My mamma usta say everything happens for a reason. Maybe someone was looking out for ya. Good job with the kids. Jay
You are a missionary and have just converted two more pagans.Congrats! there are alot of chances to fix transmissions but how often do you get to save some-one ? That was a two-fer .merry x-mas . swaZZ
ANY REAL car guy has lunched at least one tranny...or one u-joint and/or one rear end...never mind the showing off... Think a three-speed is expensive? Try a BW 2:20 low 4-speed...usta clean second and third gears regulary with my 'hot rod'...cleaned off the clutch faces more than once as well and twisted up a couple of drive-shafts...and during the week, usta repair all that week-end damage in the grease-bay/lift of a friends gas station...or out on the street, next to the curb! It was hard on a starving artist's salary...but that was life back then...and we've all lived thru it...and gleaned some great memories... Those two kids will remember that experience for the rest of their lives...to them, you are a genuine "hot rod hero!" R-
They climb in and waste no time finding the goggles. Stoked. Those kids sat in the car for a good five minutes mugging and racing while their Mom took photos and Dad and Grandma looked on. Grandma leaned over to me and said. "We've been at Crown Center and Union Station all Morning and those kids haven't had this much fun. Thank you." That's a nice thing to do! I had my Deuce out in Leavenworth County the same day. No crunched tranny, but the kids that were out loved seeing the car go by, each one got a big wave and an "ahh-oooo-gaaah!" I shudder to think how long my stock '32 trans would hold up if I started dropping the clutch on it. I'm thinking of one of the S10 conversions. Merry Christmas!! ]
Making a kids day is awesome. I can only imagine that they went home, got some sofa cushion and some swimming goggles and decided to play hot rod. Thats what i would have done.
Maybe you should just change your nick to "Cluster Buster" for a while? High gear still works because it's direct drive, no gears involved...because there ain't no gears left! We REALLY need pics when you open it up.. This is gonna look cool! (like a train wreck..) I remember picking up Chevy 3 speeds at the junk yard for $15, $20 if they'd "been gone through" by a yard guy... They'd last about as long as the next Saturday night stoplight grand prix.
That`s cool that you let them kids 'play' in your car! I personally HATE the ''Do Not Touch'' crowd. As far as trans go, 16 to 19 Muncie 4 speeds piled in a corner with the clusters blown out of them! Cost more to fix than there worth. If you need trans help, holler. I have many diff types layin around. Let me know what your running. Merry Christmas.
During your assessment, magnaflux-check the front of the case, looking for cracks between the mainshaft bearing bore and the countershaft bore. A catastrophic trans failure will often crack the case here, turning it into a doorstop.
Yeah, I'm wondering about that. I had a sort of slow leak out of the front of the bellhousing that would leave a small puddle on the garage floor. Don't know if it's just my paranoia but the puddle on the floor looked a little bigger after the incident.
Ease back into 1964....hot summer's late afternoon on a Saturday. I was 16 and cruising town in my 56 Olds ragtop. I'd just gotten off work as a busboy at the only chinese food resturaunt in town and as I pass by the bar, I see George Hillenbrandt's 40 tudoor sitting at the curb. We'd been out cruising it on the way home from school the day before so I knew the car. Had a 85 HP flathead with a '39 ford gearbox...topshifter, you know. Just as I approach, George comes staggering out of the bar's front door, onto the sidewalk. He sees me coming and flags me over. George was only a year older than I was but looked 35. He was able to get in any bar in town with his fake ID. He says..."Hey, I ran outta money and I ain't drunk enough yet......wanna buy my 40?" He wanted a quick $10 but all I had was $8 on me. "Good enough" he says and tosses me the keys. I pulled the olds around the corner and put the top and windows up....leaped into the blue metallic 40 and took off. The flathead was loud and felt strong. I thought I'd cruise past my girlfriend's place on my way home and impress her. She lived in an apartment overlooking an intersection with a 4 way stop in the residentials. I looked up to see her 2nd story window was open and it was right above the stop sign. This was gonna be good. The street had been tarred over about 597 tiimes in it's long life and was smooth as a baby's butt. I idled up to the stop sign and stopped......slid the floor shifter into 1st gear and brought the R's up to about 4500.....dumped the clutch and the right rear began to spin...for about 10 inches.. BANG! clank clank clank.........I searched out any gear I could find to keep moving and like you, only 3rd gear would engage. When I got the car home, my dad wouldn't let me keep it anyway. I already had 4 cars sitting at his house [2, 50 ford tudoors, a 41 tudoor and the olds ragtop] so I hadda give the car back. George was kind enough to return my 8 bucks and I helped him swap out the tranny one weekend...
Kids rule! 'Specially when they are into hot rods. I can't count how many I've had in my car. The parents get all worried that they are gonna scratch it or damage it any other way. I'll walk up and ask the parents if they can get in. Usually the kids light up and the parents melt. Great story. Prolly the best present those kids got.
The Jalopy Journal
