95 Olds CutlassTrans, 96 Lumina 3.1-3.4 swap

[nixtux]

Well you're saying basically what I figured so that's good.

I don't think it'll be much different than a typical transmission swap.

I actually forgot about the cooler flush, good thing you mentioned it. On my intrepid I used a air can too push as much of the old crap out then, connected a hoses through a bottle /w transmission fluid. Ran about 5-6qt through; then ran just air to clear. Is that how it would be done on these cars too? Intrepids are fwd but transversal (same as RWD but axles flung out the sides) engines so I'm not sure if that makes any difference regarding flush procedures.

I'm excited to have trusty running again. Not that the old 73' GMC isn't fun to drive, however, 2-4 MPG in town sucks. I've sucked down two tanks (22G,) in 170mi. But elder trusty wasn't designed for the streets. She loves to drive fast and hard. And I certainly enjoy appeasing her. It's kind of fun when you blow the doors off of idiot teenagers in a 7,000lbs truck.

The noise is probably something gone horribly wrong inside the tranny.

If you are pulling the tranny, then you can easily check the flex plate. It will be right there connected to the torque converter. The torque converter attaches to the flexplate with 3 bolts, and the flexplate connects to the engine with 6 bolts.

I think EVERY case of a damaged flexplate that I have seen, the car would not start at all. If teeth were missing, then the dead area would make the starter miss, and result in a no start, or if it was cracked, it would lock up the engine and not turn at all. Does not mean, however, that there isn't damage. Just one of those things that you will have to check while you are there.

Don't worry too much about it. If it is bad, a new one is about $50.00 One thing I would recommend, is once you get the tranny lines off, flush out the tranny cooler (goes into the radiator) before connecting the new tranny. If you have METAL SHAVINGS in the tranny fluid, you don't want to get them into your new tranny.

[3100 MPFI]

funniest race I ever saw was a suburban beat a CRX. Handed him his ass.

Flush is the same no matter what. Just force from the top down. Gravity, you know.

[nixtux]

Almost got the tranny out.

Ran into some bumps.

For starters, the torque Converter bolts had to be torqued to at least 100lb/s+. Which was freaking ridiculous. My friend and I spent a good half hour getting them off; I held the crank and he just wrenched /w a 17mm wrench. I couldn't even believe it. My intrepid was a snap to take the bolts out (much easier to access too,) and torque specs were I believe 20ft/lbs on the intrepid. And the the Cutlass was suppose to be 95in/lbs (I thinks that's what it said int he book anyway.)

Turns out 1 - 1 1/4 socket isn't big enough so I have to wait until tomorrow to get the a bigger socket. (35mm works great /w a 3/4 driver and a 10ft bar on ratchet.)

The Flexplate has about 8 teeth which show wear (a couple mm's shaved.) No one has a flexplate in stock so I'm stuck there until Monday at least, likely wend now they say. Dropped the pan on the transmission and there is some chunks of metal in the pan. I took some pictures, will post soon.

I was suprised how heavy the transmission was. It was about as heavy as my intrepid transmission was. I didn't expect that. I also don't like the bolt you need to get at /w an extension from the pass side else remove exhaust. But otherwise, it's really not bad.

1. Remove Air box. Pretty solid top access. Just undo wires/bolts pretty easy to get to and tuck away. Much easier here than on the intrepid.

2. friend dropped pan. Drained fluid. Found a hole load of metal, it was pretty cool actually. My Intrepid had little bits by comparison. The Cutlass had CHUCKS.

3. remove torque bolts. You'll need to hold the Crank /w a 15mm ratchet; if they are not over torqued they should come off easy. If not, find a friend.

4. Remove Starter --- Tuck wires out of the way, bag your bolts.

I removed the cooler lines at this point too. I believe it was a 15 or 17mm wrench to get them off. To flush, I have a air compressor, I have clear tubing I wrap around the air hose; apply hose to one cooler line and blow until you don't get any fluid. Then I fashioned a 1 gallon jug; cut hole in lid; tilt, apply transmission fluid; put air hose into lid /w clear hose tilt jub upright and apply air. I pushed 5 qt's through. Right or wrong this is what I did with my intrepid and it worked fine so I did the same with my Cutlass. Force everything out of the cooler /w air and decent tubing.

5. Axles ---- make sure you have a 35mm socket (or non-metric counterpart)

Since I got stalled there, we just went to all the mounts and broke them loose to speed things along.

Calipers, two bolts, wire them off to the strut. Then you need a cr-v 3/8 to get the roters off. My bolts were too stripped so I have to drill them out. Downside to buying a car owned by a old guy who had his old buddies do all the work on it. Except the engine was rebuild by a Dealer around 60k because a piston broke. I'm not sure if the deal is to blame for the torque convert to flexplate bolts being over torqued, but I think it's a good guess. They clearly do not care what happens the next time you need to remove something.

So I'm stuck yet again until Monday when a friend comes over and drills the bolts out so I can get the rotors off.

funniest race I ever saw was a suburban beat a CRX. Handed him his ass.

Flush is the same no matter what. Just force from the top down. Gravity, you know.

[nixtux]

Here are some pictures.

Gizmo hung. The chains are merely a catch all. There are stands in the front and back.




Under the front


Metal in the pan.



I ended up using a pipe wrench to get the Caliper mount bolts off. I replaced the mount/calipers/rotors and brake pads too. I figure I haven't changed them in almost 4 years so it's about time.



She's got a few miles on her

[nixtux]

getting the transmission out?

I'm a bit irritated because the Haynes manual doesn't mention dropping the sub-frame. Which is the only way I can
see to get the damn thing out. The subframe isn't too difficult of a job however given I have everything already unbolted and supported via jacks/stands and or "wire" it's irritating that I have to reset the transmission and bolt it up just to the drop the sub-frame. Which BTW I have no idea what to do so hopefully the haynes manual doesn't completely blow for that else I can find some good info on here.

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OLD POST

I finally got all the bolts off. There were a number of issues along the way. From bolts breaking to bolts getting stripped. Anyway, I got all the transmission bolts off; cleared all wires and cooler lines; removed the two bolts that hold the passenger side portion of the transmission to the engine.

Got the transmission off the two post from the engine and the transmission is dropped about an inch.

The issue I'm having is how do I get the transmission out given that every direction I seem to move the transmission there is an obstruction /w the frame. Given I'm not too mechanically inclined I was hoping someone who has removed a transmission from a cutlass supreme, may have a hint for me. I'd be very thankful.

Thanks.