Build Meet Phoenix aka Zombie

[mwebfj60]

Automatic transmissions scare me. Glad to see you have it under control. My 85 FJ60 has the H55 in it, which is just fine with me. Maybe someday, I'll earn my man card and tackle an automatic rebuild. Keep up the good work -- dig your attitude and the quality of your work and posts. Keep 'em coming!

I think it's more of a maniac card being earned. Just the sheer volume of parts is ridiculous. The rear upper valve body alone had 45 little pieces. It's an exercise in patience and meticulous cleaning while trying to keep everything organized.

 

[gregnash]

They're from an 06' PT Cruiser. After scouring Pick N Pulls and other yards for a while now, I decided on these. The BMW seats are nice but none I saw were in decent shape. There was a dinstinct pattern of finding tore up BMW seats and nice condition PT seats. Besides cigarette burns, seems almost all PT drivers were careless smokers. Ride height is good and very comfortable. Color is close, might paint the trim pieces with the same paint as the dash.

Were they from a touring model? Out of all the ones that I looked at when I went to pull mine (five different ones) none of them had the armrest on the side. However, the ones I looked at were '07 to '11 (mine was the '07). I know that there were a couple of different model platforms that were produced that offered different amenities so wondering if that was why?the ones I grabbed were the only non-leather and non-electric ones out there.

 

[mwebfj60]

I'm not sure what the trim level was, this was the first one I found that wasn't the leather/cloth combo and not the charcoal with pattern cloth. The driver seat has a power height adjustment but I had to remove the motor to clear the slider lever.

 

[mwebfj60]

Valve Body is done

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

That’s really just a very high tech marble run....

 

[mwebfj60]

That’s really just a very high tech marble run....

Pretty much...whoever first figured this stuff out was a fluid dynamics genius. I feel mentally taxed just removing, cleaning, and putting all the parts back together. I was on the fence about even doing the VB after reading too many threads. Glad I did as it was so gummed up and nothing slid smoothly.
Someone had been in there before and a couple of pieces were installed backwards.

 

[mwebfj60]

Back on track after figuring out the clutch disks were different thicknesses. Rookie move...didn't instill confidence that's for sure.

 

[mwebfj60]

So far so good, I think the auto may overtake the carb in my favorite list. This has been a really fun project so far, so many pieces and precise measurements.
I'm kind of on hold waiting on a new snap ring for the rear clutch. Below is the Front Clutch. The last thing to go through is the Overdrive Assembly and once the snap ring gets here it can all go back together.

 

[mwebfj60]

For the cooler, I went with the Hayden 679. The pic shows a mock up of location and fit. Still need to make the other two brackets. The airflow seems like it will be very good so we'll see if it has an effect on engine cooling or not.

 

[gregnash]

Seems to be a pretty common place for mounting an aftermarket tranny cooler so you should be good to go.

 

[mwebfj60]

From reading other threads I think so too.

Got the install finished. I ended up doing like others have done and cut the crimp rings off the return line fittings and used them.

 

[mwebfj60]

This threw me for a major loop. Got to this step late last night and I had kept the accumulators and springs together the way they came out. Not knowing if it was right from the last guy and the fact that other things were found installed backwards didn't help. That, and a difference between labeling in the pic and in the table.
The accumulators only fit in the cylinder meant for them, the springs are the right diameter and length is as written in the table.
Notice the difference in diameters listed in the FSM and what I measured.

 

[mwebfj60]

Progress...hoping for a test drive in the next day or two.

The stuff replaced

 

[hj 60]

Did you use new springs?
B0 diameter is 13 not 17
C2 length is 2.56 not 3.15
Now you know the inside can you maybe explain what happens when people do the "party trick" ?
problem: first described by Rodney from Extreme Transmissions, the World Guru or Cruiser tranny's.
was stuck in 1st
solution:
you want to slam it all the way up into the PARK position. Don't put in in reverse.
it clears the governor of debris, above 60, It will make a slight rattling sound
All that happened was that tranny would once again shift like it's supposed to.
:You get up to 60mph or so and throw the shift lever from drive to park for several seconds and then back to drive. The effect is a back flushing of the valves that control the mechanisms that operate the A440 automatic transmission.
:get going about 65 mph and slam the shift lever into the park position and leave it there for about 3-4 seconds. Then shift it quickly back into drive. No, I am not kidding.

 

[LAMBCRUSHER]

you're giving me hope!

 

[mwebfj60]

Did you use new springs?
B0 diameter is 13 not 17
C2 length is 2.56 not 3.15
Now you know the inside can you maybe explain what happens when people do the "party trick" ?
problem: first described by Rodney from Extreme Transmissions, the World Guru or Cruiser tranny's.
was stuck in 1st
solution:
you want to slam it all the way up into the PARK position. Don't put in in reverse.
it clears the governor of debris, above 60, It will make a slight rattling sound
All that happened was that tranny would once again shift like it's supposed to.
:You get up to 60mph or so and throw the shift lever from drive to park for several seconds and then back to drive. The effect is a back flushing of the valves that control the mechanisms that operate the A440 automatic transmission.
:get going about 65 mph and slam the shift lever into the park position and leave it there for about 3-4 seconds. Then shift it quickly back into drive. No, I am not kidding.

The best I could come up with on the Party Trick when I had the valve body out was that it creates a back pressure in the valve body. When you shift into park, the manual valve moves to the park position where the fluid passages are blocked off. You also let off the gas so the Throttle Valve Cams are disengaged. Since you are at speed and have pressure on the clutch plates and the valves are closed it causes the pressure and fluid to travel back the other way. The piston return spring packs are trying to push the piston back and without incoming pressure due to manual valve in park position, this causes the reverse pressure kind of backflushing the valve body. The buzzing rattling sound is probably the locking Pawl in the Transfer Adapter bouncing off the Governor Valve Body teeth.

That’s my guess anyways.

 

[mwebfj60]

Well, all buttoned up except front driveshaft and temp gauge. Just need to pick up about 7 gallons of fluids.

Not sure why new hardware is so exciting but it is.

 

[74fj40]

I’m sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for the test drive... hoping that all else is good!

 

[89BIGBLUE]

I’m sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for the test drive... hoping that all else is good!

DITTO!

 

[RodrigzCrzr]

Same here!