Shovels. Drilled Troque converters.

[Jason Renville <Jason_Renville@ccm.al.intel.com>]

In case anyone doesn't know Shovel is what some Chevelle owners call 
Chevelle's. Good catch Larry!

I kinda wondered about the off balance torque converter.  I am not sure 
why these guys wanted to do that.  It was worth it though cause the 
trans failed after about 300 miles.  I was still under warranty.  The 
shop told me that they wanted to verify the fluid in the torque 
converter wasn't burned.  

J-


______________________________ Forward Header __________________________________
Subject: Re: Torque converter rebuilding?
Author:  type-3-errors@umich.edu at SMTPGATE
Date:    5/19/97 4:33 PM


At 01:00 PM 5/16/97 PDT, Jason Renville wrote:
>I,m not sure about VW torque converters but when I had a replaced a
>TH-350 in my Shovel the trans shop drilled a hole in my torque converter
>and drained the fluid.  They then plugged the hole with a threaded plug.
> They told me that they would not warranty the Trans if I didn't have
>the old fluid drained from the torque converter.  They did if for no
>charge so maybe ask the shop you are working with?
>
I've heard of people improvising by using a snow shovel when they didn't
have a sled -- but I never heard of one with a automatic trans.

Drilling a hole in a torque converter seems a little extreme.  Granted that
getting the fluid out can be challenging but, unless VW torque converters
are very different from the Chevy ones that I have worked with, it isn't
impossible. I would be concerned that putting a plug in the torque coverter
would unbalance it and reduce the life of the drivetrain.  On my daughter's
Chevy I just turned it upside down on top of my oil changing container and
left it there a couple days.  Then I filled it up half way with new fluid
before remounting it.  That ensured that when I refilled the trans I had
most of the needed fluid in the system when it was first started.

Larry


---Larry Edson, Editor
   Karmann Ghia Club of North America
   Campbell, CA
   '65 Type 345 (electric sunroof)
   '66 Type 343
   '67 Bug (sunroof)
   '49 Ford pickup