Trans Questions.....Hard Going Into Gear

[Bob Eyres]

BTW, that ZF6 fill plug takes a 17mm Allen wrench to open. And a pipe for leverage. It's usually in there tight.
I've used the GM factory fill and the Castrol. Both Good, but I'll try the Amsoil next time.
Good idea to stay away from the Bimmer store. My 335 just got out of warranty and now I avoid that place like the plague.

[Jim Nolan]

I guess I'm lucky the local BMW dealer only charged me $9.50 a bottle for the Casrtol last year. He owns alot of different dealerships so I guess he doesn't need that much profit. By the way get a factory service manual, everything you need to know and then some is right there.

[Rumbln70SS]

Originally Posted by csavaglio

Not sure about the wires or the 3rd brake light and how it's tied to the abs stuff.

As far as the getting to the line going into the slave cylinder, it's a braided steel flexible line....like the braided lines a lot of guys use for brake lines. You should be able to pull the slave out (with some wiggling), drop it a little, and get a line wrench on the line.

Worst case, and I haven't had to do this on any of the ones I've done (2 LT4s and a ZR-1), you can unbolt the little bracket that holds the line to the frame or firewall to give more play....just follow the line down from the topside and you should be able to get to the retainer. Like I said, I've never had to do that, though.

I've always found the master to be a whole lot harder to get out. It was easy on the LT4 cars compared to the Z....a whole lot less wiring and stuff in that area.

When you put it back together, you can put the line on, tighten it up, then wiggle it back in there, feed the two bolts in and tighten them down.

Jim's a great guy and will answer your questions extremely specifically if you ask him. I don't get anything out of referring people to him, except that it keeps him in business so that I can go to him later too!

Chris

Chris,

I resolved the brake light issue as it ended up being the switch. What threw me off was the fact that there were no wires to the second switch and I couldn't find anything that looked like a correct plug-in. After a google search I found out that's how it appears it should be so I spent $8.00 for a new switch and now I have the third brake light working again. I'll test the cruise once it's back on the road.

As for the slave, I did exactly as you suggested and unbolted the line. I pulled the slave and line out so I could get to the fitting properly without stripping it. My line isn't a braided line but more like an AC hose as shown below. Does anyone make a steel braided replacement? I'm going to ask Jim the same question as well.

My master was easily actually, but I did remove the battery and loosen the ECM to get to it.

I'm glad you suggested Jim. I enjoy supporting small business he really knows his stuff. I fully expect it to be better than new and you can't beat the price.

Thanks for all your help!

Originally Posted by Bob Eyres

BTW, that ZF6 fill plug takes a 17mm Allen wrench to open. And a pipe for leverage. It's usually in there tight.
I've used the GM factory fill and the Castrol. Both Good, but I'll try the Amsoil next time.
Good idea to stay away from the Bimmer store. My 335 just got out of warranty and now I avoid that place like the plague.

Thank you Bob! Looks like mine was recently serviced as the drain plug has fresh Teflon tape on it. I'm still changing it so I know what fluid is in the car. Hopefully the Amsoil is worth the money. I believe I have the Allen wrench but I will pick it up if not.

As far as Bimmers, I like my 335, but I didn't have good experiences at the dealer. The service teams appear professional, but it took multiple tries to fix a missing problem and they never did resolve a rattle I have upon startup.

Originally Posted by Jim Nolan

I guess I'm lucky the local BMW dealer only charged me $9.50 a bottle for the Casrtol last year. He owns alot of different dealerships so I guess he doesn't need that much profit. By the way get a factory service manual, everything you need to know and then some is right there.

Thanks Jim, I am going to grab one of those manuals off of eBay if there's one available.

[csavaglio]

Oh, it looks like 1990 and 1991 were different. 1991-96 had a braided soft line like this:

http://www.zip-corvette.com/catalog/...category/7950/

I would've thought 1989-96 would've been the same since the cylinders are. Yours is correct for a '90.

The startup rattle is fairly common. It's the timing chains. It has to do with no oil being in the top of the motor at startup.

I think a big help here is to use a filter with a good anti drain valve and a good motor oil. Most of the filters today listed as correct don't have any anti drain features at all. If I recall, the current Delco filters do. Marc Haibreck has a good writeup on his site about the filters and oils to use. Our motors are flat tappett, so the require an oil with lots of ZDDP. Most oils have little to none these days, even diesel oil. And you'll want to search this site for the proper way to change the oil. It's not the same as a normal motor.

