Thread: One step forward..........one step back!

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Do you want the good news or the bad news? Ok, I'll give you the good news first.

You guys will probably remember that I mentioned about Don's T having problems from the start. We solved the bent valve thing, then he had the steering arm snap in half, and all through it the car has not handled the way it should. It tended to wander somewhat, and if he nailed it it sometimes went into a death wobble that would scare the bejesus out of you. Part of the problem was that we just built the car too fast........88 days from start to finish.

We pulled the car off the road until we could take our time and Don could spend more money to start at ground zero and see what was going on. We found a bunch of little things that added up to one big problem. The alignment was off because the wheelbase was 9/16 shorter on the drivers side than the passenger side. (how we mismeasured, I have no idea, but we did) Also, our protractor was dropped too many times and read wrong, so we had 10 degrees of caster instead of 7 or 8 we wanted. The toe in was also at about 3/16 instead of 1/16. Oh, and one wheel was bent right out of the box, and Coker sent us a new one that we installed while we had all the tires rebalanced.

But the biggest contributor we think was the front brakes. He used a set of GM GTO front discs on modified Chevy spindles. Total Performance told us we wouldn't like them, and they were right..........evidently too much rotating mass up front and it would kick the wheels goofy sometimes.

So, while we were at it we replaced the front spindles with new forged ones, and also installed a set of Wilwood disc brakes on the front end. They weigh like 1/4 of what the GM set weighed as they are mostly aluminum.

Tonight we got it running and Dan and Don piled in for a test ride and I followed in my T. It is like a brand new car. Goes straight as an arrow and he can one hand it and not have to keep correcting. He punched it really hard and no more death wobble. Looks like we have the handling issues taken care of finally.

Now the bad news. On the way back home his tranny started acting like it was in neutral. He pulled over and it would sort of go into gear, but when he tried to accelerate it was like he didn't have it in gear. If you let it sit and cool off it would go 50 yards then stop moving. It is also making a sound from the tranny like the flywheel is rubbing the tin shield, but only does that in gear. This is a brand new TCI Streetfighter and TCI 2800 stall convertor, so tomorrow I will be on the phone with them to see what they think.

It isn't going to be pretty. His whole engine has to come out, which means the radiator, headlights, and lots of other stuff. Poor guy is really down in the dumps, he keeps pouring money into the car and never gets to drive it more than a few miles. Last I saw him he was heading home to have a stiff drink.

Anyone have any ideas? Could the torque convertor be at fault? What about that sort of grinding sound in gear? It's a C4 Ford BTW.

Oh, here are his new brakes. At least THEY work.

Don

Don
Sorry to hear this news! Don Jr. just doesn't seem to have any luck with this car. My Mustang in High School was like that. I rebuilt the engine, but it never sounded right or worked right! Turned out to have a 302 crank in rebuild kit instead of a 289. After letting it sit, and amost getting killed on my motorcycle, my oldest brother, bought a 289 used and dropped it in the car as a gift. I was back driving it , proud a a kid could be, until the idiot light lit up on the highway closely followed by a loud clank, of a thrown rod. I gave up and sold it, still makes me shy away from Mustangs, though I still love them. I feel for him. Hope whatever it is, it is readily fixable.

Ya know Steve, this car has fought us every step of the way.........I don't know what it is about it, but Dan and I feel so bad for him. He has spent a ton of money buying the best parts he could get for it, and things keep happening to it. I hope TCI has some answers tomorrow when I call them. I guess I will have to drop the tranny pan and see what I can see.

What ever it takes, we have to jump in and get it fixed for him.

Don

"this car has fought us every step of the way........."
I know I've had cars like that and I feel sure others have as well.

That was the $&@# 68 Mustang for me, from stranding me on dates, to blowing up on the highway, I swear it was posessed! The 74 Honda 750 on the other hand wouldn't die no matter what I did to it. Great bike bad car, we named the car Damian!
Keep us posted, and nice of you both to help him out, I'm sure he needs the support right now!

I just got off the phone with TCI. The tech guy there was very helpful and when I told him the symptoms (noise from converter area and no gears till it cools down) he said "I'm pretty sure the splines on either the input shaft or the converter have rounded off." I told him that the car probably only has 100 miles on it so far and he said he sees this occasionally.

So, we have to pull the engine and ship the tranny back to them in Missouri. Not looking forward to doing that, and Don is really bummed, however this is the hobby we have chosen and sometimes this is the way things go.

