Another Firebird project

[rickpaw]

Hi Sam,



Sorry I missed it too. Been looking forward to it ever since I moved here, especially I wanted to check out your car. Looks like you guys had a great time. My VHX gauge did not boot up as I was leaving for the cruise, and I did not want to drive 100 miles round trip without instrumentation. Turned out the gauge was booting up as I was starting the car, and the gauge did not get the min voltage required for it to run.

[geberhard]

Tu, catching up on your thread, excellent work and great ideas Getting teh 4 post tomorrow, and Lola (vert 68) shoudl be back this weekend , fingers crossed :D

[rickpaw]

Well, I'm kind of tired driving the car with a 3 spd auto, and 3.55 gears. Great around town, but once on the freeway, having the engine buzzing at 3200 rpm @ 70 mph is annoying, so I decided to install an O/V unit. After researching different options, I settled on the Gear Vendors, mainly of its strength, plus my T400 had been rebuilt and I want to keep it.

GV is kind of expensive new, so I've been watching ebay and CL for used units. Found one on ebay.

The day it arrived. It's an older unit, with a big sump (must have been for truck application). Supposedly rebuilt by the seller.


It came without the rubber o-ring seal between the adapter and the T400 main housing. After calling GV, the o-ring is the extension seal for 4L80e transmission, which you can get at any GM dealer for around $4.30. GV wanted over $9 for it. Picture of GM part number in case anyone needs it.


Pulled the tailshaft off the tranny.


Adapter bolted in place


Measuring for coupler shaft end play.


Unit bolted in place.




The entire process took about 2.5 hours, including jacking up the car, clean up the tranny fluid spill when I pulled the D/S, and put away the tools.

Got my drive shaft shortened at the local drivetrain shop and bolted in place

[rickpaw]

It was nice today so I took the car out for a shake down run with the new GV unit. So far so good. 70 mph the rpm is around 2500. Lots better. I did not even feel the O/V kicked in.

[acegto]

Great work Tu. Have you noticed a difference in the roads in Houston? Would love to see the car around town sometime.

[CamaroJoe]

Beautiful firebird! That gear vendors overdrive looks great Im sure it will make a big difference, let us know how you like it...

[geberhard]

Tu greta to check out the bird progress, how is she with the GV setup?