So I finally had some time to start on the driveline upgrades that I ordered all the parts for recently.  I had planned on changing the oil pan gasket in an attempt to stop an oil leak that I have not been able to pinpoint as the block was so filthy with old oil buildup that it makes it near impossible to tell if a seal is currently leaking or not.  Since on the F-Bodies you have to drop the K-Member in order to remove the oil pan I figured that I might as well replace the motor mounts while in there.  So the longer I looked at it and thought about the amount of work it is going to be to remove the entire exhaust from the headers back then remove the alternator & A/C compressor, I decided that I can live with the leak for a little while longer until I have more time available to me.

So I put the car in the air and began to tear into it.  Here is the driveshaft after I pulled it.

 

What struck me as odd was that it felt entirely too light for a stock unit along with the fact that there was no GM or AC Delco labeling on it anywhere, just a Three Rivers sticker.  I thought maybe it was an aftermarket replacement to lighten the drivetrain geometry some.  After a little research I found out that Three Rivers manufactured these for GM and that a good deal of the LS1 F-Bodies had these as stock.  Nice bonus to have aluminum over steel.

Next I disconnected the torque arm and removed the bushing clamshell that connects it to the tailshaft of the tranny.  The stock rubber bushing is so chewed up that it is doing basically nothing for the torque arm at this point.  Another thing to add to the extensive list of things to fix.

 

With that out of the way and the tranny crossmember removed I started working on the bellhousing bolts.  The first few were no issue as they were reachable with a regular ratchet and socket.  But I soon discovered that this was not going to be quite as easy as it it seemed.  But then what ever is.  Here is a shot of the ridiculous location of the top most bellhousing bolt.  You can barely see it above the tranny and partially obscured by the body.

 

And here is the absurd extensions I had to cobble together to get out half of the bolts.

 

So after several hours of yelling, cursing and being on the verge of throwing things I was finally able to get those bolts out and that sucker out from under the car.  I use the small pool of ATF on the floor next to it as as it symbolically bleeding for me after I bled for it during the removal.  At one point an errant shard of metal from I don’t know where was in the tunnel and sliced open about half of the tip of my main index finger and logged itself firmly into it.

 

And here is the stock converter that is the main reason for all the work.

 

After pulling the converter out I noticed that it was a remanufacture which made me then look over the tranny itself and it also was a remanufactured service replacement.  The more I get into this car, the more I am unhappy with what I ended up with for the money.  For a stock A4 car he had to have done something catastrophically wrong for both of these units to need replacing.

    

Here is a comparison of the stock converter vs the Yank SS4000 that I am replacing it with.

 

And here is the Yank all nice and snug in it’s new home.

 

Next I moved on to working on the flexplate.  Here is the stock unit before removing it.  Didn’t see anything abnormal about it but if I am going in this far I might as well upgrade it.

 

Once the flexplate was off I did a once over of the rear mains.  I was thinking that this could also be a possible source of an oil leak but it checked out ok.  I could see some very very minor oil around the bottom most portion of the crank seal but not enough to worry about going through the trouble of pulling the cover and replacing the gasket and seal so I am letting them be for now.

 

Here is a quick shot of a flexplate comparison between the stock unit and the SFI rated unit I picked up from Yank.

 

And here is the new plate installed with some new ARP bolts for piece of mind.

 

And at that point I decided to call it a day.  Tomorrow I will begin to reassemble everything.  I most certainly do not look forward to putting some of those bellhousing bolts back in.  It’s entirely possible that top most one at least won’t be going back in.

 

 

The rest of the goodies have finally came in as of this morning.  An 800lb transmission jack and engine support bar from HFT.  This week also saw the delivery of the Yank SS4000 torque converter and SFI rated flexplate.

 

Now if I can ever kick this sinus head cold that has been dragging me down all week and sapping all my energy, I can begin tearing the car apart and get the new stuff installed.  Hopefully if everything goes right I should be able to get the work done in 2-3 solid days of taking my time.  But when does anything ever go according to plan right?

Here is one of the pile of parts for the work I plan to do this summer on the bird.

They are:

• TCI Deep transmission pan.  This is cast aluminum with come cooling fins compared to the stock stamped steel and also carries a 2 quart larer capacity.  The drain plug doesn’t hurt either.  Comes with a set of stainless fasteners which is nice.
• ARP Flexplate bolts
• ARP Torque Converter bolts
• Hayden 30K GVW plate style oil cooler with accessories
• Oil pan gasket
• Rear main cover gasket
• Rear main seal

I am still waiting on my new torque converter to be built and shipped.  Once I get that and a few more tools like a trans jack I will be able to begin the work.  I plan to also do other upgrades I meant to do a year ago but never got around to.  Like new motor mounts.