Never heard of a "budget build" but if anybody offered my one I would know immediately that they were shady. I'll stick by my previous post that it makes no sense to go through the trouble of opening up a tranny and not at least replacing all the soft parts that come in the basic rebuild kit which would include the front band and clutches. If you're gonna open one up, you should be prepared to replace anything you find wrong, otherwise you might as well take your chances at a " pick n pull" junkyard.
The band in a C4 don't have to be an old one to brake the ear off , My wife had a new 1982 mustang with a C5 that had the ear brake off when it only had 6000 kilometres on it, since that I have seen broken bands many times!
There are guys that will disassemble and only replace what is needed then there are guys that charge for every piece the a they can sell you! These guys don't nessasaryly replace every thing that is listed on the parts list they just charge for them! My buddy worked at a shop that had a scuttled box of tranny parts that he showed to every body that came in with that kind of tranny!
I hear ya. That's why I don't let anybody work on my car. I rebuilt mine this past winter. It was my first rebuild and honestly the hardest part for me, was all the work involved removing, cleaning and reinstalling it. Laying on a creeper at 58 years old ain't getting any easier. Once it was on the bench it really went pretty smooth. It just made sense to spend a few extra bucks on parts (like all the bushings) even if they were within specs, while I was there.
If you don't disassemble the packs it saves the hassle of having to shin them for clearance, The clutch pack shimming is important but is were some people make a mistake that causes the packs to slip or leak!
Without disassembly, what were you looking for to determine they looked fine? Please explain a clutch pack leak...
The clutch packs are loaded by oil pressure if the packs have to much clearance they can travel to far causing oil to bypass this will cause a flair when shifting! Recommended clearance should be between 0.007" to 0.010 for each clutch disc in the pack 4 discs would max 0.040 6 disc would be max 0.060! Less clearance will turn harder but will slip less! If clutches are within tolerance they will have little wear and don't need to be disassembled!
