[hogerdoger]

Well I just finished changing my comp cam that went flat after 4 minutes into the breakin. replaced it with a roller cam from isky. Fired it up, tuned the carbs so it would idle roughly at least, put it in reverse with the rear on jack stands.according to the guy who built my t-400 putting it in reverse is the best way to back flush any debri from the rebuild. anyway I then put it in drive and raced it up. seemed to be working ok, but after I shut the engine off, I noticed that my tranny is cracked all the way around the bell housing, with the widest part of the crack on the passenger side starting at the bottom where the flexplate/flywheel cover is. I double checked the drive train alignment and it is staight. Motor is a 454 w/ 8-71 blower and both motor and trans are rubber mounted. It seems everything has to be done twice on this project,no matter how careful I try to be. That seems to be my luck. But this one is gonna cost me alot of money to replace, so can you guys tell me what happened so it dosent happen again. thanks

[ April 02, 2002: Message edited by: hogerdoger ]</p>

[Roy Newton- exprotech]

I would not be so quick to blame yourself. I would have the trans taken apart and have it looked at. Do not be surprise if something is not broken or locked up. Cases just don't crack !! if it was off center it would kill the pump but not crack the case.I rebuilt transmissions since 1965 and never heard of running in reserve to flush out a rebuild. I might find someone else to look at it.I have seen one other case cracked and it was a netural start at 4000 RPM .ROY

[Roy Newton- exprotech]

What you ask me is possible but I have only seen one in all the years. Most of the time when they brake the just don't pull. When you takre it out if you can turn the splines down inside it is not locked up. It will be real easy to tell what caused the crack. Its not like you were turning 6000 RPM. ROY

[4 Jaw Chuck]

Hoger, I would go out and buy a lottery ticket right now. Your luck has got to turn around sometime, sounds like you payed your dues.

If I might offer an opinion, the only time I seen a cracked bellhousing like you explain is from a guy who bought a high stall converter and when he installed it didn't seat the converter all the way on the splines and into the seal (the aftermarket ones are a tighter fit). Once the trans was all bolted up and stressed to beat hell, the instant it fired it cracked the housing much as you describe. Of course the converter found it's way onto the splines on it's own. It was impossible to figure out what happened until I helped him put the new tranny in and he almost did it again as I watched, I hope this didn't happen to you. A very good reason not to use the trans bolts to pull the tranny on except for the last few 1/16'ths. Now I turn the motor over with a breaker bar on the crankshaft while I pull the trans on with the bolts carefully, everything seems to slide together better. You can feel if everything is right.

[Roy Newton- exprotech]

Matt you can email me direct if you want. The little spline turns but the big one is part of the pump and does not turn. See if you can turn the inside of the converter. Snap ring plyers work for this it shoud turn. ROY

[hogerdoger]

The inside of the converter spins ok. But I'm concerned that I could'nt stop the rear wheels from spinning with the brakes while the rear was up on jack stands. It wanted to stall the engine, as if there was a solid connection from engine to rear.

[Roy Newton- exprotech]

If the converter spins free then something in the trans is not right. You need to take it somewhere and let someone look at it for you. The guy that rebuilt it may be at fault and owe you a trans. ROY

[Roy Newton- exprotech]

Matt I have never seen a engine vib cause a trans to crack. It would have to be bolted up wrong. Do yu have dowl pins in the block for ali. If the engine wanted to shut down when you tryed to put the brake on something is wrong in the trans ROY

[Roy Newton- exprotech]

Matt start out with about 6 quarts and then just keep adding and checking after you start the engine. What did you find wrong. ROY

[41Dodge]

Hogerdoger, while building a Baja Bronco years ago, we were breaking in the motor with it up on jackstands. My partner tached it up and when he let off the throttle, the transfer case puked all over our nice clean floor, and this only three days before we were to deliver it to the buyer in Ensenada. Lots of money later we were told that it was the enertia from the freewheeling back tires transfering back up the drivetrain that caused our mishap. They claimed that all the excess torque took out the weakest link. One engineer claimed that he'd seen it break off the flywheel from the crank doing the same thing. You'd think that a rolling car would have more torque but not according to the engineers that investigated it. I don't remember all their fancy words but basically they told us next time to do the break-in on a dyno or on the street. Don't know if this is what happened, just passing it on. Remember, speed costs cubic dollar bills. Guess that's why I'm broke.

[critter]

I'm not real sure what all is goin on, but I am wonderin if there wasnt a hidden crack already in the case from a previous application? The ony way I know to check for this condition is to break off a piece of the case and check for color differences between old and new breaks (new=shinny,old=dull) just a thought