<VV> 4-speed Tranny Sludge

[robynwood at thelearningpark.com]

Happy New Year to you all,

            

            Have had time in the last few days to finally start putting my
'63 back together again and have been fixing a lot of corroded/broken/frayed
wiring (just about everything that I touched during the engine removal..)  I
found a wire/end laying loose on the ground and found that it had come from
the reverse backup switch.  I removed the switch to see if I could repair it
(PO had soldered wires directly to the base of the contacts, there are no
blades present on the switch.)  After pulling the switch off, I noticed a
lot of sludge on the end.  Decided to pull the drain plug and finish
emptying it out only to find that at about the half empty range the flow
about stopped.  I could see what appeared to be something blocking the
opening, so I probed with a screwdriver and "scooped" a bunch of this sludgy
stuff out, allowing the rest of the fluid to drain.  Now my question is,
should I flush the tranny out with something before filling it again?  The
car went through the gears fine to begin with, (dropped the powertrain to do
a clutch job.)  Don't want to cause any further teardown issues, so going
too far into the tranny is out for now..  I believe I have a gasket for the
side cover if I need to open it up.  Just wanted some opinions on if I
should leave it alone and fill it back up, or use something to flush it out
with.  Additionally, what should the fluid be that goes back in?
(conventional or synthetic?)

 

Thanks,

Robyn Wood

 

'63 Spyder Vert (almost mobile again)

'62 Rampside (patiently waiting it's turn.)