Th350 experts needed....help!!!

Hey Don; When I was a kid and first started working On my big block Dodges.
I had installed a converter in a torque flight 727, Not knowing much I didn't seat the converter right. Well to make a long story short I mess it up good and when I started that big 440 magnum it tried to engage and broke the pump shaft. My father had a office in the front of our house and he was not happy to see the tranny fluid running down the drive, probably about 12qts. HE! HE! HE! Live and learn right!!!
I hope everything works out for you and Dan.
Kurt

Hehe, Parents seem to take a dim view of stuff like that, don't they, Kurt? :LOL: Yep, I'm learning more about automatic transmissions than I wanted to know. Dan was saying he sees guys buy some 200,000 mile junkyard transmission, bolt it in, and it runs fine. He has one built, puts a B and M convertor and flexplate in front of it, and has problems. :(

I think the biggest problem is that he has just been building it for too many years with no end in sight. It is just time to wrap up this build so he can start doing some actual driving, instead of spending every minute and dollar on a car that just sits. I know how he feels, it gets old after a while.

Don

Well it won't be long now. You guys will be rolling down the highway together. Hope its somthing real simple.

Tell Dan not to forget to take the camera on his first ride. I like seeing the expresion
on peoples faces when a hot rod rolls up. And you guys are gonna turn alot of heads with that thing, once it's rolling. Roll by the beach will ya, I like the looks on the bikinis
best. HE! HE! HE!
Kurt

Yep Charlie, I think we are getting there. :)

Kurt, everytime I go to the beach I look for that same girl who modeled in my 23, but haven't seen her around. Maybe I shouldn't run into her, she may want a modeling fee this time. :eek::D

Today we got Dan's rear center section removed and packed up to go back to the guy in Pennsylvania who built it. We installed the replacement unit he sent and got a bunch of other stuff done. At this point Dan's steering is completely done, his brakes only need two lines hooked up once the body is back on, and Monday I will take the trans to the shop to have it checked out. So it looks promising that we might still be on schedule to make Billetproof. One thing for sure, we are going to fire the engine and make sure all the gears engage BEFORE the body goes on this time. :)

Only picture I have today is of the new center section installed after Dan got it painted.

Don

I'm curious Pops, are you guys using flex or rigid to transition the plumbing from body to chassis?

Bob, if you are referring to the brake lines, he is using braided lines that flex. He found some company that makes up braided lines in black tubing and had them make up 6 lines for him.........2 for the front wheels, 2 for the rear, and 2 that go from the MC under the dash to fittings on the frame. The rest of the frame is plumbed with rigid stainless steel lines.

We also installed something I had never seen before, one man bleeders on the wheel cylinders. They are like regular bleeders, but with a check valve built in. To bleed the brakes you just crack them 1/4 turn and start pumping the pedal. No need to keep shutting off the bleeder each time you do one or two pedal pumps, like you normally do, and no need for a second guy......one on the pedal and one on the wheel.

Don

Those look like some realy tall nuts to fit around a 9" or isn't that a 9"

Yeah, it is a 9 inch and the bolts are the ones Curry supplied with the rear housing. They are those bolts that have no threads on the end, just a tapered section to help you guide the nuts and center section on. They clear all around, even on the bottom two where you need to use a box end wrench instead of a socket.

The center section was built buy a guy in Pa who only builds 8 and 9 inch rears. The first one was a 4:00 ratio and as soon as we put in gear lube it started to drip out of the seal behind the yoke. He figures the seal might have been damaged when he installed it. We pulled just the yoke end off and sent it USPO to him 2 weeks ago but it never arrived, so since we have a time crunch, we had him send us a whole new center section, but this time we decided to go with 4:11's (I think Dan wants as much advantage when we line up at the Billetproof Drags as possible :LOL:) .

I just got an email from the guy that the Post Office finally found the part we sent and now I have the rest of the center section boxed up to return to him too. Lesson learned.......NEVER use the post office to send stuff again. Glad I insured it.

Don

I just got an email from the guy that the Post Office finally found the part we sent and now I have the rest of the center section boxed up to return to him too. Lesson learned.......NEVER use the post office to send stuff again. Glad I insured it.

