velvet drive problems - denver trans shop?

[NYChaze]

Hey guys,

I have a 86 sunsport with a 351 and a velvet drive 71c. the trans took a dump on me july 4th...of course... I have a friend that is a mechanic and we took it apart ordered new clutches. Pump. Seals. And bearings. Put it back together and the boat would slip at 20mph. Called vince at skidid and he helped us trouble shoot. We put some seals in wrong I guess. We got itback together again and it work great for a hour then died again. Out of frustration and the fact that im moving to denver in a week I ordered a rebuit one that had been bench tested. Installed and again worked great for a hour then died....sequence of events : driving along at 3200rpm, noticed the engine was gettng hot. Stoped pulled the cover and all you could smell was burnt trans fluid. Drained and let cool added new and fluid. No change no forward reverse and no pressure when we pulled the reverse plug.

$2300 into it and I am still in the same position. Question - do you think the cooler killed me or a collapsed hose starving the trans causeing it to overheat? I am going to get a new cooler lines and take it to a shop.

Does anyone know a good shop in the denver area?

I feel sick to my stomach over this.....

[SuperSaltAir]

Man I don't know what to tell you about the trany but I just want you to know that working on these older boats sometimes things just go that way. I feel your pain on that I think I am running in to a similar problem and have just been avoiding it. All I can tell you is that unless you take your boat to someone that specializes in these older boats your going to end up paying someone else so they can learn on your boat, Im not cool with that and I would rather pay for me to learn so if I end up retaining some of the knowledge and use it at a later point. When i run in to a situation like that I step back try to educate myself read up on things then take it apart and try again and again and again. Maybe you should try rebuilding it yourself one more time before you give up on it the third time might be the charm and by now you should be able to take that trany out of the boat in less than an hr.

[NYChaze]

That's why I didn't take it to someone. Thought I could learn something in the process...we will see maybe I will try again today but I fear my clutches are burnt and will need new ones. If I can't get it I will atleast pull the trans and take it to a shop that way. Save me the labour on that. Got the pull time down to 32 min...real pro...:cool:

[bens250ex]

how much does it cost to rebuild yourself?

[lively]

nychaze- you deff want to check you engine temp first , should be around 160 to 180 , then check your cooler / raw water pick up / you want to make sure everything is clear from debris , and also i found out that they way that your cooler lays can cause this also ... make sure it lays horizontal w/ the boat and then check your fluid after its all warm ..

ben - kit runs like 157.00 on Ebay .. you have to press a couple bearings off and on and make sure the snapring to ring gear is at correct thickness