rlg999
Advanced Member
Well I've finally bit the bullet and decided to start my 545 to 1000 swap in my 92 Bluebird TC2000 short bus. I hated to pull out a perfectly good transmission, but the last trip to Florida was pretty slow, poking along at 55mph.
The first step was to get my used trans that we picked up in Alabama home and inspect it. I drained the nice red fluid and pulled the pan, the filters and everything looked pretty good, just a tiny bit of material on the magnet inside the pan. New filters installed and I reattached the pan.
I contacted Jason at transmission tuners and he told me what I needed to get for a controller. Found one online and sent it to him. He had it on it's way back to me in just a day or two. He is an awesome guy and provided lots of info via numerous emails back and forth.
The removal of the 545 was really simple, I did it by myself in the driveway with just a motorcycle jack. First, I drove the bus up onto a few 2x12s on all four corners to give a little more working room. Chock the wheels and make sure nothing can move! Disconnect the battery, then disconnect the small plug on the right side of the transmission. Remove the bolt holding the kick down module to the side of the trans and pull it out. Drain the fluid first, or you'll have a mess.. Remove the nut holding the shifter cable to the selector assembly and then the bracket holding the cable in place. Remove the two cooling hoses from the top of the transmission with a7/8 wrench. Drain the hoses into a pan to catch the fluid. Next remove the two bolts covering the access cover on the driver side of the bellhousing. Then take your pry bar and insert it into the hole in the bottom of the bellhousing and rotate the engine clockwise until you can see one of the the 15mm head bolts. Remove all six of them. After the last one is out, the torque converter will spin freely when you insert the pry bar. Go to the back of the trans and remove the u joint bolts holding the drive shaft. Mine were super tight and I had to use a small torch to heat them up, then a small hammer to tap the bolts and they finally freed up. Wiggle the drive shaft back carefully and don't lose the needle bearings inside each cap. Loosen the bolts holding the center drive shaft support enough to allow the support to move a little. Remove the two bolts holding the drive shaft safety loop toward the front of the drive shaft. Now you can slide the drive shaft to the side enough so that the transmission will slide back over the front axle. Don't separate the driveshafts without marking the orientation or you'll get the u joints out of sync and have horrible vibrations. Go over to the passenger side and remove the fitting for the trans dip stick. I had to heat this one up a little also to get it to free up. It probably had some type of loc tite on it. Now that everything is removed from the trans, it's time to pull her out. Take a long extension and impact wrench and remove all the upper bolts around the transmission to bellhousing flange. Leave two side bolts in temporarily. Go under and remove the bottom bolts, now you should have only two of the twelve bolts remaining. I slid the motorcycle jack under the pan with a small piece of plywood between them and put a little pressure with the jack. Slowly remove the last two bolts, making sure the trans stays level and doesn't put any stress on the torque converter. Slide it back until you can balance it on the front axle. Move the jack behind the front axle and side the trans onto the jack. Lower the jack and side out the transmission. Voila, you're 1/100th of the way there, lol.
The first step was to get my used trans that we picked up in Alabama home and inspect it. I drained the nice red fluid and pulled the pan, the filters and everything looked pretty good, just a tiny bit of material on the magnet inside the pan. New filters installed and I reattached the pan.
I contacted Jason at transmission tuners and he told me what I needed to get for a controller. Found one online and sent it to him. He had it on it's way back to me in just a day or two. He is an awesome guy and provided lots of info via numerous emails back and forth.
The removal of the 545 was really simple, I did it by myself in the driveway with just a motorcycle jack. First, I drove the bus up onto a few 2x12s on all four corners to give a little more working room. Chock the wheels and make sure nothing can move! Disconnect the battery, then disconnect the small plug on the right side of the transmission. Remove the bolt holding the kick down module to the side of the trans and pull it out. Drain the fluid first, or you'll have a mess.. Remove the nut holding the shifter cable to the selector assembly and then the bracket holding the cable in place. Remove the two cooling hoses from the top of the transmission with a7/8 wrench. Drain the hoses into a pan to catch the fluid. Next remove the two bolts covering the access cover on the driver side of the bellhousing. Then take your pry bar and insert it into the hole in the bottom of the bellhousing and rotate the engine clockwise until you can see one of the the 15mm head bolts. Remove all six of them. After the last one is out, the torque converter will spin freely when you insert the pry bar. Go to the back of the trans and remove the u joint bolts holding the drive shaft. Mine were super tight and I had to use a small torch to heat them up, then a small hammer to tap the bolts and they finally freed up. Wiggle the drive shaft back carefully and don't lose the needle bearings inside each cap. Loosen the bolts holding the center drive shaft support enough to allow the support to move a little. Remove the two bolts holding the drive shaft safety loop toward the front of the drive shaft. Now you can slide the drive shaft to the side enough so that the transmission will slide back over the front axle. Don't separate the driveshafts without marking the orientation or you'll get the u joints out of sync and have horrible vibrations. Go over to the passenger side and remove the fitting for the trans dip stick. I had to heat this one up a little also to get it to free up. It probably had some type of loc tite on it. Now that everything is removed from the trans, it's time to pull her out. Take a long extension and impact wrench and remove all the upper bolts around the transmission to bellhousing flange. Leave two side bolts in temporarily. Go under and remove the bottom bolts, now you should have only two of the twelve bolts remaining. I slid the motorcycle jack under the pan with a small piece of plywood between them and put a little pressure with the jack. Slowly remove the last two bolts, making sure the trans stays level and doesn't put any stress on the torque converter. Slide it back until you can balance it on the front axle. Move the jack behind the front axle and side the trans onto the jack. Lower the jack and side out the transmission. Voila, you're 1/100th of the way there, lol.
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