Hello Guys. I have never posted in this section but im an avid poster in the lt1 tech section. I am posting this for my brother who has an immaculate 1964 Chevelle SS. The car has a 350 with a comp 292 cam, and minor bolt ons and things. The car has a gear drive, and was running great. The other night he went to start it, and once it started it made a loud grinding noise, kinda sounded like the starter was stuck or a really loud gear drive. He immediate shut the car off. Let it sit for a minute and started it back up. Same noise was present, he put the car in drive, and moved forward and in approximately 10 feet the noise went away and the car shut off. Now the car doesnt stay on, you need to keep your foot on the accelerator. I drained the oil, no shavings or foreign material. i tried to move the distributor but it was in place. If you dont keep your foot on the accelerator it will not stay on. Any suggestions? Thanks a lot guys!

 

pump in tranny or convertor internals took a dump? convertor usually screetch/squeel when they lose a sprag, but maybe the pump itself broke and is pulling down the motor causing it to stall. Does the noise go up and down with engine rpm? Whats the tranney fluid look like, excessive metalic debris? Try taking out convertor bolts and see if you can spin convertor around by hand.

Try pulling the plugs and see how easy engine rotates by hand or with use of ratchet to get at balancer bolt, if there is excessive pressure required to turn it over, pull dizzy and check teeth to make sure they're not scared/broken from excessive pressure and try turning motor over again by hadn with dizzy out. Are you sure starter is retracting back fully after start up? How the oil pressure?

Just shooting ideas, hard to say without being there to hear the noise.

 

the starter is retracting. I pulled the plugs, and they are pretty black. I will be replacing them, and see if its that. I never thought it would be a tranny problem, so i have not inspected that. The noise it was making is not present anymore, but the car will not stay on without my foot on the pedel..

 

I have seen quite a few where the trans pump locks up and the torque convertor welds itself to the pump, very hard to teardown the trans when the convertor is stuck



it definately sounds like a trans pump issue though


so yeah, just unbolt the torque convertor and see if you can move the convertor, if not, just pull the trans, it needs to come out.............

 

so unbolt the convertor and it should spin? If it doesnt its locked?

 

yes, in normal times, it might stick to the flexplate, but once it moves, it will spin pretty easy, maybe slight drag

 

You said the noise wasnt present anymore and you still gotta keep your foot on the gas...fouled plugs? I know that alot of moving the car around and shutting it off,or just plain not driving it at all and then just start it up to move it can foul the plugs real good.

Have you tried takin it down the street to see if it shifts alright into each gear after this noise stopped?

Hows the oil presure?

EDIT: Does it backfire at all? Through the carb?

 

I put in a fresh set of plugs in last night, and the car still will not stay on without my foot on the gas. The oil pressure is fine. I have not driven the car, becasue im not sure if its ok too. It backfired once through the carb, but that was on a cold start up. Once I take my foot off the gas, it idles really really low, and just shuts off..

 

you try unbolting the convertor yet? the noise might be gone because the pump finally broke, and you have the convertor welded to it(zero noise from experiance)

 

I have not..Im going to do that tonight..So I want to unbolt the convertor from the flywheel correct?

 

yes, just 3 bolts

 

I Think Your Gear Drive Has Jumped A Tooth

 

but how could the gear drive jump a tooth, without actually breaking any teeth?

 

The teeth will wear down from use and the chain will stretch. Its very common on motors with more than 100,00 miles. This sounds like the plossible problem. You will either have to pull the motor to change the gears and chain or take out the radiator to get to the harm balancer. Leaving the motor in place is the less work but its a tighter space to work in and can be very frustrateing. I suggest pulling the motor because if the chain and gears are worn enough to skip a tooth than how warn are your piston rings? If it has that many miles you might want to do a a good overhaul of the motor. IF you dont want to pend the time and money than just pull the radiator and tear down the front of the motor. Gears and chain costs about $30 depending on where you go. That would be the cheaper route to go but you may end up pulling the motor in a year or so for something else anyways. Might aswell get it all done in one shot. Either way you go remember that your cam/crank timeing is now off, dont just replace it without reseting the crank and cam into place.

 

this motor does not have a chain, its gear driven. Thats why I find it hard to think that it skipped a tooth without anythng breaking?