Hey guys, just helped a buddy put a 350/350 motor/tranny combo in his hotrod. Setup came from a junkyard, but still had the vaccum line attached to the modulator valve. Well, I broke the modulator valve, cracked off on the nipple where the rubber line goes onto it. So, since I cracked it off, I bought the new valve and tried putting it in. There's no retainer or anything, I just thought the rubber O-ring held it in there....pushed in as hard as I could by hand, but it didn't feel quite right to me, like it was going to fly out. Took it out and cleaned the transmission, where the valve goes into, with the pick and tried again. Same thing....so I left it. We got the driveshaft in and started it up on the hoist. Revved it up in drive with the wheels in the air....felt great, moving through the gears...in and out of reverse and park all fine and dandy....then back in drive for a second and then nothingness...rear wheels aint turning anymore...look under and see that the modulator valve shot out and spewed tranny fluid everywhere. Tried beating the valve in there with a hammer and a deep wall socket....now it looks like I'll be buying another valve. Is there a trick to these things? something I'm missing or what? Please help. -Steve
It should slide right up to the shoulder on the modulator but you need a retainer. The retainer looks like a bent piece of flat stock and has a horseshoe looking piece cut out of it. The horseshoe piece slides over the modulator and there is a place on the tranny case that is threaded to bolt it onto.
Yeah, that totally makes sense now. There was no retainer on the transmission when he got it and the valve seemed to be in there pretty tight...I've never worked on a TH350, so I just thought that it didn't have a retainer??? hahah I've been at quite a few ford trannies and they all had retainers.....I'll have to try to scrounge one up somewhere over the holidays. Thanks alot guys! You can delete this thread now! -Steve
FYI there are vacume modulaters you can ajust thru the vacume line tube,it allows to adjust the shif point,if it shifts to soon or late.You need a small screwdrive to perform,and then test the way it feels.
....I'll have to try to scrounge one up somewhere over the holidays. -Steve[/QUOTE] Looks like you could make one up from flat stock in about 5 minutes.
lol, yeah but who wants to fuck around with that? I can get one from a transmission guy for free in less than 30 seconds.haha After all, it is Christmas and they should be in the giving spirit.
You could braze the modulator in place. Or if you don't have a torch, try the MIG, if that don't work, use JB weld, but it's gonna be hard to get it to stick to the ATF.
Well, I didn't exactly take the maul hammer to it, but yeah...it's funny I guess! I'm not a mechanic at all...fabricator/welder yeah...mechanic....nope! I actually got a retainer this morning, and I was right, free of charge and took pretty much 30 seconds on the dot...transmission shop directly across from the coffee shop too! convenience. But, I remembered why trying to force it in made sense at the time. Looked at it again today and there's no threaded hole anywhere near there...looked hard enough, removed a bunch of old mud and grease and found evidence that something cracked off the aluminum housing right where that threaded spot would be. I'll figure out a way to rig it up tomorrow...get on the nogg and grab my hammer! HAHAH Merry Christmas assholes!
"removed a bunch of old mud and grease" "Setup came from a junkyard" "Tried beating the valve in there with a hammer and a deep wall socket...." all of this is really funny to me......
What makes you think that I'm trying to fool anybody? I really don't give a shit about what you think is funny or not either "dude". Why don't you keep your peckerbreath comments to yourself.
look, did you really think you were going to get away with a post like this without getting some bullshit? come on man lighten up alittle, iam just fucking around with you.....and by the way this peckerbreath's turbo 350 works just fine........
I've noticed there's quite a few people on this board with no sense of humor who bitch about everything. They make this stuff called Viagra for you old guys, and it might help relieve some tension. It might even make the wife smile, she must be tired of your cranky ass complaining about dust on the windsheild or that rock in the tire that ckipped the paint in the fenderwell.
I'll drink to that. When somebody actually admits to getting the hammer out they should not be surprised when someone else makes a derogatory comment. After all, that's why we're here - to stir up some shit. Just sayin...
i guess my "peckerbreath comments" pushed him over the edge, he did seem to laugh off the first few posts that were ripping on him.....oh well can i be known as peckerbreath from now on??
I guess the tone gets lost in the translation when you're reading typing. I did laugh off the first few, and of course I expected to get some rippins... I could have left all that shit out, like I'm sure alot of dudes on here do, but I'm not trying to hide anything. Then some dude quotes me on my own joke where I take a shot at myself and then re-jokes it, it's just lame and rude... If I cracked that joke in the shop and then 20 minutes later some guy that I don't know re-joked that shit out loud, he'd be eating his (my) words and washing them down with that ATF that spilled all over the floor. hahah Now that'd be funny! Anyway, no worries, we can all be friends...just don't ask me to do any mechanic work for you....you've been warned!
hey dub, peckerbreath here! iam sorry i didnt mean anything by it but to give you alittle crap, i just took a drink of ATF to wash down my lame and rude comments.... my peckerbreath is starting to go away due to the trans fluid.....so all kidding aside... did the trans work out? let us know
Back to your problem. I had a tranny with a broken retainer boss once. It was out of the car so it was easy to work on so your mileage may vary. I cleaned the area really well, then cleaned it again. I then made a form out of alum foil and tape. I then poured in the heavy duty JB weld. Let it sit over night and the next day, I shaped it up, drilled and tapped it and it never caused me a problem. Like you were saying about guys leaving out their not so proud moments......Well, I might have been the one who broke the retainer boss off of my tranny. Shit happens, thats why they make JB weld. Good luck!
Good tip, Tracy. I thought the op was just missing the actual flat stock retainer, not the cast-in boss for same. Great tip none-the-less. Glad it worked. And in defense of the op, we've ALL done some borderline stupid stuff at one time or another. Give him credit for being big enough to 'fess up to it.
I actually ended up welding a connector nut (deep or long nut) to the top of the closest transmission pan bolt....took the bolt out first to weld it up, then cleaned it all up...looks factory Then I bent up a piece of 1 inch flat bar, bolted that to the nut on the transpan bolt, then bolted my free retainer to that..... The look of it will probably put us out of contention for next year's Ridler, but I'm not too worried about it! haha.... It works for now! Maybe down the road we'll take the time to do something like sedanman said, clean it up and make all nice and purdy. Thanks for all your help guys, and thanks for the laugh! haha Noclubjoe...sall good maing...we cool! -Steve
haha, thanks man....I'm only 29, so god willing there'll be lots of time left to redeem myself from the shame! lol
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