Ultramatic Mystery

Posted by Reyman R. Branting On 2013/4/26 23:34:45

My 56 Patrician's Ultramatic has just undergone a rebuild. The "wavy washer" had disintegrated, so Mike Dulinski supplied a replacement torque converter. The clutch pack had too much end play, so an additional clutch plate was installed. New gaskets were installed and we're back in business --except that the transmission pan interferes with the lever coming down from the shifter shaft. The nomenclature may be off, but I hope you can understand the problem.

The pan looks as if someone had attempted to put a bubble in the bottom with a ball peen hammer to give necessary clearance. There may have been two pan gaskets also to lower it.

The car shifted very reluctantly when I bought it. It almost refused to go into gear if parked on even a very slight slope. It might be necessary to push the buttons for 10 minutes to get the shifter to work.

Has anyone ever encountered this situation before? We're going to put two rubber/cork pan gaskets on and hope for the best, but there must be an explanation and a better way. Any help will be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Bernardi