.

I too used to think it wasn't all that bad to build them. Until I've seen other's attempts at building them. That's when I've realized, some of us take our mechanical ability for granted. It may be easy for us, but it's not easy for everyone else. Usually when people ask, What's the biggest tip you can give me for building my transmission? My answer to that is, Pack a truck load of patience, don't get in a hurry AND, make sure your parts are clean and your assembly area is clean.

 

[hotrodpc]

>.>

This is certainly one of the better types of coolers and mounting method I've always suggested. Any type is far better than nothing though.

 

[silverado13]

lol its hard to judge sarcasm on the web

 

[hotrodpc]

lol its hard to judge sarcasm on the web

Sure is. Some of the guys on here know I build transmissions. I actually expected them to respond to that first.

 

[silverado13]

hobby or profession?

 

[hotrodpc]

I'm professional at nothing. Started building them in the 80's out of my garage for a living. Then started doing them for the street racers, and later pretty much just for extra income and hobby.

 

[bigcountry78]

Hey hotrod how did you get started with automatics? I'd love to learn how to build them. Anyway my story is about my 400. I was with my cousins on some back roads one night, rolled up to a stop sign and when I took off I noticed the truck was really slow. Took a couple more stop signs to realize it was just stuck in third gear and wasn't dropping down to first when I stopped. It ended up making the 70 mile drive home just fine, and the next day I figured out it would shift fine until it got hot and that's when if started acting up. Dropped the pan and found a whole bunch of clutch material, so I took it to a local shop that kept it for 6 weeks, and charged me $1200 to fix it.this was at 160k miles. At 199k it started slipping again so the next day I got up and traded it in. Pretty much gave it away for 3k when all it needed was a transmission. I'll never make that mistake again. It was a great truck too, reg cab short bed, 5.7, z71, true dual 40's, 285's. Man I was stupid.

 

[silverado13]

I'm professional at nothing. Started building them in the 80's out of my garage for a living. Then started doing them for the street racers, and later pretty much just for extra income and hobby.

was it worth it starting out of your garage, i build them when someone needs one but im looking into starting to buy shells, build them and then sell them

 

[hotrodpc]

I was a street racer in Los Angeles in my younger days, the late 80's. I was a Muncie 4 speed guy, but with horsepower, speed shifting and side stepping clutches you tend to break alot of axles and driveshafts. This old man, father of a great friend of mine, kept telling me to go Auto, I always said hell no. Being that my ride to work was my race truck... One Friday night I broke my Muncie 4 speed. Called up the old man, he said stop and get me a 12 pack of Burgie and come over. When I got there, there was a Th350 on the trans building table. He sat on his ass, got drunk and told me how to build a Th350. I installed it in the truck Saturday morning and that was that. Been automatic every since. Then his own truck had a Th400 go out. He bought the beer that time and told me to come over. He sat on his ass, got drunk and told me how to build a Th400. Then he wanted to disect a 700r4 for the first, so I sat on my ass got drunk, and watched him build a 700r4. 700r4s weren't real common yet, so it was a learning experience for him too. The next 700r4 he did, we both got drunk and built it for a his buddies Jaguar that was converted to a SBC400 and 700r4. I pretty much ran with it after that and started building transmissions for many of the street racers. I'd go Friday and Saturday night to the races, get a core or 2 from the guys, then the following Friday and Saturday, deliver their transmissions, get paid, and pick up another one. Occasionally, had a build during the week if a guy broke his. So yeah, it was great side money back then. Then when I was laid off work as a union carpentar, I'd collect unemployment and build engines and transmissions for side money and actually made more money being unemployed. Of course that only 1-2 months at a time, once of twice a year depending on how big the jobs where that I worked for my full time job.

 

[bigcountry78]

Well too bad you don't live in NC, I could buy the beer this time and you could get drunk and walk me through a rebuild lol

 

[hotrodpc]

I tried doing that with one guy and it didn't work so well. Either he wasn't as mechanically as inclined as I was, or I was a bad teacher. I ended up building one of my own once and told a guy if he wanted to learn to bring his own core and he walk right beside me doing my own, and do his own. That worked much better.

 

[bigcountry78]

I just scrapped my only core.....

