First time rebuilding and strengthening a 2004r

[Jürgen2]

Hello everybody,
I´m new here on this forum. My name is Juergen and I´m a 24 year old guy form Germany/Europe.
I´m restoring a 72 Chevelle Malibu right now and I decided to put in a 383 Stroker engine with about 450hp, a 3.73 eaton posi differencial and a th2004r.
I bouhgt the tranny and now I want to rebuild it and make it strong enough for my engine.
I got a lot of informations from this site and from bruces´ site, but at least I have some problems to figure out which parts I should use to rebuild my tranny.

I never opened a tranny yet and I don´t really know what parts are in there and how they were called so it´s a little difficult to take the correct parts.
My car should become a daily driver.

I hope I get a little help rom you.

1) Bruce says that hot temperature kills the trannys. I know that, but if I take the sheet metal aluminium pan, wouldn´t the oil stay too cool, or lasts very long to reach the right temperature?

2) I know, I´ll need a shift kit, but I guess there are different shift kits available. And I found just one on the ptsextreme.com site. I´ll need a shift kit that doesn´t shift too hard, because I need/want some comfort in my car because it´ll be mostly driven on the road and not on the strip. Will the shift kit from Bruce be the right one for my car?

3) I guess the stock case and the stock output shaft will be good for my car, right?

4) PTS installs a Torrington low drag bearing for the Park Gear. I guess it is called PTS Xtreme Roller Park Gear. Would this be a good thing to buy for me? I want to be sure I have a tranny that is strong enough and "long livin". I don´t want to rebuild it every year.

5) Low/Reverse clutches: What clutches should I use?

6)Bruce suggests a new roler clutch for the low planet, but I didn´t find one on his site. What part is that?

7)I guess the roller bearing in the low/reverse center support is the way I have to go, but I didn´t find the part on pts?

8) I read I´ll have to drill out lube holes to increase lube to bearing and pinions of the front planet, but where exactly I have to do this?

9) Will I have anything to do with my forward drum? I don´t know what time I´ll make with this engine/tranny/differencial combination, so I don´t know, how I should go on.

10) For the direct drum it´s good to use Teflon Rings, and Alto Red Eagle clutches with my setup, right?

11)Bands and related: I guess the Red Alto Band would be the right for me with the 300m anchor pin?

12) I guess a modified GN servo will work well in my tranny. I´ll just have to make the apply pin adjustable, right?

13)What exactly I have to do with the center support? Just teflon ring everything, or will I have to do more?

14) The OD should be strong enough for my car, right?

15) A 3 clutch piston should be used and Alto Red Eagle clutches. What parts are this at pts?

16) OR clutch will be fine if I use any stock clutch, right?

17)The Overdrive Planets are know for cracking the splined piece and stripping the splines. This could be a problem for my car, too. So will the Billet splined OD planet from pts solve this problem?

18) The input shaft seems to be a weak point, too. But I guess it should be good for my 450hp engine. Is it enough, if I just use teflon rings?

19) When I read, what Bruce wrote about the pump, I have to order a new one and modify it? I also should install a hardened stator. Will I need new boost valves? And if yes, what size?

20) The governor should be pinned in.



Oh man, I didn´t know it will need this much work to get a tranny that´s strong enough.
Can anyone help me with the parts I need, because when I read the pts site I see a lot of parts, but I don´t know what parts I really need.

Thank you very much.

Regards
Juergen S

 

[Blown&Injected]

Hi and welcome to the board.

You can learn lots just by reading the posts here and doing a search on specific parts and questions.

About what you will have to have - at 450 HP, you are near the point where you may need some of the good parts. Like so many things, how much do you want to spend?

I typically am not the type that tells a do it your self person to not to do it your self, but due to your location, and my experience in in the USA trying to get parts for this trans, I would suggest that you just buy a trans from a builder on this site. I would ask how much extra to install and road test the unit for a few weeks just because, again, of your location.

I am not one of the experts here, but I will take a shot at some of these questions.

1) Bruce says that hot temperature kills the trannys. I know that, but if I take the sheet metal aluminium pan, wouldn´t the oil stay too cool, or lasts very long to reach the right temperature?

add an external cooler - not expensive, easy, and important

2) I know, I´ll need a shift kit, but I guess there are different shift kits available. And I found just one on the ptsextreme.com site. I´ll need a shift kit that doesn´t shift too hard, because I need/want some comfort in my car because it´ll be mostly driven on the road and not on the strip. Will the shift kit from Bruce be the right one for my car?

there are many out there. Get the one that is done to your specs, I suspect that many are not customized

3) I guess the stock case and the stock output shaft will be good for my car, right?

should be

4) PTS installs a Torrington low drag bearing for the Park Gear. I guess it is called PTS Xtreme Roller Park Gear. Would this be a good thing to buy for me? I want to be sure I have a tranny that is strong enough and "long livin". I don´t want to rebuild it every year.

?

5) Low/Reverse clutches: What clutches should I use?

I believe the only place that special clutch plates are needed is in the direct clutch drum and for the band

6)Bruce suggests a new roler clutch for the low planet, but I didn´t find one on his site. What part is that?

