So finally decided to back the car out and clean up the mess that was made from the transmission pan dripping. Everything is still shifting fine but noticed little rainbow "footprints" everywhere I drove the car on the wet pavement.
![[Image: 4201720.gif]](https://s3media.247sports.com/Uploads/Assets/720/201/4201720.gif)
I checked where it had been sitting the longest and was able to tell it was tranny fluid. I was both relieved it wasn't my oil pan and pissed off the trans pan wasn't sealed right.
I don't know what it was but I just didn't feel like dealing with it. I had no delusions of dragging this thing and a trailer to hyperfest so I had no real reason to mess with it for a bit. I just knew it was going to be a huge pain in the dick somehow. But being stubborn as I am, I figured it didn't hurt to at least look. This day isn't going to ruin itself after all. It seemed to be a small leak coming from one side by the looks of it and I could tell right away what it was. One of the bolts holding the shifter bracket in place striped out the first few threads when I was reinstalling everything. I threw in a longer bolt since the original bolt seemed to be barely holding on by those threads alone. Turns out torquing down a bolt with only 2-3 threads engaged in an aluminum housing is a bad idea, who knew? This seemed to solve the issue because I was able to torque it down like all the others when I was reinstalling the pan with however many threads weren't stripped out. I couldn't see it from the bottom but the bolt was actually long enough to hit the neutral saftey switch so I didn't actually have it torqued all the way or at all maybe.
Checked the bolt bin and found a shorter bolt that would be perfect. This was going to be a good day after all. (Narrator: It was not going to be a good day.) Got the old bolt out and the new bolt in. Of course that was a challenge because it's one of the 2 bolts right next to both a header and torsion bar instead of one of the 12 or so out in the open. I got the ratchet on it and it didn't feel right. I could tell the threads weren't going to hold much but it's only 10 ft/lbs. I didn't exactly have a lot of options with the car on the ground. Either the threads held or I destroyed the rest of them, either way not tightening it down wasn't an option. Spoiler: they stripped. I got maybe 5 ft/lbs on the bolt and it just spun. No problem I'll just slip a 1/4" bolt through to a nut and fix it that way ... except this is the ONE bolt (of 16) with a massive neutral safety switch hanging right over it just low enough to keep the nut from being where it needs to be.
![[Image: 13a2.gif]](https://i.gifer.com/13a2.gif)
Odin's fury has taken over at this point, no turning back now. This car was getting fixed or I was off to Valhalla trying. Fuck it, I'm not using that switch anyways and there's both a neutral safety and reverse light switch built into my shifter. I got it out and busted out the calipers to figure out what kinda plug I was going to need. I'd need a 3/4"-16 bolt .5" in length, so I got to searching. I figured it was going to be some kinda special order from fastenal and thread sealer but I saw some oil drain plugs pop up and got the crazy idea that I may actually find what I need at Advance Auto. As luck would have it, the store 20 minutes away had one in the exact sizes I needed.
I get there and the guy asks me what car I'm buying the plug for. I told him to forget about it and gave him the part number for it. I told him the website said it was in there little self-help section. He says that doesn't really help him because he sent all that stuff "back" today. I figured he was fucking with me but I could tell he was serious. Sure enough the whole rack was empty.
![[Image: giphy.gif]](https://media.giphy.com/media/jVyL9nCwcpRhm/giphy.gif)
I wanted to tell him to just look up the damn part number but I unfortunately would rather leave empty-handed than be an asshole. I guess he kinda sensed my frustration and figured it didn't hurt to do what I asked to him to do from the very start. Sure enough it was behind the counter somewhere and I was off to finish this little battle.
![[Image: 32702600_10156429585786810_7623853781200...e=5B7C6423]](https://scontent.fric1-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/32702600_10156429585786810_7623853781200928768_n.jpg?_nc_cat=0&_nc_eui2=AeEyl3q0peaASxrX7ZxAj_S7mCZTfMmf85Qnr706gqu5t-0bunDo6aH6zDvjPXOZB4G5GQETPfXrU0D06ZAsBVK_jCFAUyQnBU2RFvIbBzvl3w&oh=5f514ffacc5c38b73073f2dd4020c2e0&oe=5B7C6423)
![[Image: CONQUER.gif]](http://www.popcultsure.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/CONQUER.gif)
In theory this should be fixed now. I sure wasn't going to test it at 9 o'clock at night
I checked where it had been sitting the longest and was able to tell it was tranny fluid. I was both relieved it wasn't my oil pan and pissed off the trans pan wasn't sealed right.
I don't know what it was but I just didn't feel like dealing with it. I had no delusions of dragging this thing and a trailer to hyperfest so I had no real reason to mess with it for a bit. I just knew it was going to be a huge pain in the dick somehow. But being stubborn as I am, I figured it didn't hurt to at least look. This day isn't going to ruin itself after all. It seemed to be a small leak coming from one side by the looks of it and I could tell right away what it was. One of the bolts holding the shifter bracket in place striped out the first few threads when I was reinstalling everything. I threw in a longer bolt since the original bolt seemed to be barely holding on by those threads alone. Turns out torquing down a bolt with only 2-3 threads engaged in an aluminum housing is a bad idea, who knew? This seemed to solve the issue because I was able to torque it down like all the others when I was reinstalling the pan with however many threads weren't stripped out. I couldn't see it from the bottom but the bolt was actually long enough to hit the neutral saftey switch so I didn't actually have it torqued all the way or at all maybe.
Checked the bolt bin and found a shorter bolt that would be perfect. This was going to be a good day after all. (Narrator: It was not going to be a good day.) Got the old bolt out and the new bolt in. Of course that was a challenge because it's one of the 2 bolts right next to both a header and torsion bar instead of one of the 12 or so out in the open. I got the ratchet on it and it didn't feel right. I could tell the threads weren't going to hold much but it's only 10 ft/lbs. I didn't exactly have a lot of options with the car on the ground. Either the threads held or I destroyed the rest of them, either way not tightening it down wasn't an option. Spoiler: they stripped. I got maybe 5 ft/lbs on the bolt and it just spun. No problem I'll just slip a 1/4" bolt through to a nut and fix it that way ... except this is the ONE bolt (of 16) with a massive neutral safety switch hanging right over it just low enough to keep the nut from being where it needs to be.
Odin's fury has taken over at this point, no turning back now. This car was getting fixed or I was off to Valhalla trying. Fuck it, I'm not using that switch anyways and there's both a neutral safety and reverse light switch built into my shifter. I got it out and busted out the calipers to figure out what kinda plug I was going to need. I'd need a 3/4"-16 bolt .5" in length, so I got to searching. I figured it was going to be some kinda special order from fastenal and thread sealer but I saw some oil drain plugs pop up and got the crazy idea that I may actually find what I need at Advance Auto. As luck would have it, the store 20 minutes away had one in the exact sizes I needed.
I get there and the guy asks me what car I'm buying the plug for. I told him to forget about it and gave him the part number for it. I told him the website said it was in there little self-help section. He says that doesn't really help him because he sent all that stuff "back" today. I figured he was fucking with me but I could tell he was serious. Sure enough the whole rack was empty.
I wanted to tell him to just look up the damn part number but I unfortunately would rather leave empty-handed than be an asshole. I guess he kinda sensed my frustration and figured it didn't hurt to do what I asked to him to do from the very start. Sure enough it was behind the counter somewhere and I was off to finish this little battle.
In theory this should be fixed now. I sure wasn't going to test it at 9 o'clock at night