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By Dan - 14 Years Ago
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Well some may remember from school years past (hence no updates in summer time) our y-block powered T. School has started and we are back to work on it. Have gotten the reverse corvair box mounted and built a steering shaft. The wheels turn! The box needs some adjustment but that is to be expected. Fuel tank and battery are mounted in the trunk, needs some tweaking due to some poor planning on my part. We dont have a floor in the trunk so I am not too concerned with fumes/sparks?? I think the exciting news is that we have the ignition switch and light switch wired in...we have had the engine running on the stand before but to see it running sitting in the chassis is a whole new level of cool! Found an old Mallory Rev-Pol Mark II that we installed (thought it looked kinda period correct), we used a ballast resistor, I imagine it is supposed to have one?? Our starter is making a horrible racket, sounds like the pinion gear is not dis-engaging, havent had a chance yet to get under and look at pinion gear, ring gear, etc. but I am assuming we will probably rebuild the starter anyhow...what is a good source for parts? Next step will be wiring in the gen/reg. I think I have a good idea where everything goes but am going do alittle research to be sure. We have a local car show this weekend that I cant attend due to other commitments but just had a couple students ask if they could load it up and bring it in to the show, that is pretty exciting! Please feel free to ask any questions or comments about the project, if you havent seen it yet I think you could probably search my name here and find some old posts, thanks!
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By Dan - 14 Years Ago
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I think I may have found the horrible grinding while tryin to start the engine... I am guessing the manual flywheel and automatic are two different sizes, with the manual being bigger? We have a manual flywheel on the engine and it is bolted to an automatic trans and I think the flywheel is rubbing inside the bellhousing...does that sound possible? Looks like I will have to dig out the auto. flywheel and install it???
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By The Master Cylinder - 14 Years Ago
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Dan (9/8/2011)
I think I may have found the horrible grinding while tryin to start the engine...
We have a manual flywheel on the engine and it is bolted to an automatic trans
Dan, I don't believe that is even possible...
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By Dan - 14 Years Ago
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the engine itself is not connected to the trans, the engine in just bolted to the trans case...the flywheel is in no way connected to the transmission...does that make any sense?? Think my bendix may be stuck in the out position instead of the retracted position, try spinning it with the wire wheel but it still doesnt retract? Not spinning fast enough??
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By glrbird - 14 Years Ago
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We all like pictures.
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By charliemccraney - 14 Years Ago
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Dan (9/8/2011)
the engine itself is not connected to the trans, the engine in just bolted to the trans case...the flywheel is in no way connected to the transmission...does that make any sense??
It should be connected via the torque converter.
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By MoonShadow - 14 Years Ago
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I don't think there is any difference in the starters for manual or automatic transmissions. I too would suspect case contact or the bendix is not releasing. Remember the starter gear is to the rear of the car and moves towards the front to engage the starter. You should be able to see if the gear releases properly by watching through the bottom access cover on the bell housing as its cranked. Chuck
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By Hoosier Hurricane - 14 Years Ago
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Dan: Just the other day, because of another posting regarding flywheels, I laid a standard flywheel on an automatic one. The standard is about 3/8" smaller in diameter than the automatic. Since the starters are the same, the difference has to be in the location of the starter on the bellhousing. Therefore, the bellhousing must be the same application as the flywheel. I never realized there was a difference until I compared them.
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By Dan - 14 Years Ago
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okay Jon that sounds like what I am looking for, sounds like I need to drop the trans, pull off the manual flywheel and install the auto flexplate/torque converter combo, I've been hesitant to do this as I dont know the condition of the trans and I was wanting to run the engine without it being directly connected to the trans (that why I was using the manual flywheel...I could have it on and not have the engine connected to the input shaft of the trans - don't think I explained that very well...)
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By PWH42 - 14 Years Ago
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Dan......You can take the bell housing off of the automatic and do the same thing you've already done using the automatic bell and the automatic flywheel.This is assuming the automatic you have is a Fordomatic with a removable bellhousing.
