I got the starter from RockAuto last week, and the weather turned nice, but my motivation was shot and I had to finish sorting the Explorer my sister-in-law inherited. I got the gear reduction starter installed yesterday afternoon, (Doh! I mixed up permanent magnet and PMGR a couple posts ago) but had to run and get transmission fluid.
Today I went out and filled the transmission until I got a reasonable amount on the dipstick. I started it, shut it down, checked it, and refilled again. Once it quit disappearing off the dipstick, I kept the truck running and kept adding fluid until I got a steady amount at idle. It took about 4.5 quarts to top the transmission off, which is about right considering it's a fresh rebuild.
I took it for a test drive/TV cable adjustment run and got it shifting 1-2 at 18 mph and 2-3 at 32 mph. I'll cruise it for the next 500 miles until I'm pretty sure it's broke in and running good before I hammer it. So far it's already slipping less than the junkyard transmission.
Now I need to get the Explorer's 5R55E transmission (C3 derivative) topped off, which is supposed to require crawling under it while the transmission's running at 160°F and adding fluid through the drain plug. Utter stupidity. I had to do the same process on my Mustang's 5R55S, and guess what? I followed the instructions to a T and still ended up low on fluid. I think I'm just going to add half a pint of fluid and see if that fixes the delayed shifting. Then I need to bleed the brakes.
Once that's done I can pull the Mustang into the shop and replace the inner tie rod ends, rebuild the rearend, and reset the HVAC positions. It has 190k on it, and that's all that's wrong with it, so I'm not upset.
But, ugh. I'm tired of the tedious stuff and want to get back to the fun stuff, like wiring the Jaggernaut and rebuilding Roscoe.