I'm more optimistic (of course it isn't me who laid out all the money for the car ) and I'm thrilled we at least have the handling issues corrected.

Don

Don, maybe it's time for Don to trade it for a boat. At least he'll feel better about pouring all that money into a hole in the water, versus a hotrod that just slips and slides.

I am sorry to hear of his continued problems. At his age he'll work it out and get it fixed. At my age, I'd probably shoot it or me.

Originally Posted by techinspector1

"this car has fought us every step of the way........."
I know I've had cars like that and I feel sure others have as well.

Absolutely and for me it eventually becomes a matter of principle and I refuse, (to my own detriment sometimes) to be beaten by it.

I couldn't tell you how many problems I had with my '55 after I first got it together.

Much like Stovens' 68 Mustang, my '55 stranded me a few times too. In fact, the very first time I took it out for anything other than a test run, it left me walking 3 miles up I-15 into town at 2:00 in the morning in a tuxedo after my senior prom so that I could use a payphone to call in the cavalry. I finally got it home at around 5:00 and had to be to work at 7:00.... Unfortunately, that's just one of many stories that resulted in me walking....

I know your boy's pain Don. I only hope that I don't have to re-live it all my Firebird. I'm to old and frail to put up with it...

Hopefully, the tranny problem is your boy's last with it.

Cheers,
Dutch

[QUOTE=mopar34]Don, maybe it's time for Don to trade it for a boat. At least he'll feel better about pouring all that money into a hole in the water, versus a hotrod that just slips and slides.


He's already down that road too. He has a go fast boat that has actually been pretty dependable, but it's still pretty new. With all the problems he has been having with this T I think it can be called a hole in the pavement.

Don

With me, it's oil leaks. When I walked into the garage this moring, I noticed a rather large puddle of oil under the trans. The trans only has about 300 miles on it, and the driveshaft was brand new. The seal is leaking. This goes along with the leak I had in the trans drain plug and the rear axle seals. All new stuff, by the way.

Rear seals wouldn't work because Gibbon hosed up the welding when they shortened the rear housing. I had to buy new axle bearings with O-rings in the outer race. I changed the pan on my Bowtie Overdrives trans because the drain plug adapter was installed on the bottom of the pan where it curved. No way to make it seal.

So now, I'm on the way out to pull the driveshaft, dump a bunch of trans fluid and install a new seal.

Denny,

Yeah, I checked that. The bushing is OK. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to pull the crossmember, drop the tail-end of the trans and remove the tailshaft housing in order to get the bushing in. I tried for about a half-hour, and I just don't have room to get it started.

It's always something.
- Roseanne Roseannadanna

I saw a cool saying recently, it went: "My car isn't leaking, it's marking it's territory!" Mine has a few drips too. I get a little out of the tranny somewhere, and my master cylinder leaves a few drops on the garage floor too. I'm too lazy and the car it too low, so I figure I'll get to them sooner or later.

I turned Don's T around today in the shop, in preparation for pulling the engine out. It backed out of the garage ok, but by the time I backed it in again there was no reverse. Had to push it back the last few feet. I figure when I get back from Billetproof next weekend I will start pulling things off of the car so he and I have an easier time when we get together to do it.

Fishing is looking better all the time.

Don

I didn't have to take the tailshaft housing off. All I had to do was remove the crossmember, remove the entire exhaust system and drop the tailshaft down far enough to get at the seal.

Three and a half hours later, it's buttoned back up. My only worry now is that it's something other than the seal. The yoke snout looked fine, and so did the bushing. I do not want to pull this transmission. I'm not sure I can get it out without taking out the radiator shell, radiator, hood, exhaust, etc., etc. . . .

Maybe I've got an F-14. A Tomcat pilot told me "If it ain't leaking, it's empty."

Henry
Maybe thats why my ford leaks in the garage. It's really a F-14, not an F-1!

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

Fishing is looking better all the time.

Don

Don finishing season for me and the ole boys is over before it started this year. King or Chinook Salmon are really low in numbers, so no season at all this year. I hope the population recovers. I like to fish them and eat them!
I guess this year it will be Delta fishing for strippers, evidently Fish and Game is going to declare it open season on these fiesty fish, as the believe they are also responsible for low salmon numbers( they eat the young guys headed out to sea!)
Have fun at Billet proof!