Don[/QUOTE]

I ordered a hat for a Ham fest a couple years ago the guy said he sent it USPS.. 3 mo. later the USPS said the found it . When I got it it looked like it was under a truck tire .. But I've gotten stuff from UPS busted too. I think FedEX is the only one with a 100 per cent record here. HAHAHA

That's about par for the course, Charlie. :LOL: I was trying to not only save a few bucks on shipping, but get it there fast too. FedEx and UPS wanted about $ 106.00 for second day. Went to the post office to see about Priority Mail. Lady there said it would cost $ 98.00 for next day but only $ 36.00 and it would be there Wednesday (This was Monday) I figured it was fine, but insured it for $ 400 just so we could track it. When it hadn't arrived by Thursday I called the main PO phone number and they said it wasn't showing up in thier system and I couldn't "track" it until April 7th, that is when I would put in my claim. At that point they would launch an official search! :eek:

So we just had the guy in Pa send us a whole new unit with the agreement that if the other one showed up he would not charge us for the second one. It looks like we are not going to have to go through being charged or having to put a claim in because he now says they sent him a notice they have it. Now I just have to send the rear portion of the center section to Pa, and you can bet it will be going UPS.

I bought into the USPO advertising that they have this flat rate deal and get it there quickly. No wonder they are in trouble.

Don

Transmission shop just called, Dan's transmission is fixed! :D He said everything looked good, but the front pump was wiped out. One of the tangs broke off and jammed up the gears in it. Looks like we didn't have the torque convertor installed deep enough would be my guess. Going to shim it up this time and make sure it's seated.

They treated us pretty fair, the bill was only $ 200, I was expecting more. So, it looks like tonight we can start putting it back in, and we are definitely going to run it through the gears BEFORE the body goes back on. :D

Don

Starting to look like you'll be going away for a few days:3dSMILE::3dSMILE::3dSMILE:

I sure hope so, Charlie.:) I just picked it up and spoke to the tech who worked on it. He said everything looks fine but the pump had been broken, probably as we suspected, from us not seating it all the way before firing the motor. I was pretty impressed with the service, the pump was about $ 140 and the labor was only $ 45, so they didn't rip us I don't think.

Maybe tonight, if Dan gets home from work early enough, we can start putting it back in.

Don

Last night Dan and I just didn't have the energy to want to work on his car, so we took the night off. Tonight we did go over and dug into getting the transmission out of my trunk and into his car. We spent a whole lot of time making sure the convertor was seated all the way in this time, and that it stayed in place until the transmission slid home. We shimmed up the TC to flexplate with 2 grade 8 flat washers per bolt, which gave us just a tad of clearance, like Mondello told me to do. I feel really good that we did it right this time.

We also wrapped up putting the rear end back together. We put in some longer wheel studs while we were at it so that some threads are now protruding out of the lug nuts. Should make the Techs at the drag strip happy. :D

This little setback wasn't all bad. It gave us a chance to do all the little things that are so much easier with the body off, like looming wires and stuff like that. We also got his radiator overflow tank mounted and installed a second new Lokar dipstick for the transmission. This one works as it should, and is easy to get the dipstick released. There was something wrong with the first one because you couldn't release the dipstick no matter how hard you tugged on it. I'll use the first one in my rpu because I will use the long braided dipstick tube Lokar sells, and will never have to release it at that junction.

Barring any unforseen issues we should still be on track for weekend after next at Billetproof. I don't want to jinx us, but I really hope we can make it in time.

Next time I post a picture it might be of the rear wheels turning on their own! :D:D

Don

Like I told you Don, I did the same thing with one of my Torque flight trany's.
And I like you took it to a second party to get it fixed because I was not sure if I had done something wrong at the time. The Guys at Cal Nevada Transmissions did a great job fixing it, then installed it for free and showed yours trulley how to make sure my coverter was seated right. then showed me how to set up my mechanical shift linkage.
I think they charged me $200 bucks of course that was 30 years ago now.
I hope all goes smooth this time with your install.

Great news, Don! Made my morning coffee a little better, reading that it was just the front pump, and that they treated you right. That's one of those shops that you remember for many years, and mention to others when they have problems and are looking for an honest place to take their car. ;)

When installing my TC to the T400 I was told that when sliding in, and making sure the pump pins were aligned, I would hear a "clank" and the converter would be all the way against the bellhousing. Leave it that way and install on the engine. Then move it up and bolt to the flex plate. No problems.

Thanks guys. Yep Kurt, this shop only charged me under $ 200 too, which I thought was very fair, and they spent time showing me how to install the TC correctly.

Roger, I did some internet checking on several shops in the area and chose this one because they had 6 customers review them and all said good things. The one down the street was just the opposite, 2 people said stay away and one was suing them! :eek: I know feedback can be skewed, but in this case it steered me to the one I chose. There was another one in town that I used to recommend to all my friends but they screwed one over and that was the end for them.

sfort, that clicking was what they told me too. As you spin the convertor while pushing it in you will get 3 distinct clicks if it is seating correctly, and each time it drops in a little deeper. As I was intalling it this time I got exactly that and could tell it was all the way in. We used a bungee cord to keep it in place while we mated it to the engine so it wouldn't slide forward, and at the end we shimmed it with the washers to get the correct clearance. I think we are ok this time.

