slieker@orc.DEC (Graham Slieker DTN 247,2917) (03/13/85)
"NOVA" transmission question Sorry I can't address you by name but my Newsgroup Distributor truncated your message. First there is no such thing as a NOVA transmission. Generous Motors makes a few different transmissions and just sticks the most appropriate one in whatever chariot, Your transmission probably lives in many GM products. So much for background, you don't say whether you have a crash box or a juice drive (automatic). If your box is a manual its repair is fairly simple, most factory shop manuals should tell you everything you need to know. You may require some "special tools" however such as bearing presses ,micrometers and fancy (expensive) runout gauges. A BRASS hammer is also a must for knocking the shafts out of the bearings without damaging them. One major and common "gotcha" in this area is failure to use extreme caution in re-shimming the shafts if you replace either the bearings or the any of the gears. It may feel O.K. when its cold and not under load but if you don't make sure you have the clearances within spec the gearbox could lunch itself in no time at all. If your box is a fluid drive, its a different story entirely. You don't want to tackle an automatic transmission armed on with a "HOW TO" book, and a backyard. Replacing the Torque converter,changing the fluid or perhaps even adjusting the bands might be O.K. but I wouldn't recomend getting into the valve body. To do that properly requires special knowledge and special (expensive) equipment, hardly a justifiable expense for a one shot deal by a backyard mechanic. The best way to go is just buy one from a junk yard for a few hundred bucks. Don't forget that you have to pay yourself at least $20/hour for working on your car,so what is all this REALLY costing you?? Just as a aside though, last year when a reckless driver deprived me of my basic transportation, rather rudely I might add. As part of my analysis of what to replace it with I decided to calculate the total aggregate cost per mile to own and operate a car up to 5 years old. I based my calculations on among other things,investment recovery (the NADA book shows a fairly consistant value degradation slope), financing costs (used car loans cost more),and of course maintanence and down time costs. I based this on experience of friends and my own over the past fifteen years,seven vehicles and at least 500,000 miles driven. Low and behold my calculations showed that the total cost per mile for a new car was the same as a three year old car (in my case a VW RABBIT Diesel). Yup you guessed it a one or two year old car costs more to own and operate than a shiney new one. Incidently, not taken into consideration here is the aggravation factor of having to change a water pump in a snow storm. Many of my friends countered my findings with "We can't afford to buy a new car" my response is simply "I can't afford not to". Regards Graham Slieker D.E.C Tewksbury, Ma. 617,858,2917 decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-orc!slieker --usenet-- slieker@orc.dec@decwrl.arpa --arpanet--