Intro - and a plead for help.

[loungelife]

Hi - my name is Ryan, I drive a 1960 Bel Air which I am reto-fitting with a GN 200-4R. I went for a test drive last night after getting everything bolted up, linkages built, TV cable adjusted, no power to TCC yet. Verified fluid level, checked for motion in all gears, drove in forward and backward circles around my parking lot. Pulled out into street, felt the 1-2 shift, stopped for red light, car shuddered and died. Started back up, turned around to drive back into shop, car flet like it was trying to stall going back up ramp (my shop is above and old car dealership, big ramp).

I'm thinking the TC was in lock-up? Again I didn't have any power hooked up to it. It's a new TC did I get a bad one? Could there be other problems?

Thanks for looking - I know the Bel Air's not buick but I figured this would be a good source for info for my trans and the posts that I've read over the course of doing this install have been very helpful.

Thanks for any help.

Ryan

 

[A. G. Olphart]

I really haven't a clue, and based on the paucity of posts, I'm not alone.

It doesn't seem likely that you would have missed a screamingly bad converter problem in your parking lot tests.

Are you certain that the shudder was not the engine misfiring just before it quit?

If you didn't feel the trans downshift to first gear, could you have then done a second gear start? (Second gear might lug the engine going up your ramp?)

Is this a known good trans, home rebuild, junk yard special??

Lots of questions, no answers.


Good luck...

 

[chris718]

sounds like a stuck or fried forward clutch.can you push the car backwards in neutral with the engine running?

 

[loungelife]

I think the TCC control valve was a bit on the stuck side. I stuck the tail up on jackstands and wired the solenoid, ran it up to 60mph in OD and flipped the power to the solenoid on and off. Now it seems to work fine, the logic was that if the valve was stuck the solenoid activation would knock it loose.

Not real happy with the 2-3 shift. May add another quart of fluid, running a Lokar flexible dipstick can't say how accurate it is. I guess if I add another quart and the 2-3 shift is better I'll know.


The transmission is a home rebuild, and is actually my first automatic build. nothing like jumping in with both feet.