When Dan got home late from work last night he was too tired to go to the shop, so we decided to just go tonight when he gets home. He normally has Friday and Saturday off, but this week he is off Saturday and Sunday. Tonight we should be able to get the body back on and some stuff like the driveshaft in so that we can try starting the engine and shifting gears Saturday.

We talked it over and decided to not try the trans before the body goes on. It is too much of a hassle to jury rig some wiring as all the real wiring is inside the body. Plus, as Dan said, if there is still a problem it kills him going to Billetproof anyway, so it won't matter if the body is on or off. But I have a good feeling this time.:)

Might have a video of the first drive to post when we get home Saturday night (actually Sunday morning :D)

Don

Kool!!! Can't wait.

Kurt, how is your upcoming move coming along?


Don

I don't know if you can see me grinning through the computer screen, but I am!!!!! :D Tonight we got the body back on, the driveshaft in place, the carpeting installed, and the cooling system reconnected. This is the first time the driveshaft has ever been in the car in the whole time Dan has been building it, so it was cause for celebration. :D

Tomorrow we need to fill the rear with gear oil, the transmission with more fluid, the radiator with antifreeze, hook up the wiring again (it all just plugs in) , the steering back in, the brakes bled, and some other minor stuff and then we can push it outside to see if it will move under it's own power. Needless to say, Dan is on cloud nine and relieved that everything is going together so well, and all that pain and expense over the past 4-5 years is starting to be forgotten.

Hopefully, tomorrow night we will have a YouTube to post. :D:D

Don

Thats great to hear it's all comming together after so much time and expence.
The Move Huh!!! Well I would like to sayit's going well but 25 years of stuff, it's hard to decide whats going with me and whats just going, if you know what I mean.
Hopefully Mike's son is comming down from Tenn. to pick up this matel lathe.
I have had people calling for parts of it, but no buyers for the whole thing.
I'd rather give it to a freind from club hot rod then to part it out, atleast then I know it will be used for a good cause, like building hot rods. I'll have to give Mike 52 a call tomarrow to see if they still want it. I'd like to see them add it to thier future shop.
Then I'll be able to start really digging in and getting stuff packed in the shop.

Moving is one of the worst things in the world! :eek: It's amazing what stuff we can accumulate and we don't realize it until we start packing it up. As for that lathe, they are a very special item and you have to find that one special person who wants it. I've seen yours and it's really a very good one and built like a battleship (which it probably came off of). Hope it goes to a good home.

I'm still trying to wake up, didn't get in until 3:30 but couldn't fall asleep until almost 6 am. Guess I was too wired.

I was also a little PO'd because I got an email yesterday from the guy who built Dan's 9 inch Trackloc and mine as well. Dan's leaked right out of the box and mine started dripping after about 300 miles. We sent the old unit back to him and he says after checking it out the dripping was caused by us "overfilling" the rear! :mad: My email back to him was a little "pointed" and I told him that was BS. We filled both rears just until the gear oil started to ooze out, and the cars were dead level when we filled them.

When we bought these units about 4 years ago the one thing he stressed on the phone was that our warranty begins when we put the car in service because he knows that just because you buy a unit today you might not get it running for a long time. I have to admit he did stand behind that portion, however him trying to lay this off on us is pure BS. He said this whole thing was a "waste of time and money" but we were the ones who laid out all the money and time! We paid $ 100 shipping to get the replacement rear here, $36 to get the front section sent to him then another $ 54 to ship the rear portion to him. That's about $ 200 in shipping plus our time to pull it, box it, ship it, and install the new one. Not to mention the 2 quarts of gear oil we lost.

I won't go through him to fix the dripping one in my 27 but will find a local guy to fix it. That should also be cheaper than all the freight involved.

Don

Dripping 9 er eh????can you tell where its coming from???
There are some gaskets that don't fit the housings good but a common drip /leak area is thru the splines of the pinion---a dab of rite stuf behind pinion nut usually will fix that--
other areas---if the pinion preload is loose the pinion cna have more wobble/run out thab the seal will handle.

Jerry, both are leaking in exactly the same place, right from that seal that is in the front of the snout, right behind that deflector disc behind the yoke. (Not sure what that deflector plate is called, but it is the somewhat cup shaped tin plate behind the yoke). Gear oil runs right down that seal. Dans rear has never moved an inch yet and mine started dripping after 300 miles.