7)I guess the roller bearing in the low/reverse center support is the way I have to go, but I didn´t find the part on pts?

8) I read I´ll have to drill out lube holes to increase lube to bearing and pinions of the front planet, but where exactly I have to do this?

9) Will I have anything to do with my forward drum? I don´t know what time I´ll make with this engine/tranny/differencial combination, so I don´t know, how I should go on.

10) For the direct drum it´s good to use Teflon Rings, and Alto Red Eagle clutches with my setup, right?

red or blue plates

11)Bands and related: I guess the Red Alto Band would be the right for me with the 300m anchor pin?

that is what I'm using

12) I guess a modified GN servo will work well in my tranny. I´ll just have to make the apply pin adjustable, right?

13)What exactly I have to do with the center support? Just teflon ring everything, or will I have to do more?

14) The OD should be strong enough for my car, right?

15) A 3 clutch piston should be used and Alto Red Eagle clutches. What parts are this at pts?

16) OR clutch will be fine if I use any stock clutch, right?

17)The Overdrive Planets are know for cracking the splined piece and stripping the splines. This could be a problem for my car, too. So will the Billet splined OD planet from pts solve this problem?

18) The input shaft seems to be a weak point, too. But I guess it should be good for my 450hp engine. Is it enough, if I just use teflon rings?

19) When I read, what Bruce wrote about the pump, I have to order a new one and modify it? I also should install a hardened stator. Will I need new boost valves? And if yes, what size?

If you order a new pump, get it already modified.

20) The governor should be pinned in.

yes

Some more good reading here:

http://www.gnttype.org/techarea/transmission/transpage.html

Good Luck what ever you decide.

 

[2quiktocare]

Welcome to the board

Welcome to the board Juergen. This is a great place to find out all kinds of information and varying opinions on how to get your trans to stand up to your use you are planing on. Let me see if I can handle each of your points in order here.
1: The PTS pan adds 2 1/2 qts fluid and does help in cooling. It's main job though is making available more fluid to the filter under full throttle by placing a larger filter on the bottom of the pan and in the back. This cures cavitation problems on 2/3 shift
2: The kits we manufacture is for crisp shifts to maintain engine speed on its power band. If you are not wanting serious shifts, the factory set up will be great for you if you are running the proper valve body.
3: The factory case will be fine, unless it has damage to it (normally found at the dowel pins area). As far as the input shaft, If you are planning on getting into the power on this car, I would seriously recommend going with a billet unit.
4: The bearinged park is a great unit, but more important is the low/reverse carrier with the bearing.
5: We use the Raybestos blue plates in our units
6: I think you are refering to the low/reverse center support unit, and also the o/d planet? The billet o/d planet is great anytime you are running this type of power
7: See #6
8: Those machining items are things to be done only if you have major experience in dealing with rebuilding.
9: All I am saying now is in reference to what you are planning on putting in your car. On that, yes, a billet drum is very important. We are talking about making this a bullet proof unit.
10: We use the Raybestos blues and we have found the teflon seals very nice at higher pressures
11: The wide band and anchor pin were designed by Bruce to work with the billet servo unit. The whole set makes for a quick lock of the band to prevent power lose.
12: The factory governor is a great unit if it is from a GN or M/C SS, and yes, make sure it is pinned as the springs have been known to pop off when they aren't pinned
13: Use the bearinged center support
14: Once again, if you want this thing to last and not give you any problems, the billet o/d planet is needed
15:?
16:?
17: Yes, it will solve this concern
18:The power will cut short the life of a normal or hardened input. If you want to make sure you are going to be ok with this, you need the billet unit
19: The chrome moly stator and veins are needed to prevent pump failure. We do offer a full billet pump assembly, but we only sell it as an upgrade in a rebuild, no just as a part over the counter.
20: Yes, the governor needs to be pinned

If you have anymore questions, e-mail us, or call if you can,,,,,,,,thanks, Mark

 

[Jürgen2]

Thank you for your answers.

I am sure I want to do the rebuilt on my own. I want to be able do accomplish repairs on my own when I have finished my car.
I can dismantle a whole elevator and assemble it again, so a tranny can´t be that difficult.

So lets have a look, what you recomend me to do.

-New Billet Input Shaft
-Low/Reverse carrier with bearing
-Raybestos blue plates for Low/Reverse (BTW what means 1 to 12, 13 to 36 and 37 to 60?)
-Billet O/D planet
-Forward billet drum
-Raybestos blue plates for direct Drum
-Bearing Center Support
-new modified pump with chrome moly stator and veins

This sounds like a must, to get a bullet proof tranny.
Also recomendet is the roller park gear.

Will I need any other parts to rebuild the tranny?

Thanks
Juergen S

 

[Jürgen2]

@Mark,
you have an email.

Juergen S

 

[Jürgen2]

Hey Mark,
did you get my email?
I was just wondering because I didn´t get an anwer for a few days now.

Thanks
Juergen S

 

[2quiktocare]

Juergen, i have not seen an e mail. If you could resend and hopefully i can answer any specific questions you have. Thanks, mark