Author Topic: any other way of knowing lock-up /non- lockup besides imput shaft  (Read 1020 times)

Offline mickey

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any other way of knowing lock-up /non- lockup besides imput shaft
« on: December 10, 2008 - 11:25:18 AM »
HI all, i bought a engine 318 and trany and it is still bolted to engine defintely it is a 904 or 998/999 Tranny ,is there a # to tell which? Any other way to tell if its a lock-up/non-lockup without looking at the imput shaft? ENG/TRANS out off a 75 cordobra, it has a solid damper this would tell me it could be a forged crank ??(forged crank,non-lockup correct)  it was  also  a lean burn engine so the 2bll dome and distributor will be replace with a 4bbl and vacum distributor. any help with these questions would be appriciated want to to keep it together without unbolting tranny but if there is no alternative i;ll have too. Again any response appriciated...   thxs




Offline tactransman

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Re: any other way of knowing lock-up /non- lockup besides imput shaft
« Reply #1 on: December 10, 2008 - 04:09:45 PM »
You can tell by the VB. Lock up did not come out till '79.

First pic is a LU and the second is a NLU

The later ones have an electrical plug going into the main case by the extension housing bolts
Terry-tactransman 
Torqueflite/Automatic Transmission Specialist
Union, Mo.
Give a man a fish and he eats for a day,teach him to fish and he eats for a lifetime.

Offline tactransman

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Re: any other way of knowing lock-up /non- lockup besides imput shaft
« Reply #2 on: December 10, 2008 - 04:13:04 PM »
If you can get the # off the case by the pan rail I can see if it is on the chart. :cheers:
Terry-tactransman 
Torqueflite/Automatic Transmission Specialist
Union, Mo.
Give a man a fish and he eats for a day,teach him to fish and he eats for a lifetime.

Offline Supercuda

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Re: any other way of knowing lock-up /non- lockup besides imput shaft
« Reply #3 on: December 10, 2008 - 04:17:19 PM »
The 318, with a couple very rare exceptions, was always a cast-crank engine. There is nothing wrong with that. The cast-iron crankshaft is very durable, and capable of putting up with some pretty serious abuse (not a Chevy, remember?). As for the trasnmission, my first impulse would be to say no, it is not a lockup unit. The easiest way to tell, without separating the engine from the transmission, is to look at the front side of the torque convertor, and see if it has a significantly sized, flat area to it. This is the outside world look of the convertor clutch apply area. If it just looks basically round (like a donut), you have a standard transmission- no lockup. Removing the inspection cover on the bellhousing is the only way to really see this on the assembled engine/trans.

Offline tactransman

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Re: any other way of knowing lock-up /non- lockup besides imput shaft
« Reply #4 on: December 10, 2008 - 05:48:18 PM »
I have been looking at LU and NLU 904's for over 20 years and can't tell you for sure by looking at the front of the converter. There is one thing though,if it has a drain plug, it is definitely a non lock up.  :cheers:
Terry-tactransman 
Torqueflite/Automatic Transmission Specialist
Union, Mo.
Give a man a fish and he eats for a day,teach him to fish and he eats for a lifetime.

Offline mickey

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Re: any other way of knowing lock-up /non- lockup besides imput shaft
« Reply #5 on: December 14, 2008 - 09:57:14 PM »
Thanks for the post, great info as always. I'll be checking converter and # on pan rail and will get back with my findings, :2thumbs: