While admittedly some have had success with the Felpro gasket I did not. I provided the felpro to the shop doing the pan swap and had weeping from the corners and a few side bolts. Re-verified the torque and still weeping from three locations. Dropped the pan again and installed the Duraprene gasket that came with the kit and no leak since. Note the Duraprene gasket is not the paper gasket that comes with some kits. As the metal pans have a raised bead running the center of the lip and around all bolt holes, in my view it can create difficulty to get a proper seal with a metal gasket where the silicone bead is well on the inside.

I suppose one advantage of my experience was I likely got 90% of the old fluid out between the initial 2 drain/fills and the unplanned 3rd.

 

My experience has been the opposite. I don’t use the factory torque spec though, as I don’t think it applies once you use a different pan, gasket. And bolts.

Unfortunately I’ve never verified what I torque the bolts too, it’s all feel. I use a small 1/4” drive ratchet with a 6” extension and a u joint socket, this helps to keep the torque down so I don’t break any bolts. My guess is adding a few turns would have stopped the leaks.

But if the Duraprene worked for you, that’s all that matters!

 

In my case I did go with the higher torque spec as recommended by ZF when using the metal pan. Believe it was 12nm in lieu of the standard 10nm. May have even given them a little more of a tweak than that closer to 14nm as per the Ford specs but as they are small bolts and threaded into aluminum did not want to risk stripping out a hole. Wish the Felpro had worked out for me would have saved a lot of shop time. I had even picked up a second Felpro gasket in case we had knackered the first but no signs of damage to it when we dropped the pan the second time so opted to try the Duraphene and it held.

Anyway glad that project is done, should be good for a while.

 

That works... unless the truck didn't have the correct level to begin with....
And with the correct amount of fluid it will come pouring out a lot more on a cold fill than a hot one, making it difficult to actually get the right amount in. The transmission/engine running and the hotter fluid lowers the fluid level in the pan.

 

Thats why i said you check the level when up to the required temp but you can drain and fill it cold so no issue of hot fluid burning you.

 

The difference is SFA and is corrected when you check the level, its really not that hard.

 

So after checking about 20 LR/euro/transmission shops with no avail, I called my independent shop and they agreed to look at the car for the conversion. They quoted me $550 max labor with me supplying the parts/fluid from Atlantic British. I’m going that route. This is a high volume mechanic owned shop and one of the mechanics specializes in transmission work.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

 

How do you check for proper level? Is fluid supposed to dribble out of the fill hole with the engine running after you have gone through PRND selections?

 

Basically, yes. Small stream at 40ºC (105ºF).

 

…..and this is why I’m going to pay someone else with a lift to do this. I have zero desire to be under a hot car on stands in a driveway trying to put a fill plug in a hole with fluid coming out in a tiny space.