B&M Shift Kit Installation in Ford AOD transmission - PArt I

The 1940 Ford Rod is on it's way to Graveyard Customs this week for prep and paint and while there, I'll be turning my attention to engine and tranny upgrades and detailing, plus doing some work on the trim and some other pieces that need to be ready for re-assembly.

Today I got started on the B&M shift kit installation. I've done two of these before - in much older trannys (1967 and 1974) - and it made one hell of a difference. This trans is quite a bit newer (1989), but I'm sure it will still have a very  positive and very noticeable effect on shift crispness and overall speed by holding the RPM's longer, then changing harder, in each gear.

Up and onto the bench -

 Removing the pan and draining the oil.

Loosening one side of the pan allows the fluid to be drained slowly from one corner.

Once the pan is off there's about 20 - 10 mm bolts that hold the valve body in.

After removing all those bolts, the valve body and separator plate was removed to be worked on first -

 Here's where the magic happens:  the valve body, separator plate and torque plates.

 Gaskets top and bottom are removed and modified ones will be used in their place.

 The torque plates are then removed -

Here the gaskets and separator plate is removed and the check-balls (8 to 10 in all) are removed:

Below - the check balls and pressure springs - 

Next, replacing the springs. The shift kit has heavier springs designed to hold the shifts longer, at a higher RPM, before allowing the tranny to snap into the next gear -

 Here you can see the old black spring being replaced by the new, heavier,  red spring -

Another spring gets changed out - 

Once those items are changed out, the separator plate is slightly modified by drilling out a couple holes to a slightly larger (1/8") size. This allows more fluid to flow through to the accumulators.

 There a re a lot of holes and slots in the plate and one wrong move renders it useless. I carefully measured and went over the directions several times before proceeding!

 The instructions include a diagram showing which holes need to be enlarged, but there are a lot of dots, circles and slots! I went over it no less than 5 times - from various angles - to ensure I got them right.

 Again, this part is critical - the plate was marked and compared back to the instructions several times.

As per the instructions, the marked holes are to be drilled out to 1/8" inch (0.250") 

As shown below,  two of holes were already the correct size so only 2 needed to be changed.

The drill bits point to the two that needed to be drilled out:

After drilling, I took the edges off with a fine file, then removed any burrs with another, larger drill, twisted by hand over the holes.

Check balls go back in - 

Pressure springs go back in - 

Then the separator plate and gaskets are ready to be replaced.

 Then the torque plates are re-installed and torqued to 90 inch-pounds.

The valve body is now put aside and work begins on the actuators, shown below....

Stay tuned for Part II - 

Don't forget to check out my website at www.E-tekRestorations.com !

For the last while I've been updating my projects threads on GarageJournal.com, HAMB and ClassicZ.com but haven't been doing much with the blog. If you came here looking for updates, please check out the following links....and of course, don't forget to check out my website at www.E-tekRestorations.com !


E-tek Project Thread at GJ.com


E-tek's 27 and 40 Ford Projects on the HAMB


E-tek's 240Z thread at ClassicZ.com

Tweeting for Dupli-color.....

As part of the Dupli-Color PaintCrew, I'm getting used to Twitter and tweeting about my shop work. I'll send regular updates on the Datsun 240Z, the 1940 Ford Sedan Rod and the 1927 T-Roadster to the @Duplicolor and @E-tekRacing pages. Follow me!

What kind of car projects can you accomplish during the winter months? #carenthusiast #customcar #diy #winterdriving
— Dupli-Color (@DupliColor) January 9, 2013

Of course for more tech information, auto-inspiration, or just some light reading, you can always check out my website at www.E-tekRestorations.com !

Details, details...

Getting down to the fine details on the 40 Ford before it goes for paint. Which aren't minor, and take a lot of time, so I guess they aren't really details....are they?  ;)

Today, more dash work -

Fitting the billet aluminum dash gauge face plate:  Although made for this application, you need to double check all this before paint. Even it it fits - snuggly - that's too tight. The application of primer and paint will add several mils of material to the edge, material that will flake off with the slightest pressure - so the plate has to fit in easily, with a slight gap. That meant material was going to have to be removed.....

