Preamble - this article is about overhauling a Flight - o matic--- Well, I've done about 3 of them, so I can't claim to be an expert. I'm speaking here of a tranny OVERHAUL, not a rebuild. Basically drop the tranny, clean it inside and out, replace the seals and the friction plates. If the torque convertor was working beforehand, leave it alone. In that case, you can simply remove the four big bolts that hold the tranny to the bell housing, and pull the tranny straight back and then out. You have to exercise care not to damage the input shaft. An overhaul kit to fit a Borg Warner tranny costs me about $125 (Can.) last time I bought one. This is a generic kit for Brand X applications. There are one or two minor seals in the tranny that the kit doesn't supply, but you can get them matched up. "O" rings, mainly. One "hard part" you should buy is the front pump bushing. A worn bushing will cause the front seal to have a short life, and can also cause convertor drain-back, and overflow of the fluid onto the floor of your garage. If you have a shop manual and a few simple tools, you can service the automatic tranny yourself. Buy some first-class snap ring pliers; you'll need them for sure. A spring compressor is needed to disassemble the clutch drums. I made mine from a piece of redi-rod, and took a big washer like a fender washer, and welded three 1/4" rod legs on it so it looks like a little tripod. With that threaded on the redi-rod with a handful of nuts and washers you can duplicate the action of the spring compressor in the manual. This gadget took me 10 minutes to make, and has done 3 Flightomatics and a couple of Brand X as well. When disassembling, take pains to accurately record the order of removal of each part, and its orientation, particularly in the case of the many thrust washers. This isn't meant to be a short course in transmission overhaul; rather just to let you know that they are actually a lot easier to service than you might expect. If you have a reasonable amount of mechanical skill, and an orderly way of working, you CAN do it. You should have the Stude shop manual, but in a pinch a Chiltons or Motors manual for a contemporary Ford Cruisomatic will do, but be aware a few parts are different. It is a big thrill to overhaul your own transmission, fill it up with fluid, and have the car move out right away when you pop it in Drive. If you are hesitant about tying your car up while doing the tranny, try buying a "core" from another Stude owner, and do the overhaul on it, then just swap it out. Just make sure the core is for a similar application. It really is worth having a shot at it; and you may find the process quite fascinating...worth the price of admission. Good luck, Gordon Richmond ------------------------------------------ I have to agree with Gordon here. You CAN rebuild these units yourself. Sure there are shops out there that specialize in automatic transmissions. But then there are shops that specialize in brakes and engines and other systems. If you can tackle them and win, you can do an auto tranny too. No, it's not for everyone. But it can be done! Before I got into Studes, I had a mid-fifties Caddy pass my way for a time. It really wasn't a bad car but I wanted to take it apart and see what "made it tick". With some help from the machine shop, I got the engine redone. (My first engine rebuild) Then, (I guess not knowing any better!) I tore the 4-spd Hydramatic apart and went thru it. WHAT a sense of accomplishment when I first fired up that old 356 and pulled in into drive! I drove that car until some idiot in a Mustang did a left turn in front of me! Anyway.... Most all the parts for the Flight-o-matics are plentiful and cheap. The trick is to not call them "Flight-o-matics" when you're shopping for parts! ++++++++++++++++++++++ NOTE: VERY IMPORTANT: Reversing a thrust washer can make the result hell on earth! +++++++++++++++++++++++ The recent thread on auto tranny rebuilds got me a little curious, so I went out and poked around the garage for some kits I had from NAPA. Here is I found: The standard Stude auto tranny overhaul kit from NAPA is their Microtest 1-4649. This kit appears to have the necessary gaskets, metal seals, O-rings seals, and lip seals. It does not have thrust washers, bronze bushings, pumps, clutch plates, drums, bands or control/governor valve parts. I also had a NAPA 1-4680 for the Ford-o-matic/Cruise-o-matic Cast Iron Case, Light duty. Doing a quick check between the Ford and Stude section of the NAPA parts book it appears that the 4680 contains most/all of the parts in the Stude 1-4649 Kit plus a few more seals. Now then the NAPA book does not list a 'Complete Overhaul' kit, or any shift kits for the Stude. They do however list a 1-6012 and 1-6013 Complete Overhaul kit for the Ford-o-matic. This kit contains the clutch packs. The clutch disc part numbers are the same for the Stude and the earlier Cruise-o-matic applications. They also list many of these parts, such as bushings individually. Here is what the NAPA book says about overhaul in the sheet that was with the Cruise-o-matic (paraphrasing just a bit to save typing)-- 1) Replace bands if there is any black color on the lining. Replace drums if there is any scoring. Otherwise sand the drums front to back with 40-60 grit emery to remove the polish. 2) Replace clutch plates, soaking composition plates for 30 minutes. 3) Install a shift kit. Kit is 1-4784 for '58-61 without vacuum modulator. A shift kit will stop the severe reverse engagement which causes many complaints. 4) Install a governor kit, #1-4789. A sticking governor can cause complete failure in this transmission. 