Trans Rebuild Update 3.8 1995

Hi Guys,

Pontiac trans mechanic friend replaced alot of parts in trans. He updated 4-5 areas that were known to fail or explode. The forward band was broken at the attachment for engagement(tab area). The old clutches looked good, including the other bands. I was tempted to have him use DExron 6 . My GTX shifts quite a bit more firm with this fluid change. No shift kit in this trans though.;=)
He found my trans leak problem. Local shop put in a paper trans gasket.
TIP: ALWAYS KEEP ORIGINAL TRANS METAL AND RUBBER TRANS PAN GASKET! He said all others are garbage. and that gasket is a 50 dollar item.
Wife asked me if the new trans lever switch would wear in. :grinyes:

by the way, how hard is it to change the rear valve cover gasket in a 95
3.8(fun),,,,KEV

How do you like the trans now?? LOL

The valve cover should not be horrible bad... Might have to move a bracket or 2 out of the way...

Off color side note... I keep forgetting you have a 95... Most of those L27's were a tad freaky... They used Powered Metal main caps, the light weight 2170 series II crank and connecting rods with the weight pad shaved off the top, series II oil pan and gasket/windage tray.. 91-94 Used the heavier crank...

Now imagine that, 9.0:1 compression, roller pivots( rockers ), lighter crank, slightly lighter rods... But GM never changed the HP / Torque rating

Hi Jrs3800!

You would like the trans mechanic I know. He rebuilt our trans back in 1996, under warranty due to failure of 3rd gear.
He did a great job as expected on the rebuild. It runs like a new car.(except for the cranking problem on morning start-up=hopefully the new fuel relay installed last night will work)
This guy eat breathes and sleeps mechanics. He has a 427Ford he races
at the strip. He drives and older jaguar, and he has almost every king of vehicle that you could repair in his garage. He is pretty ----good.
My wife is finally getting used to driving the car with having to use the new trans gear shift switch. I liked it when I used to float it through the gears myself.
Do you think my wife may have snapped the forward band due to the L27 version in the van?.....(I shouldn't give her such a hard time)
Thanks to you and LMP for your technical and moral support by the way.(just glad I did'nt get caught racing @107mph on a local street recently....felony now in Illinois over 100) ...drKEV

Well I look at it this way.... The series I engines were low end grunt motors.. Torque management was at a bare minimum in 95... GM's numbers for the L27 in 1991 was 170 Hp and 225 Ft Lbs... In 93 they upped the compression from 8.5 : 1 to 9.0 : 1, as well in 93 the L27 received the roller bearing pivots for the rockers... so more compression less valve train friction, yet the numbers stayed the same... 95 got the light weight crank, and slightly lightened rods... still again no changes at all in terms of power and torque... We know you start making those changes it affects the numbers... with the 95 L27 there was more to power to move the van as it took less to move the internals of the motor...

I modded my 95 L27 when it was in the van... I had a ported lower intake( Port matched to the heads ) installed Yella Terra 1.8 roller rockers, had a bit of an intake and a decent exhaust.... The 1-2 shift was almost violent, the 4-2 at speed was crazy too... Motor had too much torque... a buddy with a Supercharged car said at one time the van felt about the same as his SC car...

But with that Torquer L27, you were moving a 4000 Lb van... so here it is the torque peak was 3600, but the mass majority of the torque was there as soon as you touched the gas... Takes a beating on the trans after a while..lol