First transmission I rebuilt was a turbo 400 in my 69 Grand Prix. I was maybe 18. I didn't have a clue what to do, where to start, or how I was going to do it. I didn't even own a jack. I used wooden blocks and a 2x4 to lever the tranny out of the car and onto the dirt. I bought the cheapest overhaul kit I could find from some magazine and started unscrewing bolts till I had every piece torn apart and sitting on my work bench. Working every evening when I got home from work for about 3 weeks and I had it ready to go back into the car. Got it installed a few evenings later and it wouldn't work. I was disappointed but didn't know what defeat was. So out it came back on the dirt and wooden blocks. Back on the bench, took the pan off and immediately saw the problem. The S hook that hooks the shifter linkage to the valve body had somehow came apart. I debated on going back into the tranny, but decided I was confident that I had done everything I knew to do. Later I wished I had pulled the pan instead of the whole tranny. Got it back in and to my amazement, it worked perfect. Talking about a happy young man... That was back in 1974. Later in life, I worked at a GM dealership and rebuilt hundreds if not thousands of transmissions. I was working there when the 700R4 came out. Lots of warranty work on them before GM figured out all the bugs.
First transmission I rebuilt was a turbo 400 in my 69 Grand Prix. I was maybe 18. I didn't have a clue what to do, where to start, or how I was going to do it. I didn't even own a jack. I used wooden blocks and a 2x4 to lever the tranny out of the car and onto the dirt. I bought the cheapest overhaul kit I could find from some magazine and started unscrewing bolts till I had every piece torn apart and sitting on my work bench. Working every evening when I got home from work for about 3 weeks and I had it ready to go back into the car. Got it installed a few evenings later and it wouldn't work. I was disappointed but didn't know what defeat was. So out it came back on the dirt and wooden blocks. Back on the bench, took the pan off and immediately saw the problem. The S hook that hooks the shifter linkage to the valve body had somehow came apart. I debated on going back into the tranny, but decided I was confident that I had done everything I knew to do. Later I wished I had pulled the pan instead of the whole tranny. Got it back in and to my amazement, it worked perfect. Talking about a happy young man... That was back in 1974. Later in life, I worked at a GM dealership and rebuilt hundreds if not thousands of transmissions. I was working there when the 700R4 came out. Lots of warranty work on them before GM figured out all the bugs.
The no quit attitude is a hard trait to come by, thanks for the comment!