3800 Donor Obtained (Page 1/1)
tater85 OCT 10, 09:18 AM
I have an 86 gt 4 speed. The engine is bad and I am moving forward with a 3800 auto swap. I have obtained the shifter, column, shift cable and console from another 86. I just bought a wrecked 2006 grand prix gt with 172k. Pulled the engine/trans last weekend. I was able to drive the car onto the trailer and get it home. At home I filled and air bled the cooling system as best as possible with water (cracked radiator due to wreck) took it for a short drive to see that trans was not slipping although didn't go fast enough to see if over drive and higher gears worked, because radiator was hemoraging quickly. It runs stronger than my 2002 gtp daily driver.

I plan to inspect the engine internally and reseal it at a minimum.

The transmission fluid is pretty dark. Any recommendations on how far I should go with the transmission? Considering rebuild myself but I do not have a transmission table or a decent surface to work from. I had triple edge rebuild the transmission in my daily driver due to time constraints versus tackling it myself. Should i pull the pan and have a look at the magnets or go all in and have it rebuilt? Those of you that have rebuilt yourself how many hours would you say it takes?
Darth Fiero OCT 10, 08:48 PM

quote
Originally posted by tater85:

I have an 86 gt 4 speed. The engine is bad and I am moving forward with a 3800 auto swap. I have obtained the shifter, column, shift cable and console from another 86. I just bought a wrecked 2006 grand prix gt with 172k. Pulled the engine/trans last weekend. I was able to drive the car onto the trailer and get it home. At home I filled and air bled the cooling system as best as possible with water (cracked radiator due to wreck) took it for a short drive to see that trans was not slipping although didn't go fast enough to see if over drive and higher gears worked, because radiator was hemoraging quickly. It runs stronger than my 2002 gtp daily driver.

I plan to inspect the engine internally and reseal it at a minimum.

The transmission fluid is pretty dark. Any recommendations on how far I should go with the transmission? Considering rebuild myself but I do not have a transmission table or a decent surface to work from. I had triple edge rebuild the transmission in my daily driver due to time constraints versus tackling it myself. Should i pull the pan and have a look at the magnets or go all in and have it rebuilt? Those of you that have rebuilt yourself how many hours would you say it takes?



I would pull the pan and examine what got caught in the magnet; if it is full of metal - the trans likely needs a rebuild. The dark fluid could be anything from just burnt/worn-out fluid that never got changed by the previous owner, or it could be contaminated by clutch material. If the bottom of the pan has a lot of black carbon in it, that's probably from the torque converter clutch and that same stuff would also be deposited in the valve body.

-Ryan

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More is more. Less is not enough.

Custom GM OBD1 & OBD2 Tuning | Engine Conversions & more | www.gmtuners.com

BruhMans06 OCT 12, 03:56 PM

quote
Originally posted by tater85:

I have an 86 gt 4 speed. The engine is bad and I am moving forward with a 3800 auto swap. I have obtained the shifter, column, shift cable and console from another 86. I just bought a wrecked 2006 grand prix gt with 172k. Pulled the engine/trans last weekend. I was able to drive the car onto the trailer and get it home. At home I filled and air bled the cooling system as best as possible with water (cracked radiator due to wreck) took it for a short drive to see that trans was not slipping although didn't go fast enough to see if over drive and higher gears worked, because radiator was hemoraging quickly. It runs stronger than my 2002 gtp daily driver.

I plan to inspect the engine internally and reseal it at a minimum.

The transmission fluid is pretty dark. Any recommendations on how far I should go with the transmission? Considering rebuild myself but I do not have a transmission table or a decent surface to work from. I had triple edge rebuild the transmission in my daily driver due to time constraints versus tackling it myself. Should i pull the pan and have a look at the magnets or go all in and have it rebuilt? Those of you that have rebuilt yourself how many hours would you say it takes?



I agree with the other comment. Dark fluid doesn't matter too much as it's similar to how motor oil blackens and just needs to be changed. When you pull the pan, pull the valve body out and check that. I rebuilt an automatic out of 2011 outback and didn't check the valve body. The car ended up not moving and wouldn't shift after 3 months of work once I got it back it the car. I would even go as far as buying a new one to prevent that issue.

Cheers

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James Bird