Glad you've got it well on its way!

[Rumbln70SS]

Originally Posted by csavaglio

Oh, it looks like 1990 and 1991 were different. 1991-96 had a braided soft line like this:

http://www.zip-corvette.com/catalog/...category/7950/

I would've thought 1989-96 would've been the same since the cylinders are. Yours is correct for a '90.

The startup rattle is fairly common. It's the timing chains. It has to do with no oil being in the top of the motor at startup.

I think a big help here is to use a filter with a good anti drain valve and a good motor oil. Most of the filters today listed as correct don't have any anti drain features at all. If I recall, the current Delco filters do. Marc Haibreck has a good writeup on his site about the filters and oils to use. Our motors are flat tappett, so the require an oil with lots of ZDDP. Most oils have little to none these days, even diesel oil. And you'll want to search this site for the proper way to change the oil. It's not the same as a normal motor.

Glad you've got it well on its way!

Well that makes more sense with the line. At $110.00 plus shipping I might keep the old one for now until I get other things sorted.

The rattle I was referring to was actually my BMW, but I'm glad you sent me to Marc Halibecks site. Some excellent info there, especially the oil and filter reccomendations. I have been dealing with roller cams so long I forgot about the flat tappets requiring ZDDP. The car does have a NAPA filter currently.

I will definitely look up the oil change before I do one.

[csavaglio]

Tony,
I wasn't meaning to suggest you change your line...just wanted to show what the 91-96 style was and what I was thinking of when I posted about mine.

Marc did post an update to the oil filter testing he did a few years ago, so be sure to look at the latest. As far as I know, the current Delco filters are good, so I bought a handful to store when I need them (since nobody in town carries them anyway). The NAPA/WIX filters are also supposed to be good, but, superficially, I think the blue Delco ones look more proper on top than the white Napa ones, even though I believe the originals were black.

C

[Jim Nolan]

I mask over the label and spray mine semi-gloss black before installation. Looks like an original, except it is about a 1/2 inch shorter. Only a anal expert can tell the difference. There was a guy on this site that reproduced the original silver and black PF-970 labels. Got some of them to.

Jim

[Rumbln70SS]

Originally Posted by csavaglio

Tony,
I wasn't meaning to suggest you change your line...just wanted to show what the 91-96 style was and what I was thinking of when I posted about mine.

Marc did post an update to the oil filter testing he did a few years ago, so be sure to look at the latest. As far as I know, the current Delco filters are good, so I bought a handful to store when I need them (since nobody in town carries them anyway). The NAPA/WIX filters are also supposed to be good, but, superficially, I think the blue Delco ones look more proper on top than the white Napa ones, even though I believe the originals were black.

C

No worries Chris! I actually wanted to replace it, but I figured I would hold off because of the price. I talked with Jim today and as long as the rubber on mine is in good shape, there was no real benefit in replacing it.

I'm going to see if I can't find the AC filter locally.......if i can't I'll probably just go with the NAPA unit again. I can't recall hearing any chain rattle when it starts, but I'll be sure to listen closely next time I fire it up.

Originally Posted by Jim Nolan

I mask over the label and spray mine semi-gloss black before installation. Looks like an original, except it is about a 1/2 inch shorter. Only a anal expert can tell the difference. There was a guy on this site that reproduced the original silver and black PF-970 labels. Got some of them to.

Jim

Thanks Jim! As modded as this car is, no one will notice the filter color, but that's a good tip for a stocker!!

Tony

[csavaglio]

I got a small pile of the AC filters on Ebay for around $6 each with free shipping. There's several vendors and it's not a big deal to order up several years worth.

My local Napa's don't even carry theirs and would have to order anyway.

C

[Rumbln70SS]

Originally Posted by csavaglio

I got a small pile of the AC filters on Ebay for around $6 each with free shipping. There's several vendors and it's not a big deal to order up several years worth.

My local Napa's don't even carry theirs and would have to order anyway.

C

I didn't even think about eBay to be honest and the price was right on those filters too!

I talked with Jim today and he was able to rebuild my master for the clutch. He had said that the slave was too far gone to rebuild. His words were that it looked like a high school kids acne with all the pits it had.

He didn't have any 1990 spares so he is sending along a later unit. It appears that it will work but I won't know for sure until I get it all bolted up.

Jim's a great guy, very detailed and a big help in getting this job completed. Thanks so much for reccomending him.