Torque Converter Install on an LT1 F-Body

For this writeup, a 2800 Vigilante Converter was installed, writeup applies pretty much universally.

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Tools Required:

A good full set of ratchets, sockets, & wrenches. Screwdrivers, pliers, hammers, and the usual tools are a nice touch. Nice floor jack and sturdy jack stands. Air tools are nice but not necessary. I can't stress enough how much having a tranny jack helped out. Check out your local tool rental store, you can probably nab one for $30 for the weekend; that's what we did. Flare nut wrenches are your friend when it comes to removing the tranny lines. Please do read the whole install before thinking you have all the tools, I do have some notes on tools I used throughout.

*Install Notes

I did not drain the fluid. I had just changed it recently, and was planning on installing a shift kit in a few days anyways. It's not necessary, and as long as you keep it level when lowering, you shouldn't lose much.

A big thanks to Dave96TA for helping me out w/ this stuff as usual... go Team Common Sense ;).. sorry about your hand bro.

On with the writeup....

1. As usual, disconnect your negative battery cable. Get the car up as high as you can. Support it evenly on all four corners with a good set of jackstands. I think we managed to get the tires about 8" off the ground. That was more than enough, as the tranny never actually came out from under the car (work area). Check out the pics below to get an idea of how high we got the car.

2. Your exhaust may or may not be in the way. My y-pipe most definitely was, so that came down and out of the way. If you still have the tunnel brace installed on the car, go ahead and remove it, 15mm bolts, 4 of them.

3. Next you'll need to remove the driveshaft. To do this in the A4 you have to put the car in and out of neutral to spin the driveshaft and lock it to break the bolts loose in the universal joint. Pop off the shift linkage with a big flathead screwdriver. It's on the driver's side of the transmission and attaches to a lever. Don't worry, it will pop right off the lever with a good pull of the screwdriver. Ok, your car is probably in park right now, so go remove the first bolt from the strap holding the universal joint onto the rear. There are 4 small bolts in total (I recall 11mm is the size). After you remove the first, move the shift lever on the tranny back two notches and the car will be in neutral. Spin the driveshaft until you can reach the next bolt, put the lever back in park, and repeat this process until all 4 bolts are out. Grab the long sturdy screwdriver, or something to pry with. Place it between the universal joint and the rear, and tap it off the rear; it should pop right off. After it's down, slowly pull it out of the transmission. As long as the car is level, not much fluid will come out of the tranny's tailshaft.

4. Now, remove the bolts that hold the torque arm to the transmission. Leave the torque arm mount on, just open the clamshell of the mount and push the torque arm out and up, letting the rear hang. I think it's 3 bolts total, most of them 15mm.

5. Remove the 4 15mm bolts that hold the inspection plate onto the car. BE CAREFUL with this part, just ask Dave, this part is SHARP. Once you remove that you'll see your big, ugly, gold stock converter. The converter is held on by 3 bolts, also 15mm from what I can recall. I managed to break the bolts loose and hold the flexplate at the same time. It was tough, but it's doable; mechanic's gloves help quite a bit. Spin the converter/flexplate together by grabbing the flexplate with both hands and spinning. It's tough and tiring, but it can be done. Remove the other two bolts, and the converter should now spin freely.

6. Slide the tranny jack under the car now. Put it in position to support the tranny. Since the tranny is front-heavy with the converter, place the jack a bit more towards the front of the pan. After the tranny is resting on the jack, go ahead and remove the 15mm tranny mount bolt. Next, remove the 4 15mm crossmember bolts. Slide the crossmember out of the way and clear out unnecessary tools at this point. Lower the jack a little bit and let the tranny hang down a bit.

7. On the passenger side, remove the big round connector towards the middle of the transmission. It just pops right off. Also, remove the speed sensor connector towards the tailshaft.

8. Make sure to use a 1/2" line (flare nut) wrench on the tranny fluid lines. They're on the passenger side of the tranny, towards the top. This is possibly the hardest part of the whole install. With alot of patience, work the tranny down a bit more using the jack till your hands can fit in to loosen the nut. Once they are loose, pull back and the lines will come out of the tranny. Fluid will drip all over you :).

9. There are six 9/16" bolts holding the tranny to the motor. Remove the driver's side bottom, passenger side bottom, and passenger side middle bolt. You can take all those off with a combination of universal swivels (I recommend a 9/16" dedicated swivel socket) and long extensions, this includes the top bolts. Next, use a 9/16" combo wrench to break the driver's side middle bolt loose and remove it. This is a very very hard bolt to get at, and may take some ingenuity to break it loose. We used the 9/16" combo and attached wrenches at different angles to it to get enough leverage. It's tough, but again, it's doable. Using those long extensions and swivels again, remove the top two bolts. The tranny is now hanging by the two guide pins and the jack. Lower the jack VERY slowly, and pull out the dipstick now that the bracket is off. Make sure the tranny clears the lines and any wiring harnesses that are in the way. Lower the tranny all the way down, and leave the tranny on the jack and under the car.

10. With an extra set of hands, slide the factory converter off the shaft. It's heavy, and full of fluid, so be careful. I guarantee you will make a mess, you'll see that in my pictures :). Get your new pretty converter out of the box and place .5 - 1 quart of fluid. Do NOT put that converter in dry, or you will end up replacing your converter again, and who knows what else. Carefully slide the new converter under the car, and evenly lift up and slide it onto the shaft again. You will hear 3 clicks once the converter engages the tranny completely. It's pretty common sense to see when it's fully engaged. If it's not there will be a visible gap.

11. Back up we go. Start raising the tranny back up slowly, making sure to clear everything once again. If it's easier for you, slide the tranny fluid lines back in now, and tighten them up. Slide the dipstick tube back in. Line everything up, the joys of a tranny jack is the easy alignment that most of them have. Use the dowels to align the tranny to the motor, and push in to mate them. Put in the two bottom bolts to keep it snug for now. The flexplate and the converter should mate up nicely. Reconnect your large connector and small vss connector. Position the bracket holding the dipstick tube as it was before, and slide in the bellhousing bolt. Reinstall all the 9/16" bellhousing bolts, and tighten them up.

12. Tightening the 3 converter bolts is the same process as the removal. As well as pretty much all the rest. Reinstall the crossmember and tranny mount bolts, and get the jack out of the way. Reinstall the driveshaft using the same process as removal, and pop the linkage back on. Put the inspection cover back on, and doublecheck your install.

13. Drop the car back on the ground. You lost probably about a 1 quart of fluid from the lines and whatever else. Try putting in a little under one quart first, and start up the car. Run it back and forth through the gears (you don't have to move it) a few times. Then leave it running and in park. Check the fluid and add as necessary. When you drive it you'll want to go through about 50 lock/unlock cycles before really getting on it. After that, have a blast.. I know I did. You'll notice your shifts probably got soft. This is typical after installing a higher stall converter. I installed a TransGo @ Stage 2, and it shifts nice and crisp again.