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New Project! 1968 Volvo P1800 "Bullwinkle"

I wish it was. Ran into a problem with the transmission. Non only was there a weird metal rubbing sound but the mock up transmission that was used had different mounting points for the transmission mount. That has caused driveline issues, header clearance issues and exhaust fitment problems. All small items but since the car is at the tuner and is not partially disassembled I can't do the work myself and am at the mercy of his time. It has been very painful to wait for him to have time to work on it.
 
That sucks. Do you still have the transmission used for the test fit?

Hopefully it will be a quick change over.
 
I used an empty case I borrowed from the transmission guy who has since retired. I am likely gonna have to come up with a shorter transmission mount to see if that will fix my problem. Otherwise I will need to fabricate a new transmission/ torque arm mount.


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Since there was a "weird metal rubbing sound" issue with the trans and the case mount different, find a similar case to the one used for mock-up and buy/build a new trans that fits the existing framework and doesn't make the weird sound! You can slap a manual trans together and put it in the car in the garage in a weekend.
And drag that car home. That second guy doesn't seem real interested in doing the work either. Get a base tune from someone who deals with whatever efi system you are using and do some driving and datalogging yourself. Then either use that to tune it yourself or send off the logs to get a custom tune done for you. Short of trying to get peak race performance out of it this will get you a very driveable and enjoyable ride you can hop in and go.
 
I think the transmission issue is the smaller problem. I have my money on the torque converter was not full seated or slipped out a little when I wrestled it into place. I had the car running before the body and pair work or suspension and as installed. It was fine then. Gotta be a simple thing.

If doing it all over again now was an option I would have put in a manual. To do it now would be really time consuming. I would have to redo the pedal box and use floor mounted pedals. A huge amount of work to do on top of fabricating new crossmembers, new driveshaft ……….. way more work than fixing this issue. Heck I am not sure I could even buy a new TKX to put in. They may be on back order like so many other things.


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I have no idea what the part number is on the first transmission used for mock up. They were all 4L60E’s but evidently there are casting changes between them. I was trying to save some time by not using my built transmission for mock up. Backfire.


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Really sucks man, but the car is so close. As horseplay said, I would find a new tuner once it's sorted.

Jealous it's not in my shed.
 
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My mistake, I thought you had a manual in it from the start. Same applies though. If you did, in fact, not get the convertor seated properly orginally and were able to still bolt it up and run it...you toasted the trans as you would have damaged the pump and almost assuredly its demise would have caused other serious damage through out the unit. No doubt you could take some measurements/pics and visit a good trans shop and they could help figure out the case needed. If you have pics of the thing taken during mock-up you could maybe even do your own detective work on the Web to figure it out. I guess the point is, if the trans is fubarred you might as well repair it using the right case and avoid having to mess around with the finished framework.

Most importantly, get it into your own garage and do it all yourself. Nobody will be more vested in it being done right than you. There are plenty of sources for that intial canned tune to get you started. You get that far its a whle lot easier to then schedule a few hours on a dyno somewhere to do any final dial ins you feel necessary. Spring is almost here and you don't want to miss another driving season!
 
I figured out a big portion of my problems with the transmission and clearances. It looks like the transmission case we used for mock up had a different bellhousing on it. I was able to go to the transmission shop and compare them and the one I have on now is 1/2" longer. That doesn't sound like much but it might as well be a mile with how tight things are on my car. I have to buy a new bellhousing now that is the same as the mock up and have the transmission gone through to make sure there is nothing wrong with it.

I ran the engine and transmission before redoing the suspension and parts many years ago and have not started the engine since then so I hope it is a simple fix now that does not require any new parts. I just want to go through the transmission to make sure nothing is wrong. For some reason the driveshaft angle is still wrong. It may require us to modify the transmission crossmember to correct the issue. I will wait for the transmission to go back in before cutting that up. Fingers crossed this will take care of the problems I am having.