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By Dan - 14 Years Ago
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thanks for the idea...we are not using the side mounts on the bellhousing though, only the mount at the tailshaft so I think we need the whole case in there...we are going to tear everything down today so hopefully later we will have some clues, will let everyone know, thanks for the help!
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By Hoosier Hurricane - 14 Years Ago
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Dan: You can bolt the trans up without the converter and run the engine. That is if you have the flexplate with the starter ring gear on it.
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By Dan - 14 Years Ago
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 so the hub in the center of the flexpate slides into the end of the crankshaft? There is no way to bolt it to the crank???
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By Dan - 14 Years Ago
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never mind - found a manual at oldcarmanual.com and found the piece I was missing and went and dug through the stash and lo and behold there it was (whew!) its in the parts washer as I type and the project keeps crawling along.... ever work on a car and get in a jam where things don't come out like they should and you think to yourself "man, I'd like to meet the ##@!@$% who designed this and see him try to fix this..." ran into those same exact thoughts pulling the trans this morning and then I realized - hey, wait a minute, I AM the $%&^# who designed and built this frame this way  note to self, make the next trans crossmember removable!
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By Dan - 14 Years Ago
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oh, and by adding the "AT" symbol in my cussword the computer thinks it is a link, but its not...
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By Dan - 14 Years Ago
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engine is in the chassis, jump in, turn the key - and it roars to life... trying to track down my video camera so I can post some video for you guys...
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By Dan - 14 Years Ago
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here is a short video... 
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By texasmark1 - 14 Years Ago
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as Tony the Tiger would say, "...GRRRRRREAT!"
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By bird55 - 14 Years Ago
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I know you were trying to look as cool about everything as possible but IT'S OK TO GRIN. congrats 
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By Dan - 14 Years Ago
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ha ha, I am pretty sure the first time we fired it up in the chassis (think it was last week) I was probably grinning from ear to ear...
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By glrbird - 14 Years Ago
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Dan That is a great thing you are doing, kids need to see what the automotive culture is all about. How about a video walk around the car or pictures. I like the wide five wheels, nice old school touch.
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By mctim64 - 14 Years Ago
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Cool!! Great to hear it run. Bla bla
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By Jimz Bird - 14 Years Ago
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Dan,
You are really a COOL Teacher! What an impact you will have on these guys.
Maybe do a YouTube vid of each of them starting it. It will be on the net forever and they will still look back at it when they are as old as some of us.
Imagine them showing their grandkids how cool Grandpa was in his day.
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By Dan - 14 Years Ago
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I will try and do a walk around with the video and highlight some of the build. As far as putting the students on the web that is a no-no and I agree with that policy. This could not have happened without the generous help of ALOT of people here on this board, I can't thank you enough - the kids are getting really fired up now that its getting close. Need to do the brakes, build a driveline and patch a hole in the radiator and it should be ready for a test drive. Exhaust components should be showing up today so we can get that fabbed as well. Again, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL THE HELP WE HAVE RECEIVED FROM YOU HERE!!!!
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By Dan - 14 Years Ago
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here is some more... 
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By glrbird - 14 Years Ago
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What did you use for plans when you built the frame? or was it drawn up at the shop.
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By Dan - 14 Years Ago
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I'd collected different plans from magazines and the 'net but basically the kids drew up the plans in drafting class - we used the plans as referance for mounts and such. We couldnt use any of the plans I found without alittle modification as they were all for T-Bucket style cars rather than the longer roadster-
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By texasmark1 - 14 Years Ago
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like the wing nuts on the valve cover studs!! Mark
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By Dan - 14 Years Ago
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Building an exhaust for our T, the 90 degree piece still needs to be shortened and welded to the 3 bolt flange that will bolt to the front of the muffler, I am curoius to hear how it will sound...
Also still need to build some caps for the ends of the headers and then we will paint the whole thing, maybe white to match the headers or black to hide it alittle bit, not sure which...
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By Dan - 14 Years Ago
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oops, probably make more sense if I attached the pic so you can see what I am talking about 
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By Dan - 14 Years Ago
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One side pretty much done, still have to cap the header and do some finish work... 
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