I removed material from the edges of the aluminum plate with 80 grit, then 120G and finally - and only because it was on the unseen edge - finished it with 240G. If you did this on a forward facing piece, it would have to be finished with 600G (at least).

Next, I whipped up some new tabs to be welded to the back of the dash to hold the dash plate.

A set screw will allow for some adjustment -

Check out my website www.E-tekRestorations.com 

40 Ford - getting it ready for paint!

Just when you think you're close to done some stage, another issue comes up! Getting it ready for paint isn't just about the bodywork....there's many details to attend to, from gaps, fitting parts and panels, cleaning and detailing and re-arranging things so they look great after re-assembly. After paint is NOT the time to be making major changes or welding in new bolts!


I pulled the engine today, which will allow the firewall to be prepped and painted and the engine to be detailed. It's a lot tougher to make EFI engines "pretty" - due to all the wiring harnesses and funky intake plenums, but I'm sure it can be done - it'll just take some "thoughtful effort" - the rod-builders credo.

Kinda makes you feel like you're going backwards...

The rear bumper needed to be 'sucked in" a couple inches to make the entire project flow. That meant bending and shortening the bumper braces - which is WAY harder than one would think due to the braces and brackets being made of HARDENED, spring-steel.

As the owner said, "just close enough to allow a polishing cloth to pass"! Looks way better for sure.

SIDE BAR - someone asked about  my body-tools. After 30 years doing this, professionally and as a hobby, I've gathered up a few tools....None of them as pretty as say, a shiny Snap-On set, or as interesting as an electricians set-up.....but the get a lot done!

A lot of them are actually custom made or collected one-offs - things needed for a specific task, some made as I needed them.

One example is my favorite bumping dolly. It's an OLD school trailer hitch ball - which has a lot of weight for bumping and a lot of contours for shaping.

Back to the build....

Next, I pulled off the running boards, which won't be painted, but covered in rubber matting. In order to preserve them though, I cleaned them up with a wax&grease remover (critical prior to painting anything), then applied POR15 to them.

Sometimes people say POR15 (or whatever product) didn't stick to whatever they applied it to. This is almost ALWAYS due to improper prep of the substrate -  from it not being roughened enough (for mechanical adhesion), or not being clean enough (to remove oil, wax and dirt) - to allow for a proper bond to take place.

Just look how much dirt continues to be removed with each wipe of the cloth. You can see below that the dirt removed becomes less as you move left. I kept wiping until the blue Scott Towel cloth stayed blue - which was about 4 more 8-sides wipes!

This stuff is SO good, the only way to avoid the lid of a POR15 can from being permanently "welded" onto the can after use is to insert a sheet of thin plastic between them during storage. To keep POR15 for longer periods, I normally transfer the unused portion to a glass jar with a good lid (like a Mason jar), again with a piece of plastic wrap, then keep it somewhere COOL and DARK. If you're careful - and don't contaminate it - it'll stay useful for many months.

About this time, major glitch was uncovered Upon checking wheel-base measurements, the owner noted the rear end he installed 10 years ago may have been installed too far aft. He asked me to check the measurement and sure enough, it measured in at 114" - and it should be 112".

The answer of course was to move the rear end back - but how? We discussed moving the rear-end perches on the springs (but the springs have a locating bolt in their centers), purchasing new leafs ($200 each plus major re-assembly times), to cutting the top leaf and re-rolling the ends. 

Inthe end, the easiest method was the right method - which was as 'simple' as removing and re-locating was moving the rear end perch forward on the frame rail  -

Initial measurement: 114"....

Meaning the rear end needed to be moved forward 2"....

....to get the wheel base to 112".

That's more like it!

The front end - and dash - still has some metal final work to be done before paint, so that's where I'll be spending the rest of my time before it goes to Graveyard Customs for paint in March. Looks like many years ago someone welded in some major patches - and repaired some major issues, but it was all just left at the weld stage - no further metalwork was done - which left a LOT to be finished.

Some spots had been brazed (welded with a brass alloy) - which has to be removed before it can be mig-welded.

While I spend some alone time with the hammer and dolly, why not check out my website ;) 

                                www.E-tekRestorations.com