Grandpas truck
Purchased by Grandpa new in 84
Sold to me in 2000 with 48k miles
I then read the 2003 Hot Rod Magazine "junk yard jewel" 318 engine build up at 50k miles.

this is what it is

1984 long bed 2wd
318 v8
1988 360 4bbl heads, ported and bowled
Edelbrock performer cam, lifters, intake and carb with a spacer plate
flow tech headers
Tom's muffler exhaust system

now I am not saying I matched their performance, but they were able to dyno 423 hp with this combo. I followed it and had excellent results.

Then-I got broke ha ha

2005 sold to neighbor across street.
I gave him a trans filter and gasket which he never used. 13k miles added in this time frame

flash to now. I just bought it back for little and my oldest son now wants to give it a go.
we got into it today, compressions are all 145-152
Is this good? Getting old I guess and I don;t remember

Transmission slips a bit. I am told this is a 727, or, 904.How do I know for sure?
It acts like a slipping clutch but does move in all gears and reverse. It also seems about a quart low of fluid. I am hoping a trans fluid change and filter will fix this because it seems like a pressure problem. I have nothing but "feeling" to base this on though. Beyond valve body rebuilding I am lost on transmission repairs. Although I would give it a shot.


Is there a good transmission thread with pictures?
Are there "bands" to adjust?


Oil pressure is only about 35psi--I could have sworn it should be a bit higher than that.
Which oil pump is best for stock volume? I figure we will drop the pan and give it all a look see up there so might as well replace it.


I never added zinc additive of any kind, so I fully expect to see a flattened cam lobe, unless just by chance the stock valve spring weight saved us there. If We do we will be using a summit replacement cam and lifter kit, with a more friendly grind. They have several grinds on sale for 120.00 including lifters


The thing is a bit dirty, but we will get some pictures of all this if there is any interest. When I had this truck running good it would light up the rear for as long as you wanted, so I have great expectations from this. As for the transmission the stock torque converter seemed to work great with the cam shaft. I did however need a vacuum reservoir for brakes.




Hope I am not asking too much. Links would be awesome at this point.

 

Don't know about links but a good manual will walk you through band adjustment and give you specifications. This is not rocket science and if you have done all that work this will be easy. The pan must be removed to make one of the 2 band adjustments so when you change the filter and fluid that would be a good time to do this. Don't delay as slippage will turn into band destruction.

To ID what tranny you have the numbers are stamped on the drivers side of the flange that the pan bolts to. Copy the numbers and give them to the dealership for ID.

 

Check here for an ID of the Trans - http://www.carcraft.com/newlook/crc_...ans/index.html

I would just do the typical trans filter and band tune up.

Is the 35psi oil pressure at idle or revved? - good rule of thumb has always been 7lbs per 1,000 rpm so you may still be good to go.

And the compression seems pretty good so long as they are all withing that range.

 

Good info that got me off in the right direction
We have a 727 -

Starting this today. I will keep you posted.
Thanks for the help.

 

Well we got the pan dropped, and filter out. Went about adjusting the bands and that went esy enough I guess.
Then upon cleaning the pan I found a small "C" shaped piece of metal about 1/4" -3/8" across. Looks like the end of a shaft got sheared off to be honest.

We're gonna fill it back up with fluid and give it a go but I am not real optimistic. I'm pretty sure all the steel needs to be inside for this to work.

We got the rockers all adjusted, they were all about 1/4 turn loosened so that is good even wear!! This was the first adjustment since the camshaft was broken in so I am happy happy.

Looks like all of them are opening the valves over 1/2" so in this area I am optimistic.
We also acquired some lucas zinc additive stuff and Rotella oil as this is supposed to protect this area the best.

ok, let me eat something and I will have some dirty pics up.

 

Theres where we left off tonight.

 

pics of little piece I found in the transmission pan.

 

Looks like a nice truck! I'd think that is maybe part of a bearing? Thats my best guess.

Josh

 

This is todays progress. Transmission seems to shift fine. it grabs real good.

When we dropped the pan we only got about 1.5 quarts of fluid out max. It took 5.5 to get it back to full level so yeah--it was low on fluid.

Now the neighbor tells me he let some out when his wife told him not to mess with it and just get a new truck.

hmmm

Anyway--for you viewing and listening pleasure-


http://s239.photobucket.com/albums/f...1.flv&newest=1

 

it smokes alot.