What really upset me was his email, which he even capitalized:


DON THIS HAS BEEN A BIG WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY . I GOT THE BOX TODAY THEN CHECKED IT ALL OUT . THE LEAKING WAS UP THE THREAD OF THE PINION BETWEEN THE NUT AND THE SPLINE . IT CAN ONLY DO THAT IF OVERFILLED .I HAVE HADE THE PROBLEM BEFOR AND CHANGED TO NUTS WITH SEALER ON THE THREAD . I REPEAT IT CAN ONLY HAPPEN IF OVERFILLED BEFOR THE SEAL IS SEATED DURING USE WHICH THIS UNIT NEVER GOT USED . T.J.


I sure hope the replacement he sent for Dan's car doesn't leak too. :mad:

Don

Wheels turn...........film at 11. :D


Got everything bolted up last night (late) and fired up the engine while on jackstands. All the gears work as they should and the new rear seems to not have any leaks. By the time we got the brakes bled, steering back in, etc it was too late and we were too tired for a test ride, but that will happen today.

To say we are relieved and that Dan is happy are understatements.


Don

Yaaaaaayyyy!!!!!!!!!!!

Good deal Now you can take it easy for a day or two lol

Well, we've got at least one more hard day to put in, that would be today. Still have to prep and paint the grille shell, put in his interior, and stuff like that, but after that I am taking up Olympic Napping on the Couch with cats, and Senior Citizen Crossword Puzzle tournaments. :D There isn't a bone in my body that doesn't hurt today. After this I don't even want to see a car project for quite a while.

But the lesson here was, even though the problems seemed so bleak a week or so ago, once you roll up you sleeves and just dig in, they really aren't all that bad. :)

Don

Don't forget the camera on the first ride or better yet the cam corder.
And drive really slow past them beaches PLEASE!!!
Kurt

Well, we didn't make it to the beach, but the parking lot in front of our shop has a zillion double black stripes about 100 feet long! :eek::D Today Dan got to drive his car for the first time and he wasn't shy about putting his foot in it. He let me take it for a pass and IT HAULS! :eek: You can only stay in it for so long as it starts getting out of shape but it would literally burn the tires as long as you kept your foot in it.

We took it for a few mile ride around the industrial park and it rides and handles really well for a non dialed in car. There is no roughness to the ride and it tracks straight.

I did a couple of videos but we just got in (2 AM) and Dan has to work tomorrow AM so he doesn't have time to do a YouTube, but we will. He looks like a kid a Christmas, and I am so very happy for him and proud of all the hard work he put in for so many years. The pain of all that seems to be going away from him now.

We still have a few nights work ahead to finish up some stuff like the grille shell and little things, but Billetproof looks very possible right now.

Don

HE! HE! HE! Glad to hear all is going good for you two now.
I hate when someone builds a motor and then don't have the balls to get on it once in a while. Glad to hear either one of you guys don't have that problem, I mean heck what is the sence of building a hard pulling motor and then never having fun with it.
I hope all your hard work brings you guys years and years of fun with it.
May the car Gods smile down on you two.
Kurt

Better call Coker and get another pair of 'stones on the way.:D

Congrats Danny, been a long road, but here you be....

YEP, I saw it with my own eyes and Dan even let me slip behind the wheel for a spin around the block near our shop. To say this thing is powerful is a major understatement It looks and sounds awesome and Dan deserves it to be sure. WooHOO. Now I have to figure out how to get a 460 Ford in my T to keep up :D:D
Awesome Dan,
Don Jr.

Congrats to all of you! Wish I was closer to FL so I could see this one!

I stopped by the shop this morning and the tire tracks look even scarier in the daylight.........hope our landlord doesn't get PO'd! :eek:

Don

Thanks guys, we appreciate the nice words.

Bob, actually, what Dan was doing was shaving the bias plies to make them more round. :LOL: If he had any worries about them being flat from sitting so long, at least the back ones are well taken care of now! :eek:

Since we are running out of time and still have some stuff to do, this morning I dropped his grille shell off at the body shop that painted Don's T and my 23 so they can be painting it while we are doing other stuff. They have always been very accomodating to us and I promised them that some day I'll bring them a job where we are not under the gun. :o

Took some pictures of the interior, which Dan finished up last night. I think it came out great, and it is surprisingly comfortable once you get in.

Don

looks like you need another 1/2 psi in the right rear!!!!!!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jerry clayton

looks like you need another 1/2 psi in the right rear!!!!!!!

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:LOL::LOL: I noticed that too. Could have also been my fat butt in the passenger seat. :o

Don