Transmission Received
Transmission in!
The transmission has some wiring requirements. I knew this and kind of planned for it in a vague way, but definitely should have figured this out while I was doing the rest of the wiring. The transmission comes with a small ECU that reads data from the Vehicle Speed Sensor (VSS) and if it determines the speed isn’t more than about 5mph or so, releases the reverse lockout solenoid. I expect this is because reverse is where 7th gear and they are afraid people will try to power shift into 7th at, what, 180mph? It is a spring-resistive gate like you’d find on other transmissions, but it takes a fair amount of effort to overcome. In addition, it has a plug for the reverse lights.
I thought about bypassing the ECU and just wiring the solenoid into the brake light switch, but since I need (would really like) those lights, I figured I’d wire it all up. Being a genius, I immediately disassembled enough of the dash to get to the original automatic console wiring harness, which has a convenient connector for those lights. I definitely didn’t spend a couple of evenings researching the manual reverse light switch, not finding said switch on my car, constantly seeing a different type switch for automatics, telling myself that I don’t have an automatic and not to waste my time with it, finding that exact automatic switch in the box of parts I’ve removed and will no longer need, and smacking myself in the head after realizing that I USED to have an automatic and I just needed to wire the transmission backup light switch to the old harness. I’m much smarter than that! Sheesh!
Fortunately, I secured that old harness behind the ash tray rather than cut it off. While comparing it to my wiring diagram and deciding which of the few remaining wires I’d cannibalize on the console side of that harness, I discovered something I never actually considered – the neutral safety switch. The floor automatic shifter’s combo switch also opens the starter circuit if you are in anything but park and neutral. I can only imagine the time it would have taken me to troubleshoot why the starter simply wouldn’t engage once I had everything back together. I found a lot of people simply jumper that connector so the starter is always available, but I’d really hate for the car to get dented up more by having the car move from starter power or even have the engine fire up with the clutch out. I’d been feeling bad about not feeding Summit any money lately, so I ordered a clutch pedal switch to solve that.
I spent a little time figuring out the rest of the wiring. Fortunately, the rest is trivial. I need power to the transmission ECU, to the AC and to the electric fans and grounds for everyone. Once I have that neutral switch installed and wired up, I can finally be done with that.
The final roadblock was the forward console mounting bracket. The interior of this car has never been touched. As such, the carpets are filthy. And worse, whatever material the carpet padding was made from is disintegrating. I wanted to get that carpet out and clean below it as well as possible, which required removing that bracket. It clamps the carpet down in the front. Discovering that a lot of the original sound deadening pads looked brand new, but some were pretty well gone, I wanted to get something new in there. The bolts that hold that bracket are in the transmission tunnel and hard to get to with the transmission in place. As a result, the transmission installation had to wait a couple of hours while I cleaned everything out as well as I could, put down new mat, and reinstalled the carpet. I still don’t know exactly what I want to do with the interior, so I’m keeping the original stuff for now, as trashed as it is.
After all of that, I was able to fill the transmission with fluid (this thing uses ATF!!!) and bolt it up for good. At least, I hope it will be a few years before I have to pull it back out. With a three day weekend coming up and no real plans other than the local ComicCon, I hope to find time to get more done. A first start might be a possibility soon!