How to: Freshen your 200-4r pump

[Ineedagn]

Pump bushing: Number 1 in the picture is the OE style babbit bushing. Number 2 is the teflon bushing that trans shops used for the better part of 15 years, and solved a lot of problems with, until one day (circa 2012) they quit making them. I've heard a couple versions of the story but my personal favorite was "they were shipping production of that bushing overseas and the boat carrying all the tooling sank". Numbers 3,4, and 5 are the teflon bushings available today. Notice 2,3, and 4 are a split bushing with a simple butted seam and number 5 is a solid bushing. Number 3 is a sonnax bushing and I think number 4 was from transtar. The bushing saga unfolded after I quit the trans shop and I can't honestly speak for which one of those two would be "better" if any difference at all. I've used whichever one i'm holding at the time AS LONG AS IT'S A SPLIT BUSHING. I've tried pressing the solid bushing (number 5) in on a couple different occasions, and both times they were tight on the converter hub and I didn't use them.  I've heard others report the same findings.  Number 6 is a "sure seal" bushing by teckpak/fitzall, note it has a rubber o ring in the middle. This is an attempt to keep oil from pushing the front seal out. I've never ran one, as my former boss/mentor told me to run far, far away from them. I'd rather do the proper drainback/seal mods. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a bushing or two I've missed or if there's a cheap knockoff of the split teflons out there somewhere. Anything that's the same as a 700/4l60e and needs replaced in every build is bound to have a wide variety of options.

Numbers 2 through 4 are actually a porous bronze bushing with a teflon layer on top/in the pores of the bronze middle layer. I'm including pics of a used one (one of the good gray ones) that actually outlasted the pump it was found in.  I scraped the top layer off to show the porous bronze layer underneath.  These gray ones really are gold if you can find them.  Maybe they'll retool them someday.  I did the same thing to a solid (number 5 in pic) bushing and it's just as suspected, a cheap soft bushing with a quick teflon top layer.  JUNK! in my opinion. 

Again, any veteran builder with feedback on current bushing selection can feel free to correct or elaborate on anything I've posted. When I was doing 700 pumps, it was bushing number 2, ordered by the dozens and they just worked. I'm now out of the loop I guess.

So before pressing in the bushing, make sure the housing is final cleaned for assembly. Take some scotchbrite and clean the residue out of the seal bore, and check it and bushing bore both for any stray screwdriver/chisel gouges and correct as necessary before brake cleaning the hell out of the housing and compressed air drying it. I'm anal about surfaces being truly clean for things such as loctite so I take a paper towel and some denatured alcohol and wipe the bushing/seal bores clean as well as the outer surface of the bushing itself.

Now, to be "correct" here, you are supposed to use green sleeve retaining loctite for something like holding a bushing in the bore. However, red high strength is what everyone has laying around and I've honestly never heard of anyone using anything else, even if it's not "correct" and it works just fine in conjunction with staking the bushing inside literally thousands of daily drivers every day. A light, even coat spread around with your finger is best here, putting too much on only makes more to wipe off after it's pressed in/staked. An arbor press is your ideal tool, but it can be done by hammer and driver and I assume that's what you're going to have to do in your garage. You can use a wide flat driver to get it started and then use the correct driver or equivalent to get it seated the rest of the way. Oh, and make sure the split of the bushing is indexed approx. halfway between your notches you filed.

690 pump body, press it up to the factory lip but don't hammer on it once it touches, as it can absolutely be forced past it. check fit on the torque converter, or if for some crazy reason you don't have a converter neck, use the small end of the center support (same dimension as converter neck which is why you can use the teflon pump bushing in the direct drum). On the earlier pump bodies you want to center the bushing in the bushing bore.

[Ineedagn]

We now stake the bushing. Use a small roll pin punch, holding it exactly like i've pictured will make your life easier. Use your leg and/or beer gut to hold the body against the bench. I'm (still) left handed so you may need to mirror this image. My index finger is keeping the punch from contacting/nicking the freshly sanded housing, my ring finger is right against the tip of the punch, preventing it from slipping down the bushing. My thumb is keeping it from slipping into the pump cavity. Try it that way and thank me later. Note that on this pump, the bushing is slightly recessed in its bore and there's a distinct lip there. The 690 pump body has a deeper bushing bore than the early cast. Earlier castings, your bushing should be perfectly centered in the bore (as I've already stated once).

Take a razor knife or pocket knife and clean up any burrs or teflon dingleberries, and then wipe up your excess loctite before it dries. (I've already installed the front seal in these pics because my bench isn't close to the arbor press and I wanted to save steps.)

[Ineedagn]

For the front seal, back in the day we used to go through an arduous process of taking the seal to the wire wheel and cleaning off all the original "boretite" coating, then taking scotchbrite/brake clean to clean off the remaining residue, then wiping it clean and applying a healthy coat of red loctite to the bare steel and then using the seal retainer after the seal is in. I don't do that anymore and i'll show you why here in a minute. I DO still put a thin coat of loctite on it out of habit but it's probably not necessary either.

SO, press/drive the seal in using the proper wide, flat driver....

..or if that's not available, the original stator tube fits it like a glove...

Now, index a 700 seal retainer until you find a spot where all 4 tabs go on and miss all the ribs. Then tap it on with a hammer. NOW, take your bare fingers and pry that damn thing right back off, crack a beer and stare at that design for awhile, realize that it can barely hold itself on, let alone hold the seal from blowing out. When your beer is gone, get out your mini file set and fix the design.

