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Bellhousing cracked

Reply #45 –
I used to pull the top two bolts first, from the top side with a gear wrench before putting the car up in the air. I was carbureted and had plenty of access though.

Bellhousing cracked

Reply #46 –
So jrad came over and we believe the sound was actually coming from the upper intake. Swapped gasket, started car, noise still there and won't change in different gears or with revving. He went home. I went to crawl underneath to verify bottom-up that the noise gets louder as I move toward the engine. Start car, no noise. No amount of running will make the noise return. I don't get it.

Transmission line pressure seems fine as I shift through gears: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNP8c8i5xbY

I will measure the other pressures tomorrow to verify. I'm not worried about the trans as much now that I know it has adequate pressure.

TCCOA says:
Main Line Pressure

In P/N, OD, D/2, 1 @ Idle Hot - 50 to 75 psi
In P/N, OD, D/2, 1 @ Stall Hot - 160 to 210 psi
In Reverse @ Idle Hot - 80 to 120 psi
In Reverse @ Stall Hot - 220 to 280 psi

I have 77psi pressure idle, 200psi stall, 110psi reverse, I haven't tested reverse stall.
1988 Thunderbird Sport

Bellhousing cracked

Reply #47 –
Other idle pressures with cold fluid - trying to find if they are all normal. I believe they are:

Intermediate clutch:
Park - 0psi
Reverse - 0psi
Neutral - 0psi
Overdrive - 0psi
2nd gear - 60psi
1st gear - 0psi

EPC:
Park - 16psi
Reverse - 18psi
Neutral - 16psi
Overdrive - 16psi
2nd gear - 15psi
1st gear - 16psi

Forward clutch:
Park - 0psi
Reverse - 0psi
Neutral - 0psi
Overdrive - 62psi
2nd gear - 58psi
1st gear - 62psi

Direct clutch:
Park - 0psi
Reverse - 0psi
Neutral - 0psi
Overdrive - 0psi
2nd gear - 0psi
1st gear - 0psi
1988 Thunderbird Sport

Bellhousing cracked

Reply #48 –
Pulled out, re-checked some things, put back in. Had flexplate/converter issues this time, but got it all in. Still runs fine. I'm more comfortable with everything now, and with new loctite, everything is reinstalled correctly.

Planning on taking the car out for a short sprint tomorrow. Very short - new exhaust parts will be here next week. For now, open headers.

On that topic, I believe most aftermarket midpipes have clearance issues for the shifter bracket in automatics. Anyone run into this issue before? What is the "best" fix, rather than chopping off half the bracket?
1988 Thunderbird Sport

Bellhousing cracked

Reply #49 –
Took car out today, immediately came back after getting onto the main road, put old exhaust back on. Open headers and 3k stall is not nice to anyone in the general area.

On another note, nice to feel how power comes on in a v8 again. Transmission appears to work fine. I'll need to find my new dccontrol thermister before I drive more. Can't go far without cooling!
1988 Thunderbird Sport

Bellhousing cracked

Reply #50 –
I'm glad everything is getting sorted out. Sorry I didn't stick around longer, I was getting sick and had a lot going on this last week.

 Even I didn't dare drive mine with open exhaust all the way to the exhaust shop. I had slip joints fabbed where I cut mine off and just clamped it. That was loud enough going down the highway.  :)
1983 Tbird with '03 Split Port V6 motor swap done! Headers, dual exhaust, 500CFM Edelbrock, 3G upgrade, Electric fan. 3.73 Gears and an FRPP Limited Slip. Five lug complete! 5-Speed conversion complete! Standalone Fuel Injection in progress...

Bellhousing cracked

Reply #51 –
Quote from: jrad235;439384
I'm glad everything is getting sorted out. Sorry I didn't stick around longer, I was getting sick and had a lot going on this last week.

 Even I didn't dare drive mine with open exhaust all the way to the exhaust shop. I had slip joints fabbed where I cut mine off and just clamped it. That was loud enough going down the highway.  :)

Found my stuff to get the fan going again. Now just that pesky whistle which came back. I'm looking at the pcv area - it could need to be pressed in further. Dumping water at the front of the lower intake, so it flows to the back, didn't seem to change anything. Lower intake gaskets should be fine.
1988 Thunderbird Sport

Bellhousing cracked

Reply #52 –
Man that looks real nice with those wheels

Bellhousing cracked

Reply #53 –
I had a similar issue when installing my Monster AOD. As I was tightening the case bolts up,it would lock the cranktrain down on my 351 Cleveland. I thought perhaps I hadn't shortened the input shaft enough as the guys at Rev-Max had instructed. After being in and out of the car 2-3 times, I placed a piece of angle iron across the front of the bellhousing and measured how deep each component that engaged the converter was. Turns out, my Monster had more clearance on the input shaft, the pump gear depth, the direct input...all good. The problem was a change in the way the stator support was machined. The Monster pump had a more rounded area in front of the splines and that was bottoming out in the converter, making the converter sit too far forward. Some very judicious clearancing with a Dremel got the clearance opened up. The two components spline together and are locked, so you don't need to worry about the "machined finish" as the two compnents are in a "fixed" relationship.
 

Bellhousing cracked

Reply #54 –
Yeah, I don't really care now that it's resolved. Not sure what happened exactly, but the transmission works great in a new case. I didn't even have to touch the transmission pump or converter - they looked and work fine. Also found that my oil leak back there was due to ALL of my engine oil pan bolts loosening up. Some felt like they were no more than 2-3ft/lbs. Was worried after installing a crank sleeve and new rear main seal, and then saw oil in the back again!

There are bigger things to worry about now. I hope to get the motor purring, rather than sputtering.
1988 Thunderbird Sport