 

[hotrodpc]

So you got $6-$8 for a $25 core. NEVER SCRAP TRANSMISSIONS. Put an ad on CL. Tell what it is, with a couple of pics and advertise it for a $25 core trans. Gets you a few more bucks out of it, it stays in circulation, and someone picks it up instead of you loading it and hauling it to the scrap yard. Trans builders will pay $25 for them.

 

[bigcountry78]

Tried that, had it for sale in SC and NC with no interest, I ended up getting $36 out of it. It was free to me so whatever I got out of it was profit.

 

[hotrodpc]

You did good then. How they got you to there I don't have a clue. Normally, scrap is all they'll pay which is about $6 - $9 per 100lbs.

 

[hotrodpc]

was it worth it starting out of your garage, i build them when someone needs one but im looking into starting to buy shells, build them and then sell them

BTW, I forgot to mention, this is a pretty tough gig here when you talk about building them and selling them. For a couple of different reasons...

Now you can get by with this on Th350 and Th400's fairly easy, but model application becomes an issue on the 700r4's and 4L60-E's. For example, 95 4L60-E's are pretty much a 1 year only. This is due to PWM pumps aka Pulse Width Modulation. Also the wiring for the electronics varies per model of vehicle and per year. So just to build any 4L60-E and think you're going to sell it, and take their core in on trade, then it may not work for their year and model application. For this reason, if you did a drop-off/pick up service. They drop it off, collect 1/2 your charge at that time, then they pay the other 1/2 when they pick it up a couple days later completed. But, do still be collecting cores because hard parts aren't cheap if you need to replace broken parts. You might spend $100 in used broken replacement hard parts, when you could have bought a core for $25-$75 or maybe even $100 and then you end up with a collection of spare hard parts and you make profit on those too.

Another reason it doesn't work is, you'll need to offer a warranty of some kind. If you're letting them re install them, you're hoping they get a new converter as well as install it properly or you're going to get the blame for it's short lived life. Especially a 700R4 that is very dependent upon proper TV cable install and adjustment or the transmission is fried in very short order.

 

[silverado13]

that is exactly why i havent started yet, ive had the notion to go to the local junkyards just to get started, pull a tranny, clean it, build it and paint it, then try to sell it but the junk yard would still charge $100 for the tranny which would cut into the profit, and the warranty scares me.
me myself who has installed hundreds of trannys, has installed a torque converter wrong and then bolted it up to the bell housing and broken the rotor in the pmp "rookie mistake, i couldnt slap myself enough" so i dont want to give someone a warranty for installing something wrong or something like that, i was planning on starting off picking a specific model and running with that for a while then expanding out, also i personally believe in a transmission break in period and if i was to warranty a transmission, id want it to be broken in properly

how do you build a tranny, not be able to test is and then feel confident in selling it?

 

[hotrodpc]

So you smell what I'm stepping in. Exactly my point about improper install and you know in the customers mind, you're the bad guy that fugged it up.

If you put it together right, and you measured all your tolerances and KNOW things are right, and you air checked your drums to make sure you didn't split a lip seal during installation then there should be no reason for it not to work. But, you're right, without an expensive trans testing machine, you don't know until it's installed. That's why the trans biz is so tough. Even with a test machine, it doesn't test 100% of all function in a real life real world manner. It just gives a bit of added confidence that it's going to work.

 

[silverado13]

i saw one on ebay used for something like 12,000 and if i was to go into offical business, like renting a sapce, i would probably have bought it.

first tranny i built, i didnt check anything, i just put it together, luckily it went together perfect and lasted me 50,000 miles, until i put a 2200 stall converter in it and shattered the sunshell lol

 

[hotrodpc]

Oh, and no need to spend time at a DIY salvage yard buying cores. Just throw an ad on Craigslist that you are interested in buying trans cores, which what models and how much you're willing to spend for them. Low Ball the ad. You won't get alot of hits, but if all you want it 1-3 or so, you'll get those. I recently bought one that way. It was a 2002 4L60-E out of a pick up with bolt on bell housing for LS motor for $25. The bell housing along can sell for $50 - $100. Some people have them laying around and happy to get something for them and out of their way. I once paid $100 for a 4L80-E core with converter. Sold it 2 days later for $300 as a non working core in need of rebuild. Someone doing a Th400 conversion in an older truck willing to add a controller, or a street racer willing to go full manual valve body so he can run his 4.88 gears and still drive it on the freeway will buy them. Also be willing to pay more for 4x4 transmission.