My dread of a Trans Shop has been realized!!! J-mod

[xtriggerman]

I finally had to take the 97 into a local trans shop because it was seeping oil out of the bell housing. The owner said he could do the J-mod as long as I gave him what and where to drill. I picked the car up yesterday and the J-mod work appears to be shifting much better. That bad news came as I noticed the trans dip stick cap had it little finger bar broken off. I mentioned it and I was told it was like that when the car came in. Boy, I lost it... The vulgarity flowed pretty quick. Well, the guy assured me they would order another one. Then I got home and the car has a exhaust leak and vib in the floor board at low rpm slow acceleration. On top of the last HUGE piss me off.... I gave them 15 quarts of Amsoil thinking, they know a full service as requested would mean draining the TC. They gave me back a 2.5 gallon Amsoil jug with 8 quarts STILL IN THE JUG! WTF...... They actually contaminated my 7 quarts with 7 quarts of trans oil that more than likely was in the car for 23 years. They never drained the TC. That's 99 bucks of amsoil ruined. And this is a recommended Transmission shop? The owner was supposed to call me today and nothing yet. This is exactly why I'v all ways done my own work. Getting old really sucks.... Am I right in assuming the AC dryer has to come out so you can get proper tension on the right side manifold flange bolt? And it looks like one of the 2 square rubber vib dampers on the header pipe hanger off the belly of the trans cross member is loose. Could that cause floor vibration? This is still base model exhaust.

 

[capt fast]

where did you get a recommendation for that trans shop? says a lot about who recommended it to you. OTGH, never get angry at the shop. they always give twenty plus year old cars to the new guys because they can't make easy money on them like they can when the money light is on in the newer cars. older cars make them work for it.
I am thinking about a reman trans from an aftermarket supplier at this point. not so infirm that I am going to sell all my tools just yet. after 22 years, finally getting shudder from the trans in reverse. it's just my toy, and yes, a bit of a beater, but fun as hell.
If you think old cars are a bitch, you should try old airplanes.

 

[xtriggerman]

Thanks for your consolation on my resent grief CF... Being only 5 years in TN now, its a live & learn thing on the shops. I have a great mechanical shop but they didn't want to get involved with the valve body work. Seems the trans shop let the exhaust pipe lay right on the rear cross member or forgot to tighten it up good enough. Any way it helped me to finally make time to plan on cutting out the single exhaust and put in the 2.5 SS duals. I bought the truebenz starter and added a bunch of pipes and straight threw mufflers. The rear cans pictured are very nice and match the cut in the rear bumper but they were hollow so I'm stuffing them with glass matt and yet to mig weild them shut. The X muffler (in back ground) is same perforated straight threw but again, needs to be stuffed with glass. The 3rd muffler is stuffed with a steel wool type stuff. I'm hoping for zero noise at cruzing speed. Hoping to not have to matt wall the trunk....but will have to see how this all works out. I'm not fond of working under the car on my back with these darn bifocals but that's how I KNOW I will get it done right the first time threw. Can't trust those kids you had mentioned out there.

 

[capt fast]

I feel your pain.
I too went the truebenz route to dual exhaust. just for the sheer joy of it I ran sans mufflers for about two months. very loud. loved it. then put on some magnaflow. skipped the resonators. no drone to my old ears on the highway.
a daily driver and not a show car. like i said it's kind of a beater but my toy at 145K.
best streetable mod so far has been the pumpkin. put in 3.73 gears and a trutrack differential. best practice on the better gears and diff is to never turn traction control off. it did waddle its way out of a mud bog but will swap ends on ice with the t/c off. no engine mods and no trans mods. had the dash out three times for the HVAC door motors. all fixed. no rattles.
next up is to rebush the rear suspension and wheel bearings in the back. Oh, how I so enjoy suspension work.

 

[capt fast]

by the way, I joined the two pipes together at the point they pass next to fuel tank and added an heat shield to the tank. can't hurt. were I to do it again, I would have gone with the 2 1/4" pipes because the 2.5" pipes get a little tight. this is a base model mark 8 and the basic objective was to get away from the awful single exhaust with the tee aft of the rear axle. flows much better.

 

[xtriggerman]

The heat shield sounds like a good idea. I'm not fond of the way they made traction control on these cars. Every time it turned on for more than a second or 2, I get hot brake smell in the car from it roasting the rotors. I run I-40 a lot at 75-80 mph and the slightest rotor warp is very noticeable at those speeds. Theres no more than 13K on the rotors and they are warped all ready at hi speed. No wonder the plug wire insulation is completely melted off the ABS pump. I had a 97 Tahoe 6.5 TD once and they didn't put an intercooler in those trucks so once EGT's got hot enough, the PCM cut fuel to the injectors. If Chevy had that figured out in 97..... Lincoln couldn't put a wheel spin chip together? It could be a reason you have bushings going out sooner rather than later in the back. Pinching those rotors while the juice is flowing is going to strain the hell out of the components back there. To bad no one has a programed chip for a wheel spin auto detune that can still be turned off with a non defaulting program. That chip would pay for its self in the long run just in component ware.