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Having rebuilt a couple of Turbo Hydramatic 350's, Ed Hall's transmission rebuilt really impressed me! His methodical approach guaranteed success!

Congratulations Ed Hall on your induction into the Caddyinfo Hall of Fame!

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. Once the engine was supported, I was then able to remove the cradle and transmission.

088ea2d5.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v48/rhedahl/088ea2d5.jpg

ef35b6b7.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v48/rhedahl/ef35b6b7.jpg

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.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v48/rhedahl/IM000799.jpg

IM000738.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v48/rhedahl/IM000738.jpg

Destroyed parts caused from previous rebuild:

IM000806.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v48/rhedahl/IM000806.jpg

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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  • 2 years later...

great job. I always say nobody puts more effort than the actual owner that cars. it seems all anyone wants is money. I find it so funny that it was successful first shot for you and a rebuilder couldnt get it right twice

GM FAN FOREVER

Nice, clean, luxury= fine automobile

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I really need to update this, many here deserve to be in the Hall of Fame

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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  • 4 years later...
2 hours ago, NorthstarPerformance said:

Is this Mike C.? I would like to get in touch with you. When you get a chance please email me. info@northstarperformance.com. Thanks.

Email sent

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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