What happens in a transmission rebuild - Part 3
 

LINK TO ORIGINAL POST:
https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=278347

We picked up the castings this week, and will now be preparing them for paint. I have my casting cleaner dude check for cracks as he handles the clean castings. I do the same when I have them back in the shop. Generally, if there is a crack, it's either in the front bearing opening (usually into one or two of the 4 bolt holes for the bearing retainer)…...or a crack might show up at the outer rim of the bell housing part. We've seen these run through a bolt hole and also over into the inspection window opening. The customer is always notified if we find any cracks and a decision is made mutually as to whether to proceed with the cracked casting or to go with another case. Any other flaws are generally visible at this time, and can also be a reason to reject the casting.

The gearbox castings are masked off for paint. I have plenty of the red plastic cap plugs, and try to close off any openings I can with these. We use aerosol cans of paint with a high heat property for engines, even though the transmissions don't see that sort of temperature. Our standard colors are Antique Ford Green, Antique Ford Blue, and Black. We can spray other colors but might have to rely on the customer to provide special paints.

The day we sprayed was quite mild and sunny......our favorite painting conditions. We usually spray in our large open warehouse room, and place the painted parts out in the sun. This generally gives us time for the first coat to set and then we put a second coat on. These will sit overnight in the heated shop room, and will receive a third coat of paint at the next opportunity.

You will note that the overdrive adapter casting is only color painted on the outside exposed edge. We prefer to keep the contact mating surfaces of the gearbox castings free of extra paint, which can add the gap between the transmission parts.....my constant observations about endplay in the gearset drive this mania in me.

PART 4:

Re: What happens in a transmission rebuild - Part 3
 

Great thread Mac! Thank you!

Those cleaned castings look so nice.... I may want to find a shop in my area that has that same cleaning process for castings, and give it a try on my next project.

Re: What happens in a transmission rebuild - Part 3
 

Beautiful work!
Makes me think I better get busy on mine. :)

Re: What happens in a transmission rebuild - Part 3
 

Wow those casting look great when they are clean.