i am faced with the prospect of performing the intermediate gasket repair on my 4l30e GM hydramatic transmission, and was wondering about how long it would take to perform a full rebuild on the unit instead. i've never seen the inside of a automatic transmission, and am only somewhat mechanically inclined. i have the atsg book, as well as a basic overhaul kit (with some extra selective washers), and fear that i might have to replace one or two weird hard parts. i change the oil in this transmission every 3-6k miles, filter about every 40k miles or so.

on another note, getting my transmission out took every minute of 22 hours over three days, with someone helping me. 9 trips to advance auto parts, 3 trips to sears, and we already had a substantial number of tools. the person who replaced the engine in this car about 5 years ago attached the transmission to the engine outside of the vehicle, and used whatever fasteners he had in his odds and ends jar to couple them. 3 engine to bellhousing bolts were missing, 2 were not torx. two flexplate bolts were either 15 or 16mm, and one was 14, and had to be removed with a 1/4 inch drive wratchet/socket/extension for clearance purposes. several guibo bolts were hardware store deals with lugnuts to hold them on. i'll provide some see-it-to believe it pictures later.