The 68 Imperial is in the shop for engine work. The front seal of the transmission was found to be leaking, after repairing a rear leak. What is an honest estimate for repairing this? Is it better to have the whole transmission rebuild? This transmission has about 120K miles, but many years on it, may be 20.

 

Cost ??? $250-300 VS $1000 for a rebuild You decide..
Personally I would rebuild it with a mild shift kit. BUT then I do my own work

 

Another question. What is the typical life of a torqueflite in normal service? Are they known to do well over 100K miles between rebuilds, or 100K is just about all you can hope from one?

Thanks

 

Depending on how it is treated ? 200K miles is not unheard of.. THE new overdrives
80-125K

 

Update on this. I had the car towed to a dedicated transmission shop. They finally pulled the transmission out, and just now disassembled the front. They told me they saw signs of rust. I will go and visit it tomorrow. The guy said that rust may mean that the transmission will not last long. But ... I dooubt this rust came up the last 9 months that the car was sitting, and the transmission was working fine earlier.

So ... Complete rebuild or no seal? The difference is about $700, but I am a bit tight financially now, this is not my only car, and if there is a reasonable chance that the transmission will make another 20K miles, it may be worth resealing it. The car was and will be driven primarily on the highway, but also high speed.

 

The guy rebuilding my transmission could not find a converter for a 440, but found one for a 400. He says he could get a converter with no weights, so that it will match the pre-72 internally balanced 440 crank. Is that OK?

Thanks

D

 

One thing that is worrying me is that under load, the converter for a smaller engine may have higher slippage, and loose performance and add more heat to the transmission.

 

A big Chrysler is going to have a low stall converter.. As long as the balance factor is correct you should be Ok Is it a stock 440 ? Otherwise a performance converter would be the way to go... From Summit or any HP shop... OR he should have yours rebuilt !!!!!!

 

I pasted my original description of the engine rebuild from my original post "440 build for Imperial". I really want the minimum converter slippage for highway driving, even if I lose some low speed acceleration.

As is, he could not find a converter for a 68-70 440, and he needs to finish this car ASAP. So, I told him to use the old converter, which was working just fine. So, he will dump the old fluid, and re-install it.

It was good that I had the rest of it rebuilt because the reverse band was wearing out and almost separated, and one of the aluminum cylinders was cracked.


Engine description:
I have a 68 Imperial, and I have the following mods made:

The 906 heads get the 2.18 and 1.81 valves, and a mild porting.

The cam is the 0.477 intake lift from Mopar Performance.

Compression increased a bit, by may be 0.4.

Stock (low rise) exhaust manifolds remain. I am not interested in over 5000 rpm. Dual exhaust with 2.25" pipes and turbo mufflers.

I hope to get about 15-20% over the stock HP rating (which is about 330-350 net ...). So, may be ... 400 hp at the flywheel?

 

I'm A little late....Sorry....

http://www.tcsperformance.com/