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Cadillac Master Craftsman Recognition


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BodyByFisher suggested we add this forum as a way to recognize Forum Members who have performed an especially arduous or complex procedure on their Cadillac.

Examples that come to mind are head gasket repairs with timeserts and similar difficult procedures.

This subforum is set for moderated new topics. The type of information we would like to see in new topic posts would address the type of repair or procedure you performed on your Cadillac.

Type of repair or procedure:

Dropped Carriage? How?

Did a head gasket/timesert with the engine in car?

Did you Lift the body? How?

Case-half seals also?

Have a lift?

Anyone help?

Estimated cost?

Special tools?

What is your mechanical experience?

Can a DIYer do this?

What was the hardest part of this job?

How many miles since you did the job?

Did you replace anything else "as long as you were there?"

What do you regret doing or not doing?

How is your Cadillac running now?

This forum should then consist of individual posts by members who have performed difficult repairs or procedures on their Cadillacs, resulting in a 'hall of fame' list of hard repairs.

Anyone is welcome to post a reply to a topic in the forum, asking questions or commenting praise for the repair.

Comments/ideas welcome; consider this a work in progress.

Bruce

2023 Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing

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I can't remember all major jobs that have been done by our members. Any member who has done a major job who wants to be considered for Hall of Fame inclusion post a message here and we will get it going.

I know the following people have done timesert jobs

George

Astrak

MrEldo97

If you know of any others let me know, I know there are many

Pre-1995 - DTC codes OBD1  >>

1996 and newer - DTC codes OBD2 >> https://www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes/gm/obd_codes.htm

How to check for codes Caddyinfo How To Technical Archive >> http://www.caddyinfo.com/wordpress/cadillac-how-to-faq/

Cadillac History & Specifications Year by Year  http://www.motorera.com/cadillac/index.htm

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Type of repair or procedure:

I bought my 1987 Cadillac Allante several years ago with a bad transmission for $950. Just the 2 good headlights were worth more than this in parts so there was nothing to loose. After buying the car, I went to several transmission rebuild shops and asked about having it rebuilt. I learned that the tranny in this car was a one in a kind type of transmission only used in the Allante called an F7 transmission and would cost a fortune to rebuild. They laughed at me when I told them I bought this car to be used as affordable transportation and was not interested in spending a fortune. I did some research and found out that many of the internal hard parts were identical to the regular Cadillac variety of transmissions (4T60). Since this car was going to affordable transportation, I decided to rebuild it myself.

Dropped Carriage? How?

Did you Lift the body? How?

Have a lift?

Pictures are worth more than a 1000 words explaining this question. If you look closely at the pictures, you will see my highly advanced engine support fixture. :lol: Once the engine was supported, I was then able to remove the cradle and transmission.

088ea2d5.jpg

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Anyone help?

Nope.... I did this job all by myself.

Estimated cost?

$80 for the rebuild kit

$35 for the Transgo Shift Improver kit to make this transmission more robust

$50 for replacement hard parts that were ruined due to the previous botched rebuild job.

Special tools?

-The Ed Hall highly advanced engine support fixture

-Ratchet tie downs to aid in removal and installation of transmission

-Several homemade tools for the actual transmission rebuild. I could have bought these tools but they were expensive.

What is your mechanical experience?

This was my first time rebuilding a transmission. I had worked on engines before but never on transmissions.

Can a DIYer do this?

The transmission shops say that all FWD Cadillac transmission are hard/finicky to rebuild and even they often have problems and come backs. They told me that I could try doing the job myself but I would be back. Now that I've completed the job, I would say an average DIYer can do the job.

Another thing to note is that the previous owner had the transmission rebuilt not long before I bought it. After it was rebuilt, the owner said it failed so he brought it back to the rebuilder. They ended up getting it working again but it failed again. The rebuilder and owner eventually threw up their hands.

What was the hardest part of this job?

Patience was the key to doing this job and being successful at it.

How many miles since you did the job?

20k miles

Did you replace anything else "as long as you were there?"

I wanted this rebuild to be successful so I spent more time rebuilding this transmission than the average rebuilder would. I checked all tolerances with my feeler gauges and added shims to bring the tolerances back to new specs. I also spent extra money replacing some hard parts such as the sprag which are high failure items on these transmissions. I also added a Transgo Shift Improver Kit. I highly recommended it to anyone who is rebuilding a 440T4 or 4T60E.

How long did the job take?

It took me about 2 weeks of evenings after work to do the actual rebuild on the transmission. I took extra time taking pictures of each step as I removed the parts so I could put it all back together.

It took me about 4 hours to remove the transmission and about 2 hours to put the transmission back in.

What do you regret doing or not doing?

I have absolutely no regrets. I would definitely do this job again. After taking the transmission apart and finding 3 major things that the previous rebuilder did wrong, (which led to it's demise) I would be very hesitant about ever having a rebuild shop rebuild my transmission.

How is your Cadillac running now?

Mechanically, it runs very well. However, the car is 22 years old and is in serious need for some TLC. When I have time, I would like to stick in a 4.9 Cadillac engine for more power. I also want to paint the car and make some custom HID headlights and custom LED taillights.

My custom workbench:

IM000799.jpg

IM000738.jpg

Destroyed parts caused from previous rebuild:

IM000806.jpg

IM000802.jpg

Edited by Ed Hall
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