[bobzdar]

I have the original '67 th400 from my 400 car sitting out in my garage, complete with fill tube and dipstick, let me know if measurements of that would help.

[East]

The dipstick (fill indicator) that I found was by comparing it to pictures. Do you have the same one?

Is also around 26 1/2 inches?

If not, I was prepared to make a mark on mine to where the pan surface compares to the fill indicator. It's about all I can do since I have what I have.

I appreciate all the help from you all. It's hard to only have pictures to work with. It's even harder to get under the car to install the parts. It seems like everything that I used to do in good time takes longer for me to complete now. I'm only 61 but I have noticed this for a while.

[East]

I pulled the pan to drain all of the transmission fluid since it has been constantly leaking. I want to reinstall the pan from scratch with new gasket.

I removed the th350 dipstick tube and cleaned up around flange. I had removed both cooling lines to give me more room to manipulate dipstick tube and see if mounting tab would line up to cylinder head correctly.

I get the dipstick tube into the transmission after fighting with the o-ring and every looks good.

I start moving the cooling lines to get them reattached and I am noticing that the upper cooling line is positioned behind the dipstick tube from my position laying on my back looking up.

I am studying the situation and thing that there is no room for me to get a wrench in position to tighten the line. I didn't attempt it, and removed the dipstick tube thinking i could get in reinserted after reattaching cooling line.

I have given up for the night to regroup.

I have removed the oil filter adapter, passenger valve cover, vacuum modulator, and air cleaner try to twist the dipstick into position while keeping it behind the upper cooler line.

I may revert to installing the dipstick first and fighting with the cooler line. I was thinking that i should attach the line first to avoid causing damage from installing blindly.

I have also been tossing around the idea of tilting engine and trans up or down to gain maneuvering space.

At this point I am whipped and with a headache.

[East]

I am going to install the dipstick tube first and get it fastened to the cylinder head where the tube bracket aligns perfectly with the bolt hole.

Someone mention in another post that it was imperative that the bracket aligns perfectly or the tube will be misaligned at the transmission and leak.

[East]

I probably had one of those originally and tossed it out to use a dangling rubber hose between the carb and vacuum modulator so it rests on the hot exhaust and dry rots to allow a vacuum leak. Or that it collects a coating of oil and dirt and decomposes.

It sure gets expensive having been young and dumb. Don't get me wrong. I changed a little: I'm only older now.

I figured that I could bend a hard line from NAPA by copying a picture from a vendor, and fasten it properly to the transmission.

I haven't been under the car for years, and I keep finding things to put back correctly. It feels good emptying that bin of leftover parts I ended up with from my youth.

[East]

I installed the dipstick tube into the transmission first, and then the upper cooler line. It took some time to tighten the upper coolant line because the amount of wrench turns allowed by the space available.

The lower coolant line was much easier to tighten.

I have to attach the the dipstick tube bracket tab to the cylinder head without distorting the angle of the lower tube going into the transmission.

The pictures that I posted were not of my transmission. I found them on the Internet when I was trying to locate the dipstick tube. I was using them as an example of how the dipstick is formed around all of the surrounding components. It's funny that the dipstick that I removed fit with one added bend. Too bad the bend kinked the tube.

I bought an o ring kit for the speedometer. I am going to try one member's suggestion to use two o rings on the vacuum modulator. The only other parts penetrating the transmission case are the detent shaft and the kick down connector.

I have to purchase a good pan gasket. I bought a tube of Permatex Automatic Transmission Gasket Maker. Should I just use the sealer without a gasket?

I have read many posts of members trying to pinpoint transmission leak. From looking at the pan, it looked as though it was at fault, but it was sealed really well. It was hard to remove. As others have stated, the fluid collects around the pan making it seem to be the leak.