It never ceases. I fix one thing, like my headlights, and something else goes wrong. Like say for instance, the drivetrain.

I was driving along today, when I noticed the car was revving a lot higher than normal for the slow speed I was going along at. The speed limit around here is 15 mph, so we are talking like it felt about 3000-3500 rpms to be going 10-15 mph. It also was feeling a little like it was "lurching" forward every few seconds, kind of like a rocking feeling, like it was accelerating very slightly, or if it had square wheels. Since I'm only 3 blocks from home and the curb all the way there is Fire Lane Red, I decide to just ease it on home. About 50 feet from my right hand turn, I eased on the brakes to slow to about 5 mph when I felt something shift (maybe...) subtly and heard a rythmic scraping from under the car. It sounded a lot like the brake shoes dragging on the drum, but it wasn't continuous. Just after I made the turn the sound stopped and I figured to stop pushing my luck and pulled over and put the transmission in neutral. I might have been mistaken, but neutral felt a lot like "park". Maybe it was just some really flat ground. But considering the red curb and the 300 yards left to drive, I figured it couldn't do much more harm than it had already and I drove it back and parked it where it is going to be staying for the forseable future.

The Bird is a '69 coupe with a '73 455 and a TH400 behind it. I was told there was a high stall converter (think around 3000), but I have no way of knowing.

Anyone have any idea on could have gotten jarred or snapped or spun or torqued or dropped or evaporated? I'm not sure if it was the rear end, tranny, driveshaft, something with the engine, or my imagination.

I still love it. Like a child really.

Is the transmission full of fluid? Is the color nice and bright?

You need to live somewhere with higher speed limits!

I checked it just after I parked it, and the fluid is at the same level it has been since I got it. Which is to say, about 2" over full hot. The fluid looks great, and I've never seen any drips or pools of tranny fluid before and nothing has shown up since.

Just to clarify now after looking it over a bit, when I put it in neutral the car does roll back. Also, I do remember thinking the transmission was shifting pretty hard (between park/reverse/drive), but I had never driven a TH400 so I wasn't sure how much shock was normal. Also, I forgot to mention that the engine mounts are more like engine pads, because there aren't any bolts between the mounts and the block, but there haven't been since I got the car. And that's why it's been relegated to 10 mph test drives (and the 15 mph speed limit here on base).

I will post some pictures shortly of the drivetrain, or what I could get to, but they all seem pretty normal to me.

Please say that again...There are no bolts between the mounts and the block? That (potentially) being the case, I will suggest
getting that corrected before trying it again.

Tranny Mount


Motor Mount


Driveshaft


Front U-joint


Rear U-joint


Flywheel


Converter

I know the missing motor mount bolts seem like the cause, but I just don't think that it is because it has been driven about 10 miles before without the bolts without incident. But trust me, it is pretty high on my list of stuff to do!

I will leave the diagnosis to others who know drivetrains better than I but it does sound like a bad trans. However, I noticed the driveshaft/trans alignment in your picture is way on the right side of the tunnel. I can't show a good picture because of the convertible support panel but I believe my driveshaft passes over the center of that trans mount and cross support member so that the driveshaft runs right down the center of the tunnel.


The cover over that flywheel is a good idea too. I have bottomed in stuff enough times that I would not have wanted that chewing up that gear. I hit a chuck of ice back in the 70s and had to replace that cover. It might have done some serious damage if not covered.

looks like the tranny is loose at the mount too!

Maybe Harry, I tried to get a good angle, but it came out fuzzy. I guess I can try to snake my arm up there again.

EDIT:

Well I was looking at the pictures and like Jim said, I thought the driveshaft was odd off center. Well check out this picture and tell me how bad this is:

So the loose mounts are pulling the whole thing to the right, thus stretching the shifter cable into the wrong gear and between gears while also scratching the driveshaft against the tunnel (noise)????

Maybe, but I wouldn't think the tranny hopped all the way over to rub the driveshaft, and then righted itself back on the crossmember. I also wouldn't have thought the transmission and engine could both be unmounted and still drive (at all).

But your picture appears to show it to be shifted way to the right even at rest. Unless I'm not looking at it correctly, it appears to be over about three inches.

have you checked the gear oil in the rear end

















have you checked the gear oil in the rear end?








?

still can't use this da__ computer right.

I'm with you on the shift Jim, but I don't think the shaft is rubbing the tunnel as it sits in the picture. I would think that if the tranny did jump over enough (maybe 2 more inches) to rub the tunnel, that it would be beyond resetting itself to where it is now. The picture is after the incident.

Now maybe it did jump when I pushed the brakes, the resistance on the drive wheels would cause the converter to slip and at that point I'm sure there is some good measure of torque applied to the tranny. Not to mention the amount of low end torque a 455 is putting out. So if that was the source of the scraping noise, then maybe taking the right hand turn right after that was enough to slide the tranny enough so the shaft wasn't rubbing...?

As for the gear oil, no I haven't checked it James. The problem with my particular situation is that I live in a barracks on a Marine base and park in a parking lot, rather than a driveway or curbside. And vehicle maintenance is (for some reason beyond me) strictly prohibited, unless its like replacing your wipers. I'm' assuming the fluid spill/hazmat issues are the reason. But regardless, I can't jack up the car to check anything of value, which is why so much of my problems become this rediculous theory session on the boards .

I would get the engine and tranny mounted properly. Then try to figure out what to do from there.

That's what I'm thinking. Now it's just a matter of how to get that done. I guess a tow to a shop and let them take care of it. Anyone got a good idea of a reasonable price? $40 for hardware and $40 or so for labor?

The lurching and high revving that you described sounds very much like a transmission that is very low on fluid. Did you check the transmission level with the engine running?

The price you mentioned would certainly be reasonable, but I doubt you'll get it done for anyways near that. Regardless, it is a must that you do before anything else or you will tear stuff up. They can check all the fluids and then MAYBE you are ready for a test drive.

I know this doesn't help but it's been a long standing mantra of mine that goes...You need three things to do work on your car: Time(to do the job right), a place(where you can do the job right) and the money(well, you get the idea). Two out of three just won't get you there.

Robert

I'm not overly concerned with the price of the work. I'm just wondering if anyone has had it done professionally before, and what a good shop charged them. My $40 for hardware was thinking just bolts, but I guess I should probably add in some mounts too. Anyway, I do agree with you Robert, I'm not heading out to Lowes, grabbing a 6 pack of bolts and crawling under the car in the parking lot .

I'll bet the offcenter driveshaft is a result of the engine and tranny mounts being loose or non existant. The engine is likely skewed in the bay.

If you felt something shift it could have been the engine, and caused something to scrape or hit. Perhaps the "park" like feel is that something tight up against some frame componant.

I would certainly straighten out the engine, run the bolts through the engine and tranny mounts. It's one thing to be missing a few engine mounts but that combined with no tranny mount is asking for big trouble. Torque is causing the whole thing to squirm around in the bay!

Once you do that then I would take it out on the road again and run the tranny through the motions. You still likely have issues there as well.

Looks like that was already covered...missed a page again...gotta get used to this new website format!

The driveshaft will be angled slightly. The engine mounts slightly to the passenger side to clear the steering column.

So it's looking more and more like I'm going to have to do this myself, or at LEAST the tranny mount. Picked up a mount today, and as soon as I can get the manpower, stands and timing right I'm going to go for it.

I'm not totally against doing the engine myself, but I can't tell if the mounts are good or not while they are installed. Anyone know the size of bolts that are used on the engine block mounting holes?