Maserati has always been a small company. They didn’t have the resources to design and build tooling for the entire car and like many other small auto manufacturers utilized many off the shelf or OEM components.
The transmission in the Automatic versions of the QP3 is the (dare I say legendary) Chrysler Torqueflite A727. Designed by very talented engineers in the late 50’s and refined for decades. The standard choice for any heavy duty or high power application throughout the 60’s, 70’s 80’s and 90’s (although Chrysler had changed the naming convention by that time). Also the MOPAR standard for race cars, still loved and still out there winning.
Built to be bulletproof, simple, and reliable. Aside from a few minor details, it is.
As the vibrations in 3rd gear were really getting bad and winter was imminent with all it’s icy force, I decided to rent a spot in a workshop and overhaul my first transmission. Check back for pics outlining the gory details. It’s not yet back in the car, but that day isn’t far off (famous last words).
For those of you looking to work on one of these, regardless of what kind of vehicle it’s in, here are some excellent links for info:
The legendary torqueflite automatic transmission
http://www.allpar.com/mopar/transmis…-tom-hand.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzJhCBZ1wMY
A-727 Torqueflite Diagnosis Dial
We did actually get the tranny back in the car, and my son learned a lot, among other things how to use a torque wrench, how to organize work in stages, keep things clean (despite what the picture might indicate…it’s a rented garage!) and follow directions.
When I get some time I’ll put together a list with pictures outlining the entire process. All in all it was pretty simple.
Has anyone else overhauled their transmission? How did it go?
The transmission overhaul went much more smoothly than I had feared, and wasn’t really all that complicated. Thanks to the knowledgeable folks at TransTec for helping press in new bushings and giving advice along the way. Thanks are also due to AA Transmissions Australia (Peter is a great guy, check out his YouTube videos explaining the 727 overhaul in detail), SMR Motorsports Canada (Patrick) and MIE Corp., USA (Stuart/Kerry).
We got it back in the car in March. Had it not been for a few unforeseen setbacks, horrible winter weather in January and a February vacation, it would have been done a lot sooner.
I also installed the TransGo Shift Kit TF-2 (www.transgo.com) to give crisper shifts and improve transmission life.
When I get the time I’ll post a more detailed write up of the whole process, focusing especially on Maserati-specific details (of which there are few, the whole thing, including torque converter, are stock Mopar).
The car drives great with the new transmission!
I had my torqueflite overhauled and that shift kit added. The workshop said they also added a bolt somewhere in order to have a lock on the 3rd gear. Apparently Maserati decided not to have a lock on the 3rd. Can you confirm? Look forward to your detailed report!