Laserjohn

Hey, I picked up a transmission to replace mine, and it is out of a 1981. It has two things on it that concern me.

1) It has the lockup four pin plug for computer control for locking-up the torque converter at high rpms on it and I don't have the plug nor the wiring on my car. Will this work fine? Or no?

2)It also has two flanged mounting holes that kinda stick out the side of the bell housing, almost as if it also mounted to the floorboard somehow in the 1981. My tranny has no such mounting holes, and will they clear if I put tranny in my car?

Any help would be greatly appreciated....

81VETTOM

don't know how to fix the connector. That transmission came with overdrive clutch for 2nd and 3rd. Not sure if that is ECM driven or not. A transmission shop should be able to answer that. I think a temperature sensor is part of that connector for OD clutch. The flanges on the pass side are to support the convertor. No part of the trans is supported by the floor pan. It sould clear witout a problem anyway. It's been a while since I saw underneath. I hope this helps. 81's are unique, guess thats why I got one....

UKPaul

Can't help on the mountings, but the 4 pin plug should only have 3 wires connected up. I've got one on order from a UK dealer as mine's a "bit tired" (OK, I broke it :cuss ). If it turns up I'll ask him where in the US it came from.
From memory (which isn't too good), one wire is a 12V supply to the lockup solenoid, one is a ground wire (I think that goes to the ECU which decides when to ground it) & the other is a top gear indicator (or is it 2nd & 3rd gear indicator?). All you need to do is connect 12V to one pin & take the earth pin, via a wire, to a switch somewhere in the car. Earth the other side of the switch & you should then be able to manually turn the lockup on/off.
Mine doesn't work so I'll be looking at it again sometime after Xmas. If you need any help with the wires, give me a call in the New Year & I'll check out the manual. The electrical side of it is quite simple so don't get put off using the 'box cause of it.
:cheers:
Paul

Laserjohn

Can I use the transmission as is, and install in my car without using the lockup option?

UKPaul

Yes, you can. Mine is doing that at the moment (no lockup) & just means that you'll be doing higher revs in top than you could be. I do about 300rpm more in top gear than I was when the lockup was working. It all works fine with no problems, but with the price of fuel as it is here, I've gotta fix it :)
Just had a quick look through a manual & can't find any info on whether an '81 box has any mechanical reasons why it won't fit in an '80 (but I can't find anything that says that it will!).
Good luck
Paul
p.s. nice car, the '80 - '82 looks great in black :yesnod:



[Modified by UKPaul, 6:46 PM 12/21/2001]