The Great Pumpkin - '71 Duster

Picked up my transmission from the trans. shop. Everything checked out good! I'm stoked!

For those of you familiar with them, I went to Freddy Brown out here in Long Island. They are known nationwide as top builders.

The first thing Freddy asked me when I dropped the trans. off was whether I plugged the front vent since it is relocated to the rear of the case. I said "uhhhhh, no, uhh, I don't think so..." So they had to pull the pump out, tap the vent hole and plug it. No big deal. You don't need two vents. I don't think it would have been an issue to have the one in the pump and the one in the rear but it's standard practice to plug the vent if you have it at the rear of the case so they took care of that.

Second thing he asked was whether or not I had Teflon pump rings. Again, I was like, "uhhhhh, maybe?" So after he pulled the pump he called and said that I had "the worst rings possible" in the pump so he changed them out. I kept thinking there was a reason to not have Teflon pump rings but I can't remember what it was. Doesn't matter now, it has Teflon rings in it.

The two main things I was concerned with were whether it shifted OK and what the line pressure was. I put a stiffer spring in the valve body to increase the pressure since I have 6 front clutch discs and 5 rear.

They said the lowest they could get the pressure was 145. I was a little concerned since the reverse boost circuit in my valve body was not modified for higher pressure so the reverse pressure could be very high, like well over 400 psi. Too high pressure can break the piston or bands but he said it was fine.

So all in all, my first full transmission build went pretty well. I may have to make some band adjustments when I start driving it if there is too much overlap between the shifts. I air tested it and it seemed OK so hopefully it will be good to go without much fuss.

Stopped at the engine shop on the way back to confirm my dyno time for Friday. I will be loading up the 416 and bringing it by tomorrow morning to get it set up for Friday.

More to come!