Well, my glide has some fluid leaks and is old. Am thinking of a rebuild. I can have it done professionly or...try to do it myself. Never done a trans and am nervous. Is it straight forward...if I can follow instructions and, any special tools?
Powerglide
- Thread starter skinny mike
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Island Girl
Well-Known Member
A lot depends on your overall mechanical skill set and tools. . . . and on how much of a rebuild you plan to do
Transmissions always seem to be special-tool intensive, even if it's just seal / bearing installers or removers, and of course a press.
Some can eat you alive if you don't have a certain retaining ring removal tool or spring compressor.
If you don't have a lot of HP and all you really want is for it to stop leaking, why not give it your best shot . . .
If you have more serious HP, then you need it to be perfect, so farming the job out to a pro is your best assurance of that.
I'd invest some real hours at YouTube University and watch as many Glide overhaul vids as you can find . . . . You'll learn what to watch for and what special tools/techniques you'll need to get the job done.
No doubt there's a manual available online somewhere.
If after doing your homework, you decide to give it a try, take your time, take tons of pics as you go, and make written notes about details
Best of luck with whichever route you take.
Darlene
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2old2fast
Active Member
The first automatic I repaired was in '66 and it was a PG , we used a drill press for a press and made fixtures out of pipe and whatever else to get the job done . The good thing is we'd borrowed a GM manual from a friend , as I recall it wasn't too bad - with the book...read the whole manual first - Twice ...
Gerry
Well-Known Member
Make sure you watch a vid on the valve body and how to take them apart. If its had an upgrade at any time during its life there may be differences between what you have and a standard transmission.
Once you loose the positions of the check balls etc on disassemble you will have problems forever if you don't get them back in the right place.
The rest is just good engineering practice. Cleanliness is the secret to a good build.
Once you loose the positions of the check balls etc on disassemble you will have problems forever if you don't get them back in the right place.
The rest is just good engineering practice. Cleanliness is the secret to a good build.
choppedtop
Well-Known Member
I think I had to make only one "special tool". I ordered a complete rebuild kit off the bay for around 140.00. There are pfd files on the net that show all information on the rebuild. As mentioned, the valve body is critical to get right. The rest is pretty straight forward.
I really appreciate the replies. Very nervous especially with nobody to look over my shoulder. Will hafta watch some vids. Excellent suggestions. THANKS!!!
Indycars
Well-Known Member
I had never touched the inside of an automatic trans until I rebuilt a GM 200-4R overdrive trans. My approachMike, Rick Miller (IndyCars) has done transmissions, and should be a good resource for you. Are you there, Rick?
was to buy the ATSG industry manual and a DVD that showed the basic tear down, inspection and rebuild process.
I also bought a manual for building a high performance 200-4R trans that I followed religiously.
I took several hundred photos as I disassembled the trans, trying to capture it from several angles. You just never
know what's going to help at a later date. As you tear it apart, I would put the pieces in a bag and label it. It's much
easier to do this as you disassemble, rather than later when everything is in pieces and your looking back at that pile
of parts. So you will need to buy a box of Ziploc bags in Snack, Quart and Gallon sizes. Use a diagram like below
and put numbers on everything, I even used a Sharpie to write directly on the part sometimes.
For the valve body you might get away without pulling it apart. But you will need to inspect the valves for free
movement using a small screwdriver or scribe to push on the valve and see if it snaps back. If they are all moving
freely, then you could consider leaving the valve body intact. If not, then it will be required to tear into it. As you
can see below, I used some plastic VHS tape slip covers to keep all the pieces of a valve lineup in the exact same
order them came out during disassembly. Ziploc bags are not going to work for the valve body.
For tools I got by with improvising for the most part. It did get frustrating at times trying to get snap ring out while
compressing some springs at the same time, but I made it work. If you have to, take it to a transmission shop and
let them disassemble/assemble something for you.
Oh, get yourself some Assemblee Goo, it works much better than Vaseline to hold pieces in place while you are working.
One other thing to make note of is the direction that the Lip Seals are pointing. Again pics when you disassemble
the sub-assemblies.
After everything was done, I had a small leak when the trans was maybe a bit overfull. Turned out to be a o-ring
on the servo cover, which is accessible externally. The o-ring slid down on to the piston, so I move it back into position
on the cover and all was good. Took me about 20 minutes to fix. After that it performed perfectly.
Below is my build thread for the 200-4R.
TBucket 200-4R Transmission Project | Grumpys Performance Garage
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