V8 HHR Build
07-20-2014, 06:15 PM
#263
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: 04-06-2010
Location: Riverside, California
Posts: 655
Now that the engine is out I can finish up the sheet metalwork on the trans/drive shaft hump. Lots of work still to do there. Once that is done the engine compartment will be painted. Hopefully this is the last time the engine will be out.
07-21-2014, 01:08 PM
#266
Senior Member
Join Date: 07-02-2013
Location: Claremont, CA
Posts: 7,827
The engine and trans are loaded up and ready to go. Should take about a month for the engine and a couple weeks for the trans. It will be sweet when I pick them up, I'm really excited.
I'm also including a shot looking up from the engine bay at the mods I did on the rain trough under the cowl. This was really quite a lot of work to make this piece go straight instead of sloping down. I had some clearance problems with the right head that required this.
I'm also including a shot looking up from the engine bay at the mods I did on the rain trough under the cowl. This was really quite a lot of work to make this piece go straight instead of sloping down. I had some clearance problems with the right head that required this.
07-21-2014, 01:42 PM
#267
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: 04-06-2010
Location: Riverside, California
Posts: 655
A man has to know his limits....... I will be helping with the engine but I wouldn't touch the insides of an automatic transmission for anything.
07-21-2014, 02:22 PM
#268
Senior Member
Join Date: 06-20-2011
Location: Savanna Illinois
Posts: 737
I used to feel the same about automatic transmissions. By the time I was in my late teens I had torn down dozens of different manual transmissions and rebuilt them to like new condition.
When I was much younger {back in the late 50's} my dad was the lead mechanic at the Ford dealership in Beloit Wisconsin. One fine day, since the automatic transmissions were being put in so many cars, the boss at the dealership decided to send his three best mechanics off to the Ford plant to learn how to fix them.
They were gone about a month and a half and when they all got home they were certified Ford automatic transmission expert mechanics. In time this helped him to move up to be the master mechanic at the dealership.
When I was in my early 20's dad had been out of the mechanic game for several years and had probably forgotten more than I ever knew about fixing cars but he would help me when I'd ask.
Then one day I bought a '63 Fairlane that had an automatic transmission that would only work in reverse. It needed to be rebuilt so with my dads encouragement and a transmission over haul kit from Montgomery Wards I rebuilt my first automatic transmission.
I was lucky that dad still had the specialty tools needed to rebuild Ford automatics or it would have cost me more to fix it than to get another known to be working transmission out of a junker.
Since then I have rebuilt dozens of automatic transmission. Although some do require some expensive specialty tools to do the job right they really ain't that tough.
.
When I was much younger {back in the late 50's} my dad was the lead mechanic at the Ford dealership in Beloit Wisconsin. One fine day, since the automatic transmissions were being put in so many cars, the boss at the dealership decided to send his three best mechanics off to the Ford plant to learn how to fix them.
They were gone about a month and a half and when they all got home they were certified Ford automatic transmission expert mechanics. In time this helped him to move up to be the master mechanic at the dealership.
When I was in my early 20's dad had been out of the mechanic game for several years and had probably forgotten more than I ever knew about fixing cars but he would help me when I'd ask.
Then one day I bought a '63 Fairlane that had an automatic transmission that would only work in reverse. It needed to be rebuilt so with my dads encouragement and a transmission over haul kit from Montgomery Wards I rebuilt my first automatic transmission.
I was lucky that dad still had the specialty tools needed to rebuild Ford automatics or it would have cost me more to fix it than to get another known to be working transmission out of a junker.
Since then I have rebuilt dozens of automatic transmission. Although some do require some expensive specialty tools to do the job right they really ain't that tough.
.
07-27-2014, 08:46 PM
#269
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: 04-06-2010
Location: Riverside, California
Posts: 655
While the engine bay is empty, I'm working on the trans hump first. It is almost done with the exception of one 8" section in the rear. After that, I move on to the drive shaft hump.