Last week, the 3 speed tranny in my Parisienne started slipping. A check showed low tranny fluid. A look up the length of the work parking lot confirmed that I wasn't losing it into the radiator. A bottle of Lucas Stop leak slowed the flow, but that's only ever a stop gap. The decision was whether to just find the leak and replace whatever seal was leaking ... or rebuild the 25 year old tranny. Rebuild .. naturally, I thought. But rather than take my daily driver off the road, I hit the classifieds looking for a core that I could rebuild. That way the car would only be on jacks for a couple of hours... and if I did screw up the rebuild, I'd still have the original to stuff back in until i figured out my goof.
Well a bit of shopping about turned up three possibilities. A stock th350 (with open torque converter) for $75 ... definitely needing rebuilt and unknown. A slightly tweeked th350 (again with open TC) for $300. Ready to stuff in, no getting dirty. Or ... a 700r4 from an S-10 (with TC) for $250 ... with a 3 month warranty. But that would mean either cutting my drive shaft, or finding a stock replacement. I know that the '86 came with a 700r4 ... but there's not a single boneyard in this area that has anything 'pre '90. Oddly enough .... according to Wiki, that's what I should have. They show that the th350 was only used til '84. But that's wiki ... and we've all found things installed that the book says shouldn't be there. Decisions, decisions. I know I want that over drive ... but I also need this done quick. Swapping a tranny in the drive way with 2 tons of steel hanging over my head while winter closes in and wrenches are so cold they hurt to hold .... not high on my list of preferred ways to pass my time.
Well, while I'm held up ... i decided to stick my camera in under there to see if I could spot exactly where the leak is. And that's when all my decisions were made for me.
AHA! Been a long time since I saw a Parisienne with the "self undercoating option"! Glad it's apparent to you now and you can get her happening again. Hate it when they're off the road too long.
Well, this weekend I acquired a used 200-4r to replace the wounded 200C. Got it from a guy who runs a shop building race chassis, and antique limos. Had a pallet full of old pulls. He said this one came from a GN, but he couldn't confirm anything about it. It may have been original to the car, or a replacement. What condition it is inside ... unknown, but he was selling it as needing refreshed. At $100, I'll take the chance, wouldn't you?
Well, now I've got it, but what do I have? The only web link out there to decode the id tag was an AOL page that's been down for years. The serial is 275 882KTF1431. This doesn't fit the only other site I'm found that suggests a method of decoding http://www.442.com/oldsfaq/oft200.htm but it's close. It suggests that it's either an '88 ... which would put it outside the GN range, or an '82, which would make it one of the earliest GNs and as such, more likely to have backed the underpowered 4.1V8 @ 140hp.So, anyone out there know what I've got? If it's a true 'grand nationalized' tranny all I need to buy is a master kit to button it up ... but if it's a weakling from behind a caddy then I'm going to look seriously at the Monster box kit, with all the upgrade goodies.
Also, does anyone have a canuck source for the atsg manual? It's $25 on fleabay, but the $30 shipping kinda kills that deal.