A couple days ago I was about ready to order a new TKX and put it in there but that would cause a huge amount of other problems but mostly with the pedals. I really don't want to deal with that. Plus, I am not sure I could even get a transmission for months. Best to keep what I have and move forward.
 
It has been a long time since I have had an update. This is an update but not a good one. We ran into some issues when we started to crank the engine over to start the tuning process. We heard some grinding sound that we thought was coming form the transmission. The engine was also very difficult to turn over by hand. Because of these issues we never started the engine. We were also running into quite a few clearance problems with the transmission pan and the exhaust. This really had me questioning everything because the exhaust was prefabbed before tearing the car apart for final body and paint.

As it turns out, the mock up transmission used was for a 5.3LS and the transmission guy is telling me that the bellhousing on my block has a different bolt pattern than the earlier LS's or maybe it is just the 5.3L engines. I am a little unsure. To top that off the mock up transmission (using the 5.3 bellhousing is about 1/2" shorter than the later style bellhousing. That was causing the transmission mount to be off, exhaust clearance problems..... To fix the situation I either have to find an aftermarket bellhousing that has the correct depth and bolt pattern or cut and weld my two bellhousing to make one that is the correct depth and has the right bolt pattern. I think we are going to go down that path since I am unsure what other clearance issues come up with an aftermarket bellhousing.

After we pulled the transmission out and discovered the issue above we were still not able to turn over the engine. So, out it came. This is a brand mew rotating assembly (crank, rods, pistons, bearings..) from Texas Speed in my factory block that was bored out. After the pan was pulled this morning there is excessive wear on the main bearings. It looks like there is 80,000 miles on it not 8 rotations of the crank. Something is obviously wrong with the setup. It now is being taken back down to see why there is an issue. The engine builder who is also my tuner said he has had problems with TSP kits in the past with similar issues but also said we will need to make sure that the block does not need to be line bored. Seems like that should have been checked before but what do I know.

There doesn't seem to be any damage to the crank or rods so I hope this is a simple fix. Taking the engine out was a project. Everything is so tight and if you miss a step to remove a part in the right order it makes the job impossible. So glad I didn't already charge the AC system and the other small stuff like that. So frustrated but oh well.

I wish it was a better update than this. Anyone want to buy a Volvo?
 
There is nothing that could be wrong with a rotating kit that even an average engine builder should not have discovered during the actual build process. Part of any build process involves assembly and disassembly while taking measurements to verify clearances, etc. You also verify things like end play, etc. If your main bearings show signs of damage that thing was not built well. Period. That is not the fault of any purchased parts alone. You can buy the best assembly in the world and any builder worth a damn will still measure and verify everything. The crank spun and checked. Then the block is machined and measured and checked as well. Then it's all put together and, yep, checked and rechecked. Watch any video you want of an engine build by someone decent and you'll see how it's done. How they had spin the crank with the mains torqued to verify how it spins freely, etc. Then try and convince yourself the builder didn't screw something up.

I'm not saying mistakes can't happen but what you describe isn't a mistake it's clearly the builder's fault. You need to hold him accountable and find someone else to fix his mess. I'd leave the thing together and take it to someone else to diagnose the issue(s). Your first guy is just going to point at the parts supplier (as it sounds like he has already done to try and deflect from himself).

Sorry you're are going through all this.
 
Agree with Terry. Hope the builder understands that what's to come is on his coin. I wouldn't be paying him a cent more.
 
Man that sucks. I hope you can get it all sorted.

Good luck.

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I got a little more clarification on the engine and bell housing. The bell housing was not as bad as I understood. The four side bolts and pin line up but the rest are misaligned. We will modify the bellhousing used for mock up to allow for the top bolt hole to be used. It will need to be filled and drilled. Not as bad as I thought it would be.

The engine has me a little perplexed. The main bearings have heat marks on them and a couple rod bearings we so tight they were not allowing the crank to rotate. Some clearances were off or perhaps it needed a line bore?

Pretty weird since the engine had not been fired.

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