Quote:
Originally Posted by Low Elco
Don't know who Rick would Recommend, but Apollo Transmission on 40 Highway does all our work, and has so far proven trustworthy. 'Course, there's always the suggestion your hoodlum friend came up with.... I'll spray the brake kleen!
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Thanks, Chip. The shop Rick recommends is Nicholls Performance Transmissions in Grain Valley. Apparently a well known builder capable of putting together automatics for high HP cars. He'll swap the internals into a new case (provided by me) for around $400.
I heard back today from my guy at Ohio Speed and it turns out the person that said the trans couldn't be repaired and needed to go back wasn't the shop owner. He was out and when he returned, he suggested trying the JB Weld fix. So now I'm in the middle of that. I machined a cap to go over the boss and will use a 1/8 pipe fitting to snug it up and hold it while the JB Weld sets.
The problem I ran into was that after cleaning the area with brake cleaner, within about 30 seconds the port started to seep trans fluid. So I drained the pan and will let it set overnight and see if that stops the seepage. If it doesn't I'm doubtful the repair will be effective - especially at the line pressure the port sees. Online, I've seen recorded test pressures from 90-270 psi. I'd be surprised if the epoxy fix is durable enough to handle those pressures long term if there's residual trans fluid trapped in the fracture. They said if it doesn't hold, "they would take if from there". So we'll see what happens.
As a last ditch effort, I might try machining an o-ring groove into the very end of the plug. It might extend just far enough into the smooth bore to stop the fluid before it gets to the crack. In this case, desperation is the mother of invention.