As the title States I'm looking for someone to rebuild an old cast iron Powerglide in or out of the car. Any help would be appreciated as this is for a friend of mine and nobody around our area wants to touch it
I did one for a guy a few years ago and they are a bear to rebuild. The main problem is the weight and how everything has to go together. There is a special transmission disassembly/assembly tool that holds all the pieces in alignment. I doubt that you find anyone who has this tool or knows how to use it. I don't have one so I had to wrestle all the parts into place. When I was in tech school I remember seeing a few of these odd holding fixtures with sliding parts. I asked what they were used for and was told cast iron Powerglide. I couldn't see how they would work, but I wish I had one when I rebuilt that old Powerglide.
Well... there is a place here in Temecula. Walter's Transmission Shop 28696 Vía Montezuma # 105, Temecula, CA 92590 Phone: (951) 693-2972 https://www.google.com/maps/place/W...39a2fb93b5d81!8m2!3d33.5100626!4d-117.1608837 Specializes in old stuff. He did a trans for me (not a powerglide) and I have had zero issues with it. And, he's reasonable. It's a bit of a drive for you but this guy can most certainly help you out.
Surely there's some place closer than this to you, but if you can't find anyone closer give these guys a call, they may be able to take care of it for you. https://www.roystransmissions.com/
http://www.hirostransmissions.com/ just up the street from my shop in Gardena, They work on all the old stuff
Really!!! I worked for Aamco back in the late 1970s and early 1980s. There were combacks galore from other rebuilders. I left them in 1982 and opened up my own shop. Still in business 40 years later. Now days, I only specialize in vintage cars, no modern stuff done in this shop, for the last 15 years or so. I get vintage cars in here all the time, repaired wrong, from other mainstream modern car shops, that I have to straighten out. Most of the rebuilders, even then were clueless on how a transmission works, let alone know how to properly rebuild one. Unless there is still an old timer working there, or some youngin that is actually knowledgeable on vintage transmissions, I wouldnt. Do your homework before you take it to any shop. Most of the new age workforce is most likely to be lost on it and mess it up. If they cant scan the computer to tell them whats wrong with it, they are lost. Sure they stand behind their work BUT you may have to bring it back a 1/2 dozen times and then maybe they can get it right, and you are out of the car all that time.
I rebuilt some cast iron Powerglides when I worked at a small town Chevrolet dealer just out of high school and in and out of college. I even did the original trans in my 1959 Corvette with original 283 and original cast iron Powerglide. They were really very simple to work on. I found one of the old fixtures years ago and it's somewhere ?? on my shelves. This thread has motivated me to find it !!
Maybe I'm lucky to have an older transmission guy at the local amco that knows how to build a nonstock C4 for my Fairlane. At my age I like having my mechanical work done by the guys that do it every day especially building an automatic.
Four Cs Transmissions, Santa Fe Springs, Calif. 12807 Los Nietos Rd. Ste B Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670. (562) 946-9272.
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