Transmission

A couple people I showed this to thought I was unhinged for even attempting this. But if anything it's good for a laugh. I did suss out how it caught fire and it's pretty interesting playing detective.

So here's how I pieced the puzzle together. The case is a Ford replacement case for the C6. I can only imagine something happened to the original transmission. However whomever replaced the transmission never tightened the bolts to the engine. As the car ran the bolts slowly unloosened and the angle between the engine and transmission centre line became more and more severe. The flexplate was not happy. No sir. As the angle increased the flexplate forced the torque converter on an angle to match the engine and broke the gears in the pump.

But the C6 soldiered on amazingly. It kept going. Now the intense heat from the broken gears grinding away caused the front seal to completely melt and the torque converter snout bushing that resides in the pump welded to the snout. Somehow it didn't leak, that one remains a mystery as the toxic sludge was still in it and quite full. But yet the C6 kept running. The pump was grinding metal and just pumping it into the valve body, torque converter and cooler. So much so that it blasted the cooler return check ball straight through the valve body spacer plate like a bullet. But yet it kept going. I am sure it was loosing pressure as the clutches started to slip and burn. The cooler was effectively plugged and the temps sky rocketed so much so the fluid ignited. Now I don't see how enough oxygen could get into the case, but unless somehow the pump was pulling it in from the front and aerating the fluid.

Alas the transmission was in flames and it's quite evident flames were shooting out of the dipstick tube. Can you imagine the racket that must have made?!

Wouldn't a sane person have pulled over long before anything like this ever progressed to the level it did?

I guess not. Now for the carnage.

That's actual ash atop the valve body.

I have never seen anything like this.

You can see the broken gears in the pump.

I've never seen a band lay out almost flat. All the clutches were cooked.

These are all the parts that were replaced. Even the sprag just fell apart when I took it out.

That case took a bit to clean out. Boy did it ever.

This transmission ended up receiving the works. It was rollerized to start with along with increasing each clutch capacity in frictions and steels. The frictions are Red Eagles with Kolene steels and it also received a red eagle extra wide band. I bought a 2400 stall rebuilt torque converter with rollerized stator.

On torque converters for C6's with FE's, apparently supplies are running low and you have to return your old one for a core. Boy how I would have liked to been there when they saw that torque converter and cut it open.

This was the most difficult part of this transmission. The spacer plate, the cooler check ball was blown through with incredible force. I plug welded the hole then drilled to seat the ball. Of course the heat warped this like a potato chip and I spent all day planishing it back straight then final decking it flat again. This still had the 1966 valve body in it which is a one year only (dual range). I couldn't find a new spacer plate or valve body for the life of me.

I was able to find the 1966 only valve body gasket though. So that was a bit of luck.

I was amazed on how well this valve body came out. I spent a ludicrous amount of hours on this transmission bringing it back from the dead.

It's going back together and looking nothing like it did.

I don't think its own mother would recognize it.

But seriously a word on rollerizing one of these. If you have the means to machine the parts yourself then you can save several hundred dollars by doing the labour and just buying the 60 or so dollars worth of Torrington bearings and doing the job yourself. However even with entrusting the machining work to a machinist is a risky proposition because of the incredulous amount of details on the cuts. One wrong cut and you'll be buying an expensive planetary or such part. Plus any machinist worth his salt will take his time, review the instructions and do the work. All this takes loads of time and by the time you pay his bill you can just buy the parts already pre-machined as a kit.

A word on this transmission. This was the most ludicrous resurrection I have ever done. The labour was astronomical and my cost alone was about 1200 dollars for parts. You can imagine how much this would have cost at a restoration shop. Figure 90 dollars an hour shop rate plus mark up on the parts. This would be easily 4 grand.

I didn't go into the details of this transmission build as it parallels this one if you're interested: Ford C6 Transmission Rollerization

I wish I had taken a picture of the flexplate. It was truly comical. The metal looked like a shattered windscreen. The amount of cracks in it was amazing.

The next post will deal with building up the donor frame. I won't touch on the interior until the chassis is complete and work starts on the body.

Thanks for reading and watching.

Cheers