A Few More Baby Steps

Last weekend the token hour or two of working on the Eagle was productive, although not quite as much as I might have hoped. The throttle linkage, gearshift linkage, torque converter inspection cover, and neutral start switch are disconnected now, although I had to break one of the linkage retainers, since there was no other way to do it. A replacement should be easy to come by when needed.

I was also able to disconnect one of the cooling lines from the transmission. Transmission fluid gets circulated through the radiator in most cars, which is something many people are not aware of. There’s a pressure line to the radiator, and a return line back from it. One of them came off easily, but the other appears to want to stay where it is at all costs.

I guess I should say that it will unscrew, but the connector that screws onto the hole on the transmission is fused to the line itself. Even the magic elixir that is WD-40 could not loosen it. I looked on the forum for wisdom, which confirmed my suspicion that I’d just have to twist off the connector and let it snap the line, and get a new line later. This will involve getting a length of line at the store and then custom-bending it, but at least it’s pretty cheap.

Once I get that line off, then mark the alignment of the torque converter to the flexplate, then finally we can start talking about unbolting the actual transmission itself. This will be an adventure because I hit a snag in removing the exhaust pipe that may or may not be solvable, so I may have to work with it in place anyway.

So yes, that’s more information than you ever wanted to know, and no pictures yet, since nothing I’ve done recently is conducive to being photographed. Here’s an updated parts table with more stuff on it, though.