TH350 about to go in Dustins El Camino?

[Stovebolter]

I'm a little hesitant to ask because I know there are so many variables. But here goes.

We've been restoring Dustin's El Camino now for 4 years and it is finally done. It has been started occasionally through out the year to move it out of the shop. Now all of a sudden it started acting up. After starting it I go to place it in drive and it acts nearly unresponsive. To the point I wonder if it is in drive at all. Give it a little gas and eventually it starts moving forward. On the road, it still lights up and goes like a rocket on wheels but the hard shifts between gears is gone. When we first got the car it was very responsive. It does have a 2600 Hughes stall and supposedly the transmission was professionally rebuilt for the strip with less than 2000 miles on it. I cant vouch for that though. Right after we bought the car I did change the transmission oil and everyone I asked said to use Dex/Merc oil so I did. I remember the last transmission I rebuilt (over 15 years ago) suggested I use Type F. I cant remember if that was due to the clutches or due to modifying the valve body for harder shifts.

Could the seals in the pump have gotten dry and cracked if it sat say.....4 months without being moved? Or maybe the wrong transmission oil? I dont feel like it was from being torchered because it really hasnt been since we bought it. Lit the tires up maybe 3 times, and that was with street tires with no traction.

Any thoughts?

David

[Dave Severson]

Sitting around never does seals any good, might want to try a can of Trans Medic in it and see if it comes back to life. Also could be gunk worked it's way into one of the passages in the valve body?

[Stovebolter]

I was wondering if any of that stuff actually worked. I'll try that Dave. It's real strange to start a car, put it in drive, and it takes 5 seconds before it goes in gear. That's kind of what it feels like. Or like the stall is just now working.....at a higher RPM.

David

[Stovebolter]

I think we've determined that the converter is just now hitting its stall rate, if that makes sense. Turn out its a Alabama 3200 stall converter. It was hitting its flash at 2600ish since we bought the car. It's just now working correctly. Is it normal for a stall to go through a break in period?

David

[Stovebolter]

I finally turned Dustin's car over to him. The transmission seems fine now after a couple tanks of fuel burned. Shifts hard when manual shifting at 3000 and up. As you can imagine, he's grinning ear to ear every time I see him.

David

[firebird77clone]

I ran into something similar when I tried a 3K stall converter. It likes to go fast, period

[Stovebolter]

Yeah, not a very good cruising stall. I've been trying to tell him.

[Mohead1]

Break in with a converter?? I dont think so......Ive put many of em in hot rods of various types over the years.....the stall is built in and immediate

[Stovebolter]

I have to play this up to seals or something from sitting so long. It has been running strong without any issues since. He's put quite a few miles on it now.

David