Checking trans level

Many years ago Bob McEwan, Norman Arbour and Doug Johnson did this modification to there trans cover. I decided while restoring my Phaeton 2167H that I was not going to add this modification to my cover,got to keep it original. So I thought about it a while back in 1972 and came up with trying to see if my engine dipstick will work. I filled my trans with oil for the first time on level ground with a felt seal at the top just under that permanent cupped metal washer on an original cad plated dipstick. My car which had a show engine with an aluminum pan, the oil level came up to the same mark on the dipstick as the engine oil level. Why bother to remove the trans cover and do the modification. We need to make things simple, we all know that a Cord is not simple. When you have fondled all ten thousand pieces of a Cord in restoration you know as Doug Johnson would say "Your whipped". PS: Cars that have external pipes and trying to check the oil level when hot you run the risk of burning your arm, so maybe a dipstick mounted on the trans cover is not so bad in this case.

Hi,

Was the article and/or instructions ever printed in the Newsletter? If so, it should be on the Disk.

--Tom

Jim & Mike - we have sold out of the copies I was given a year ago (only 4). If there is a stash of more somewhere I would love to know about it. I did hold 1 in reserve for duplication but haven't pursued that yet.

If there is a box somewhere at our office or elsewhere I'd love to know about it.

Justin

The dip stick modification people are talking about is drilling a hole in the transmission cover, adding a ferrel and making a dip stick out of a 3/16" rod. If anyone needs the info send me an email and I will scan the page and email it to you.

Better yet buy the manual, last I checked there were still quite a few left in the Club's inventory. There is a lot of good information in the booklet beside the information on rebuilding a trans. It's also a great resource to keep in the car just in case.

Mike - the last time I checked the club still had a lot of the transmission manuals left. If and when it comes time to reprint the book there are a few small errors in it that need to be corrected.

I think the Club has sold out of these Trans. Manuals.
CORDially Mike

Josh; Thanks for locating the Dipstick Modification. I have that Transmission Manual and would be glad to copy dipstick modification and supply same to other members. I believe the mod could be made without taking the transmission out of the car.
Al Light

This modification was designed by Ed Miller in the 1960s. Instructions to make it appeared in the "Cord Model 810-Model 812 Transmission Manual" This booklet was written by A.S. (Sid) Ayers in 1984, and printed by the ACD Club.

I do not know if either the club or the ACD Automobile Museum has reprinted these. Excellent guide to rebuilding the Cord transmission.

Several years ago while having the transmission out of my 810 I installed an independent dip stick at the passenger side of the transmission cover per instructions listing the location and dipstick construction Unfortunately I cannot locate these instructions. Certainly some other Cord owners can supply these instructions? I have driven my Cord for the past 25 years including a cross country trip and used this dipstick to check level at each engine oil check. Anyone interested can see this modification on my car at the 2011 Hoosier Tour or during 2011 Auburn.
Al Light

Thanks everyone for all the feed back on this. It all makes sense. I will scribe my own line for my matching dipstick & drive train. I guess there is never an easy way out with these cars.
On another note, I am happy to say that I found the source of my horrible oil leak which we experienced on our first "long" distance, Club drive. Seems my clutch linkage was violating my after-market, spin-on oil filter! It wore a slight crack in the filter.
I have since ground down the offending linkage, and replaced the filter. We went even further the next trip, and all is well.................well, in that department anyway.
Thanks again, RF.

The reason you cannot use a standard measure for where on the dipstick your "full" mark will fall is because dipsticks have different "working" lengths. The dipstick should have several felt washers under the steel cupped washer at the top. These were intended as a seal, but also affect how far it drops. Different sticks have different numbers or thicknesses of felt; some have none at all.

So you gotta check your own stick and your own tranny.

This is my thought, Aluminum or steel, Drain the old oil from the trans replace both pugs differential and trans case. Add 140 trans oil none foaming of coarse on level ground as Josh recomends. Put your engine dip stick through the top front oil plug, if by some chance it doesn't coincides with the full line on your stick just scribe a new line that will be your reference point for future reference.

The most accurate way to do this is to stand the car on a level floor. Remove the level-checking plug on the left side of the transmission. Peer in with a small flashlight. If the lube level is even with the bottom of the plug hole, move on to the next step. If not, add lubricant until it is.

Now drop the engine oil dipstick. wiped clean, into the transmission fill hole. This takes a little practice. If it hangs up on the shift rails and you have to push it in, it is not in the right position. It should drop cleanly and completely. Check the lube level on the dipstick, and make a punch mark or scribe to mark the level. That's what you check with in the future.

7-1/2"; Std.'36

Thanks Tom,
But I have a feeling that my dip stick is different than most, as I have the aluminum oil pan. So I'm wondering if this is still the same method. Perhaps I should be asking what the length of a regular, steel oil-panned dip stick is from the flange to the tip?
Thanks, RF.

I check mine the way Gail Shaw told me. I take the filler plug out of the transmission, pull the engine dip stick out and put it in the filler hole till it bottoms on the transmission case. I pull it out and if it is at the fill level for the engine oil it is okay. If not, I add more oil.

I understand that one can check the trans level by using the engine oil dipstick in the filler hole on the side of the case. I imagine the trans oil level should be right to the bottom of the side plug, just below the filler hole?
I have an aluminum oil pan, and hence a different engine oil dipstick than usual, so am looking for a quick method of trans oil checking. My combination may not be correct for this method of checking. I can visually see the trans oil level with a flash light, though the filler. Should it be up to the bottom of the side plug (level plug?). I'm smelling gear oil on some extreme up-hill accelerations, and don't want to be over filled, although I imagine that is much better than being underfilled!
Many Thanks, RF.