Let me tell you about transmissions

[The Ghoul]

My friend has a road runner that is a bit of a dog.
We changed plugs, wires, carb, and fuel filter.
The car ran better but it still felt like a boat. We decided the trans was prolly the source of the lag and the torque converter may have not been helping.
So, he dropped off a performance trans and a good torque converter.
I instantly saw (from the Z bar plate on the tail shaft) that this trans was out of a floor shift car. I switched out the gear select lever, neutral safety switch, and some other stuff. He took the old trans and I thought it was good to go.

The transmission that was in the car was running a 10" bolt pattern torque converter, so I tracked down a bough an 11.125" flex plate for the new torque converter. That was when I realized that the new converter is non weighted... This would be fine if the crank pulley was also non weighted, but that is not the case.

I made the decision that I would throw the trans and torque converter in place as it was and then track down a non weighted pulley later.

So the trans goes in with the correct flex plate ect...
The last step in the trans swap was to reconnect all the gear selecting linkage. The column shift linkage that is. So I go to bolt the Z bar plate to the bell housing and guess what? The taped stud, and stabilizer stud were nonexistent. My only guess on this whole cluster f&#k is that the shop that built that trans up decided that the since this trans was going into a floor shift car they could make it look a lot cleaner by eliminating all unnecessary mounts.

Ill take pics so this becomes a little more clear.

I have a heck of a check list now when ever I swap out a trans.
- Is the new torque converter bolt pattern 10" or 11.125" and does this match the existing flex plate?
- Is the new torque converter weighted or non-weighted and does this match the existing crank shaft pulley?
- Is the new transmission a floor shift or column shift trans?
        *Do I need to change the gear select lever
        *DOES THE COLUMN SHIFT 'Z' BAR PLATE MOUNT EXIST?!!!

[John_Kunkel]

- Is the new torque converter bolt pattern 10" or 11.125" and does this match the existing flex plate?


The 10 3/4" converter use the 10" bolt pattern, 11 3/4" converters use the 11 1/8" bolt pattern. The original trans had the small converter so you're going to the larger converter which is a step backwards in performance; the original smaller converter will stall higher.


- Is the new torque converter weighted or non-weighted and does this match the existing crank shaft pulley?


You don't give a clue as to what motor you're running but if it has a weighted balancer it needs weights on the converter. The weights are there to externally balance the engine, you can't just run a non-weighted converter and change the balancer to a non-weighted unit, they both have to be weighted. Running the non-weighted converter will cause a noticeable vibration.
If you insist on using the larger converter you will have to weld weight(s) on it or use an aftermarket flexplate that has thye external weight built in.


- Is the new transmission a floor shift or column shift trans?


There's no such thing as a floorshift or column shift trans, it depends on what linkage is bolted to the case. The floorshift uses a verticle z-bar with a bracket on the tailhousing and the column shift uses a z-bar with a bracket on the bellhousing and there are several different brackets so you need to get the correct part.



*Do I need to change the gear select lever?


Sometimes, yes, but again you give no clue as to year.


*DOES THE COLUMN SHIFT 'Z' BAR PLATE MOUNT EXIST?!!!

Sure, all you have to do is find the right one.

[The Ghoul]

Like I said just a growing check list of things that I need to look for next time.

The biggest bugger of this whole thing is that in theory all the trans casings should be the same, who would have guessed that this one was modified when it was rebuilt to exclude the one thing I needed!!!

The decision has been made.

I will fab a plate that will mount the 'Z' bar mount.

And a new torque converter will be bought.

I will not be screwed by the same issue twice, so from now on I will be looking for this crap.

[John_Kunkel]

If you're going to buy a new converter you still have to deal with the external balance issue, there are aftermarket weighted flex plates available for all the external balanced motors that will allow the use of any neutral balanced converter.

Also, unless someone has hacksawed off the bosses on the transmission case, the case hasn't been "modified", it is merely missing the needed bolt-on part(s).