Gonna swap the trans this weekend. How to clean it up and prep it?

Pics attached. Just has your average grime and filth on it.

I want to clean it up, maybe even paint it, but how can I safely wash it down?

Also, I want to swap out my old valvebody with the one with the shiftkit.

Should I use the tailshaft housing from my old trans that had new bushings and seals within the past year or just stick this one on, that appears to be rebuilt less than 10k miles ago, and I am assuming in 06 due to the writing inside the bell housing.

 

I cleaned mine up by rubbing it down with a lot of Simple Green, then covered up all the holes with rags and tape, and took it to a coin-operated car wash. Pressure washed it there, then I took it back home and cleaned all the more difficult areas with brake cleaner and more Simple Green.

Trans on the left is what came out of my car, trans on the right used to look like that before I cleaned it up. This is right before I discovered I needed to swap bellhousings...

 

I washed mine with Greased Lighting and a 4" paint brush then hosed it off with the garden hose.

 

So, just plug the holes and keep away from the seals?

Those look GREAT!!!

Also, I noticed that some of our trannies have a "boot" on the tailshaft housing, others have a seal.

Is there a preference of one over the other, or is there a way to use both?

My old tranny with the new seals on the tailshaft have the boot, but the rebuilt tranny has the seal.

 

Facelessnumber, is that the large bellhousing compared to the small?

 

Mine wasn't too dirty to begin with. Hope carb cleaner and paint brush doesn't hurt anything. Didn't get it in any holes.

This looks clean enough for me at this time.

 

Any feedback on using the old vs. new tailshaft housing?

 

A seal is a seal. Ever what you get stuck with when you buy a new one. The seal is less than $5 to change. I would use the tailhousing that came on the transmission if it is still good.

 

It is still good, but it has 10k miles and 3 years on it.

The one from my old tranny has new seals, bushings, etc within the past year and 200 miles ago.

Paint, anyone? Any yea's or nea's? I know, not black, or I won't be able to see leaks.

 

The trans wasn't painted from the factory and that's good enough for me. Paint also holds heat. If you change tailhousings you will need to change the gasket. A new bushing and seal might be cheaper than buying a gasket kit or rebuild kit to get the needed gasket.

 

Dont start robbing from peter to pay paul...You have two complete transmissions.Leave em alone.If you are that concerned about the tail shaft bushing Scott,Get a new one for your new trans.Personally i think you will probably do well to just replace the front and rear seals and put it in.Good luck!!! Paint?? whos gonna see it???

 

Alright. No paint sounds fine by me. Makes it easy to see where leaks are originating from.

Good point on the gasket. I will look to see how hard it is to find those.

Last question(s).

What kind of gasket for the pan, and what are your opinions on the B&M drain kit?

(have it on my old pan, might transfer it to the new one. It MAY have been one of the sources of my leaks. Hard to tell since it was leaking from so many places.)

 

Drain plug kits LEAK...unless you have the treaded nut/bung welded to the pan. Take the existing pan with drain and have it welded up.Wont leak then! Then just put the pan on the new trans with either gasket.Cork or rubber it dont really matter,it will leak if you gorilla the bolts either way.Just dont use RTV if you have a gasket.

 

Thanks!!!

Just what I needed to hear.

I think a good bit of the leaking came from that B&M plug kit. It was the screw-in type, but not welded. It just had these crappy plastic or teflon washers. Dripped like crazy.

 

Yep. One on the right came from a '77 Comet. Large bell, had the 168 tooth flexplate.