Using the 4 witness marks as your guide, file 4 notches in the housing to give the retainer something to grab on to. This will take some finesse, your choice of file and the angle you hold it at makes or breaks this project. You want to back cut it in a way that leaves the metal finger a 90 degree edge to grab/lock on to. Test fit the retainer and file the notches higher up the casting, until all 4 fingers lock on good.

Not going anywhere now!

[Ineedagn]

Pump assembly:

Obviously, clean all parts thoroughly before assembly. Insert the rubber o ring into the slide with some assembly gel (or petroleum jelly), then use the gel to "glue" the slide ring in the cavity with it, keeping track to put the surfaced side out towards the housing.

Now's a fine time to lube the bushing and spread some lube around the cavity a bit, then set the slide in the cavity (steel ring side goes down).

Don't forget to install the small spring into the cavity under the pivot pin

Install the slide seals as shown. The square seal is the actual seal, the round part holds it tight against the pump cavity wall. Depending on the brand of your kit, your new seals may protrude out of the cavity and if so, will need to be trimmed off with a razor blade.

Insert the slide pivot pin, making sure the seals on the opposite side stay in their proper place.

[Ineedagn]

You will need to purchase a transgo 700-pkh hardened ring/spring kit. They're cheap. You need the slide spring out of this kit at this time.

Instructions say to crunch it in a vise once before install and the spring will take a set. Who am I to argue?

If your pump came with one, or if you can procure one, use the stock inner spring with the transgo outer. This is more important with higher rpm engines. If you want to deviate from this setup, Steve V graciously did some recent testing of different spring/spacer stackups at both min and max slide positions and posted his findings.  Here's a cut and paste of the raw data:

Stock BRF dual spring
@1.5 = 28.2lbs w/sonnax spacer 39.2lbs
@1.225= 54.6lbs w/sonnax 65.8lbs

NOYOYO spring 5500 rpm kit
@1.5 = 19.8lb w/sonnax 34.8lbs
@2.225 =62.6lbs w/sonnax 80.4lbs

NOYOYO w/ BRF inner spring
@1.5 = 26.8lbs w/sonnax 47.6lbs
@1.225= 77.8 w/sonnax 97.8lbs

 The short version: Higher RPM needs higher spring pressure to counteract inertia/centrifugal force. Do some searching if you want to go full nerd about it. Note that I've personally never assembled one with the "full boogie" 97.8 LBS combo but it does fit in the cavity.

Some prefer to put both springs into a bench vise and compress them and then carefully slide them into place. I use a screwdriver and a cuss word or two. If you place them down against the housing and force them in on the slide side, you won't burr up the nicely decked housing you created earlier.

[Ineedagn]

Stick the rotor guide to the rotor with some transjel or vaseline. Then stick one of the transgo pump rings to that. Then flip the rotor over and install into the housing.

When you install the pump vanes, pay attention to the direction, and if they are used vanes, install them so the side that originally contacted the rings continues to do so. (side with two shiny flats goes inward). May have to rotate the rotor as you do this to get the lower ring moved into a favorable angle to allow them all to fit. Then you install the top ring. Then lube the assembly.

[Ineedagn]

Place the stator side of the pump onto the body side. Rotate it so all 5 bolt holes line up (only lines up one way) Pick up the body and finger tighten all 5 bolts. The two halves must be perfectly aligned before torquing. You can buy the factory tool, or you can use a $4 large hose clamp as an alignment band. You can also use several smaller hose clamps linked together. Some even drop the pump upside down into the empty trans case for alignment.

While you're doing it, you might as well line up that drainback hole you took the time to enlarge. Photo shows the correct position of the alignment band around both halves. Torque the 5 bolts to 18-20 ft-lbs. and remove the alignment clamp.

Install the new o-ring around the outside, making sure it's not twisted and the painted side is out. When installing into the trans, don't forget to stick the mickey mouse washer to the back of it and don't forget the small pump screen filter. And that, as Smokey Yunick would say, is a race ready part!

[Ineedagn]

Well, there you have it folks.  I'd like to thank the owner of this forum for hosting it and if it ends up on the Vortex Buicks site I'd like to thank him too.  I'll add any future edits or info in this post if anything turns up and I'm still allowed to edit it.  Until next time...

[Steve Wood]

I will be happy to put it on my site.  Just give me your name so I can credit it to you. 

that is a really nice write up!  Thanks for taking the time to do it.

[TexasT]

Bob Koch

[Ineedagn]

^^^^what he said^^^^

[Ineedagn]

Gimme a few days though.  I’ve already made a couple minor edits and might make a couple more

[Steve Wood]

No problem, Bob, and thanks again for your effort

[daveismissing]

This IS one serious document, nicely done, no wonder you were p*ssed when it disappeared.

[Ineedagn]

Actually wasn’t pissed at all when the forum hack or whatever the hell happened, happened.  It sounds like it’s a wonder they even had the text backed up.  Lots of good information there no matter what anyone thinks of the board.  But I couldn’t edit the posts.   My pleas to allow post editing to fix it fell on deaf ears.  I know everyone’s busy, life priorities higher than a damn bulletin board etc etc but if I have to start from scratch, I’ll do it somewhere else.  It’s nice to have it hosted in multiple places anyway and I did update several parts of the text.