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Well, the time has finally come to get the cracked turbo 400 out of the "Road Oiler". I figured since I have to pull it out anyway, I might as well go ahead and do the 700R4 swap. I picked up a good '89 core from a gasser off of craigslist a little while back, and just had it rebuilt with a shift kit to help handle the torque of the diesel and diesel governor.
I've been slowly gathering the necessary parts for the change out. I have a new flex plate for an '84 K5 blazer with a 6.2. A new 1600 stall torque converter, new TV cable and the ever elusive TV cable bracket. Bought a heavy duty transmission cooler to mount in front of the radiator for extra cooling. Also bought a deep transmission pan for the added oil to help with cooling. If I would have had the core from an '83 to an '87 I would have gone with the Transgo 700-LU mechanical lock-up kit so no wiring or anything of the nature would be needed. BUT, the '89 core I have doesn't have the correct valve body to use the kit, so I ended up ordering the Bowtie Overdrives Brake switch lock-up kit.
The main advantage I saw in the Transgo kit was the fact that it is totally mechanical (Hydraulic), and there is no need for any external wiring or parts, it would just automatically lock up in 3rd and 4th gears. But like I said I couldn't use it, so with the Bowtie Overdrives kit it will automatically lock-up in 4th gear, and I got the extra switch to lock it up in 3rd manually. And the brake switch will unlock it.
Along with the TV cable bracket that Recovry4x4 was kind enough to provide for this project he also provided me with the proper 27 spline NP208 transfer input shaft. I ended up getting a new input shaft seal for the transfer and new U joints for the rear drive shaft as well. While I had it apart in GA the rear U joint was pretty dry, so I figured since I have it out, now is as good a time as any to replace them. I'm also going to take the drive shaft and have it balanced while it's out of the truck. There is a small dent in the shaft from what, I have no idea. But either way, it has to be out of balance, and that is not good for anything. I highly doubt this had anything to do with the 400 transmission case cracking, but I am not going to take that chance. Luckily with the core, came the adapter for the NP241 transfer case. Unfortunately it was the short adapter rather than the tall one. The tall one would have been a direct bolt in. But I ended up having to make a spacer block at work so I can bolt everything in.
While I have it in the garage and the entire week off of work, I'm also going to try to get the OEM fuel filter changed out with one of Gimpyrobbs fuel filter deals he is selling in the classified section. And if time and money permit, I am going to try to get a 12 volt fuel pump mounted on the passenger side frame rail to help with priming fuel. All that and I need to drop the tank and clean it out as well. I had to go most of the way to, and come back from GA running the fuel from the aux pick-up tube in the tank since the sock filter on the main tube kept sucking closed on me.
The fun starts tomorrow 12/9, but I wanted to get the preliminary stuff out of the way first. I'm going to try to snap some pics as I go through the project, but I usually end up getting on a roll and forget the do that.
Wish me luck, hopefully by the end of the week the truck will be backing out of the garage under it's own power and going a whole lot faster when it's on the highway.
I've been slowly gathering the necessary parts for the change out. I have a new flex plate for an '84 K5 blazer with a 6.2. A new 1600 stall torque converter, new TV cable and the ever elusive TV cable bracket. Bought a heavy duty transmission cooler to mount in front of the radiator for extra cooling. Also bought a deep transmission pan for the added oil to help with cooling. If I would have had the core from an '83 to an '87 I would have gone with the Transgo 700-LU mechanical lock-up kit so no wiring or anything of the nature would be needed. BUT, the '89 core I have doesn't have the correct valve body to use the kit, so I ended up ordering the Bowtie Overdrives Brake switch lock-up kit.
The main advantage I saw in the Transgo kit was the fact that it is totally mechanical (Hydraulic), and there is no need for any external wiring or parts, it would just automatically lock up in 3rd and 4th gears. But like I said I couldn't use it, so with the Bowtie Overdrives kit it will automatically lock-up in 4th gear, and I got the extra switch to lock it up in 3rd manually. And the brake switch will unlock it.
Along with the TV cable bracket that Recovry4x4 was kind enough to provide for this project he also provided me with the proper 27 spline NP208 transfer input shaft. I ended up getting a new input shaft seal for the transfer and new U joints for the rear drive shaft as well. While I had it apart in GA the rear U joint was pretty dry, so I figured since I have it out, now is as good a time as any to replace them. I'm also going to take the drive shaft and have it balanced while it's out of the truck. There is a small dent in the shaft from what, I have no idea. But either way, it has to be out of balance, and that is not good for anything. I highly doubt this had anything to do with the 400 transmission case cracking, but I am not going to take that chance. Luckily with the core, came the adapter for the NP241 transfer case. Unfortunately it was the short adapter rather than the tall one. The tall one would have been a direct bolt in. But I ended up having to make a spacer block at work so I can bolt everything in.
While I have it in the garage and the entire week off of work, I'm also going to try to get the OEM fuel filter changed out with one of Gimpyrobbs fuel filter deals he is selling in the classified section. And if time and money permit, I am going to try to get a 12 volt fuel pump mounted on the passenger side frame rail to help with priming fuel. All that and I need to drop the tank and clean it out as well. I had to go most of the way to, and come back from GA running the fuel from the aux pick-up tube in the tank since the sock filter on the main tube kept sucking closed on me.
The fun starts tomorrow 12/9, but I wanted to get the preliminary stuff out of the way first. I'm going to try to snap some pics as I go through the project, but I usually end up getting on a roll and forget the do that.
Wish me luck, hopefully by the end of the week the truck will be backing out of the garage under it's own power and going a whole lot faster when it's on the highway.
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