Banshee365

Yes, it came in today, The clearance is tightened up quite a bit but it's still in the high end if it's in spec. There is drag with the top spec of feeler gauges in there, so it's probably good now. I don't have much choice anyway as this is the thickest pressure plate out there for it. The Lexus parts diagrams actually show the one I had as the thickest, although the shop manual showed 2 more thicker ones than I had. I had to look under a 2005 Tundra parts tree to find the 5.2mm pressure plate. They use the same trans and for whatever reason showed the thicker plate. The brand new frictions are a thou or two thinner than even my 230k mile discs that came out. This also fattens up the clearance obviously.

I'm happy with the clearances so far now and the only questionable one that I haven't been able to check yet is the OD brake pack. That goes in just behind the pump.

The parts place I used swore up and down that 10-20 thousandths out of spec if just fine but I just really wanted to follow what the book says. They were trying to tell me some rule of thumb clearance per friction disc or something which yielded a spec WAY higher than what the book says. I feel the overhaul is really going excellent so far and hope it continues to look well.

I'm currently disassembling, cleaning, and reassembling the valve body. There is an absolutely insane amount of parts in the 2 halves... It's pretty unreal. The shop manual is so good that I have no problem reassembling perfectly so far. They give spring and retainer dimensions and locations as well as great exploded views. It seems that throwing the VB back in an overhauled trans without tearing it apart to clean would be abad idea, but I bet many shops do it.

I'm also thinking about taking the radiator to a trans shop while I'm swapping units to hook it up to a flush machine and agitated flush the trans cooler side. The junkyard trans turns any new fluid instantly medium brown after a short amount of driving. I would hate to mix ANY of that with the pristine overhaul. I could probably remove the magnefine in-line filter from the cooler return as well if I were to do that.

dicer

A small bit of advice, its a been there done that deal. If it was shifting okay before, do not put the springs in spec.

Your right about the shops and VB, its just a quick clean deal, they cut all the corners they can.
How old is the radiator? Maybe just replace it. If not let them do a flush.

Banshee365

If by put the springs in spec you mean stretch them, then no. I know better than to do that! I had contemplated trying to source a new spring. But, after cross checking my shop manuals with parts diagrams I may have found my answer. I was concerned that the spring had lost is sprung a bit as the retained just falls without as there is no tension on it. The shop manual specific to the 1UZ-FE say's that 3 spring lengths could be installed (orange, light green, and yellow.) They are all a few dozen thousandths over an inch. My spring measures just under an inch, and has no paint or any trace of there being any. The parts diagram shows light green, orange, and no paint. The parts list also shows the one with no paint to be 25.38mm which is just under and inch and exactly what mine measures.

You have to cross reference lots of stuff to make sure you're doing the right thing with these things... The spring in question is the 2nd coast modulator valve if you were wondering.

The radiator is original as far as I know. It's held up great. I'll price the flush and compare it to a new HIGH QUALITY radiator.

Edit: Well, the radiator is a no brainer based on what I found. The OE radiator from the cheapest OEM parts place I can find is over $300. But the same one under the Denso name can be had for $65... I'd bet they're most likely the exact same part, if so flushing the old 240k mile one would be insane.

Banshee365

The car now drives fantastic. Firm engagement from neutral in both directions. I may disassemble the old trans to see the failure. It had reverse but no forward gears so I guess the fwd direct clutch are at least smoked.

I swapped the trans and replaced the radiator with a new Denso model. It fit perfectly and was identical to the original. I flushed the metal cooler lines with hose water then blew the moisture out as well as letting them sit in the heat for a few hours before installation. This way the everything that touches the ATF is spotless clean. I installed the torque converter dry and the system took 9 quarts from 100% dry to fill.

I'm very happy with the job and enjoyed it very much. I could do the next one much faster.

dicer

I would always pour some fluid in the torque converter before installing it. Its less fluid to pump in before the lubrication starts. Did you get a rebuild converter?

Banshee365

Yes, overhauled converter. I thought a while about prefilling or installing it dry. The pump pumps pretty fast, the pump also gets fluid instantly as it's filling the converter. There isn't very much turning when the trans is in park/neutral. The converter on this trans is fairly difficult to install and prefilling it would be messy and waste a good amount of fluid. I started the car for 5-10 seconds then shut it off to refill the pan. I smothered all of the bearings and races in ATF thoroughly during install so if they ran without pressure for 10 seconds or so I could see much happening. It's sort of like prefilling or not prefilling engine oil filters on oil changes.

dicer

Its best to use trans assembly lube on bearings and such especially if the unit sits for any length of time after the rebuild. And yeah sometimes a difficult converter is best with only a cup or so of fluid added.

Banshee365

There was petroleum jelly on the races and bearings as well as the ATF. The PT helped keep the bearings and races in place during assembly as well as keep the ATF mixed in with it. Trans assembly lube is pretty much that anyway it seems, thick tacky ATF.