A couple tranny q's

Well, finally made some visible progress on the Tuxedo in that the engine and trans have been reunited with the rolling chassis ( I know, UWOP ). Really ready to tear into it and keep the momentum going cause it's looking pretty good. Anywho, does anyone know the torque spec for the trans to bell housing bolts on the :v6: ?
Also, are the shift tower assemblies all interchangable between the T90, T86, and T14 ? The old tower was leaking pretty bad behind the shift rails and if I can avoid having to get grooves machined into it like we discussed before, well that'd be swell. A T86 currently resides behind the 225 and I think, correct me if I'm wrong, there are shift towers that already have this problem resolved. Tanks a bunch fellers.

 

Not sure about the T14, but the T86 and T90 have different shift fork sizes to match the difference in the slider gear size. The cover and shift rails are the same, so you can just swap the forks over.

 

The t14 is totally different. The other 2 however are the same with the exception of the shift fork as MOP said.

 

It's not that hard to do, but you will have to disassemble the tower and modify the shift rails to really leak-proof it.

This pic shows the cap (aluminum bar) that I used to seal off the back of the tower. In my T90, the foward cavities for the shift rails had "keyways" machined into them to allow for oil to return below. In the the rear, I had to cut grooves into the shift rails themselves to allow for oil return. (Without the grooves, you're setting yourself up for hyrdrostatic lock, so you HAVE to do it.) I used a Dremel tool with a cutoff wheel to make the grooves. Then, flatten out the tower casting on both ends, drill and tap for a 1/4"x20 hole, and make an appropriate plate. You'll only see one cap in the pic, that's because I had to take the tower off later and cap off the front 'cuz it was leaking through the factory plugs that I thought would be OK. NOT!

 

That garage floor is way to nice!!! R)

 

Took the words off right off of my keys. Nice paint job on the Tranny/TC!

 

Okay Thad, so the front cavities are already machined for the oil to return ? Or did you have to make those grooves yourself. I'm okay with dremelling the shift rails and making the end caps. I can handle that.
I have an old T90 shift tower on the floor that appears to have a hole drilled at the back end of each rear shift rail cavity. The holes line up so the oil drains into the case ofcourse which means they aren't really all the way at the end of the cavity. It's pretty ratty anyway so I'm going to modify the T 86's tower as you have described.
Any torque specs yet on the tranny to bell housing. I can't find it anywhere. I'm guessing like maybe 40 ft/lbs. Sound good ? Alum. bell and all.

 

On my tower, the front had a keyway for the oil to return. I used the original sheet metal "caps" thinking that the keyway would be sufficient.
I did end up capping off the front as well, because it did leak a little bit.
The rears didn't have anything from the factory, so oil was free to puke all over the back of the assembly. I used the Dremel to grind a slot into the rails for oil return then capped off like you see in the picture.

Of course, your tower may be different....

 

Cool. Thanks Thad.