rebuilding transmission filter

["Walter" <Whalt@xxxx>]

I rebuilt my transmission filter like David Teitelbaum said to do and it
went great. The hardest part was keeping the flattened copper pipe from
working loose as I was putting it on. I used a Dremmel tool with a small
cutting bit to slit the copper pipe. This was a bit more of a job than the
tool was meant to handle, so I divided it up into 4 cutting sessions so that
it wouldn't over heat too much. I soldered the ends of the pipe together
using a 250 Watt soldering gun meant for electronics. A better choice may
have been oxy/acetleyne, but I didn't feel like dragging the tanks out or
getting the brass screen too hot.

One step David didn't mention is that you will have to drill out the 3 bolt
holes as these are crimped around also.

I cleaned the screen with a disc brake type degreaser. It worked great. I
used a magnet and my fingernail to get a few stubborn metal flakes out of
it. Be aware that tri-chloro-ethane is VERY poisonous to breath.

When you are done, be sure to put the magnet back on the filter in the same
place. At 12,600 miles, my filter magnet had way more than twice the amount
of particles stuck to it than was stuck in the brass screen inside the
filter. In fact, the magnet didn't look like it had any more room for
particles to stick to it, but the pan had no residue to speak of other than
a thin film of gray that wiped out with a paper towel. I went to Radio
Shack and bought a 2 pack of high energy rare earth magnets. I put both of
these on other spots of the filter keeping them out of the way of the inlet
port. I would have stuck some magnets in the pan, but I bought the only
pack they had on the shelf.

I have seen old posts on the DML that some people had the opinion that the
Delorean automatic transmission would last longer without a filter. Based
solely on my observations from rebuilding my filter, I disagree. Besides
the magnet appearing to be saturated, the brass screen inside had very
little debris outlining one corner. The screen appears to offer little
resistance to fuild flow. If you decide to run it without a filter, at the
very least put some magnets around there. They pick up more than the
filter.