5) The convertor used with this transmission has a natural tendency to act as a dirt and metal particle collector. This dirt and metal collects in a sludge pocket between the housing and assembly shells. New oil or just a hot trip will dissolve this sludge and release dirt and metal into your job. Your customer deserves a clean convertor, as we are sure you don't need a comeback by reusing the dirty one. 6) General comments. This is not the easiest transmission to overhaul successfully. Most of the problems after overhaul are caused by sticking valves. These problems are: High gear starts, erratic upshifts, chatters. Over 90% of the time these problems are caused by the compensator valve or the governor valve. a) A new sharp compensator valve of self cleaning design is furnished in the shift kit. b) A new sharp governor valve is included in the governor kit. c) When working on a cast iron Cruise-o-matic cleanliness may even beat Godliness. THis is especially true if you are thinking of using the old convertor. DON'T. We have never talked to a mechanic who was sorry he installed a clean convertor (new or rebuilt). We have talked to hundreds who were damn sorry they left the old one in. They say this about the shift kit -- Corrects: Long and soft 1-2 shift Reverse jerk Soft shift to high Passing gear spin up Prevents: Case breakage Reverse servo breakage Rear band breakage Front band wear Premature clutch wear To fix one problem in a cast iron Cruiseomatic during overhaul is nice. To fix two problems is terrific. To fix all the problems is like a miracle. Cast iron Cruise-o-matic need a miracle. It's hard to fix these problems one at a time. It's easy to fix them all at once. Install a shift kit during overhaul. My thoughts: The shift kit mentioned in the NAPA book and 'help' sheets probably has a compensator valve and springs for the Ford style control assembly. It may not work with the Stude control assembly. I dunno, can't recall ever trying it. You may have to install the whole Ford control assembly. Or, alternatively, the first gear start control valve and governor used in the Stude taxi tranny's. I think some of the problems mentioned may be peculiar to the Ford version. FWIW I also notice that the NAPA book lists three different versions of the cast iron Cruise-o-matic, a light duty (to which all this applies), as well as medium and heavy duty versions. You apparently tell them apart by the length of the case. Perhaps somebody who know more about this area of Ford products can fill in some background details on which models used what tranny. Here is the Studebaker-Packard/NAPA Microtest interchange list: Stude NAPA 311599 1-4436 Gasket, oil pan 311721 1-1349 421128 1-1 Clutch disc, friction 421327 1-4437 Gasket, oil pan 450379 1-749 Oil seal, rear pump, outlet tube 450523 1-3893 458661 1-969 Bushing, clutch housing 470073 1-939 527783 1-4436 Gasket, oil pan 529582 1-1348 Seal, front pump 529585 1-926 539480 1-3686 1540906 1-404 Oil seal, manual control lever 1540922 1-403 Oil seal, front pump 1540930 1-753 Gasket, front pump 1540935 1-4423 1541018 1-2069 1541051 1-3766 Oil seal, front servo piston 1541064 1-744 Oil seal, rear servo piston 1541085 1-754 Gasket, governor inspection plate 1541087 1-752 Gasket, rear bearing 1541127 1-757 1541140 1-2330 1541146 1-3757 Band, front 1541157 1-899 Band, rear 1541173 1-2198 Thrust washer, sun gear, inner 1541174 1-740 Oil seal, front clutch piston, inner 1541175 1-2146 1541176 1-741 Oil seal, front clutch piston, outer 1541177 1-901 1541181 1-4305 Clutch disc, friction, front 1541182 1-12 Clutch disc, steel, front 1541183 1-1016 Hub, front clutch 1541192 1-328 Thrust washer, sun gear, rear 1541194 1-886 1541195 1-3766 Oil seal, front servo piston 1541197 1-2182 1541201 1-17 Clutch disc, friction, rear 1541202 1-13 Clutch disc, steel, rear 1541203 1-1032 1541237 1-889 Seal ring, sun gear, front 1541238 1-888 Seal ring, sun gear, intermediate 1541239 1-890 Seal ring, sun gear, rear 1541248 1-887 1541258 1-749 Oil seal, rear pump, outlet 1542734 1-4305 Clutch plate, friction, rear 1543070 1-375 1543088 1-27 1545160 1-4653 Bushing, extension housing, closed drive shaft** 1545163 1-405 1545195 1-3462 1545274 1-209 1545835 1-3761 Pump assy., rear 1545838 1-208 1545842 1-2313 Thrust washer, output shaft, rear 1548882 1-1 Clutch plate, drive, friction 1550711 1-749 Oil seal, rear pump, outlet 1551375 1-3757 1553382 1-4854 1553737 1-405 Oil seal, extension housing, open drive shaft 1554227 1-3749 Clutch cylinder, front 1554230 1-4305 Clutch disc, friction, rear 1559007 1-4510 1559008 1-3516 1559012 1-3509 1559025 1-3559 1559026 1-3560 1559028 1-3557 1559033 1-3523 1559038 1-3506 1559039 1-4234 1559040 1-3576 1559042 1-3561 1559043 1-3553 1559044 1-3552 1559045 1-3575 1559046 1-3520 1559047 1-4514 1559048 1-3521 1559050 1-3573 1559052 1-3571 1559053 1-4234 1559054 1-3504 1559061 1-3550 1559067 1-3582 1559068 1-3602 1559069 1-3555 1559071 1-4521 1559075 1-3556 1559081 1-3591 1559082 1-3562 Seal ring, governor 1559087 1-3513 1559091 1-3593 1559092 1-3531 1559104 1-3530 1559110 1-3578 1559135 1-3596 1559137 1-3597 1559901 1-3543 1559902 1-3545 1560020 1-3579 1560023 1-3591 1567252 1-1348 Note that NAPA offers a transmission case repair kit, which "eliminates the need of buying a new case or possibility of trying to weld the old case". It is Microtest #1-4252. Also note that the part descriptions are from the NAPA book, I have not cross checked them with the Stude/Packard parts books. ** = This description does not seem right One further note on this list -- all the NAPA numbers start with "1-", I got tired of typing it. If there is no description it is because that part did not appear itemized in the Studebaker section of the NAPA book. -- wf. Wayne Flowers Randee Greenwald randee@zianet.com +++++++++++++++