Bamamav's 1947 Lincoln Club Coupe build

[Old Iron]

That's how a lot of maiden voyages go. Don't know what's gonna pop up until it does.
Hang in there folks there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Bam, just pull it up on the trailer and get it fixed [P
I appointed myself as the cheer leading squad leader this morning

 

[bruno]

That's how a lot of maiden voyages go. Don't know what's gonna pop up until it does.
Hang in there folks there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Seems like when it happens to me it is a very long tunnel

Hope it turns into an easy fix and not an ordeal like the wishbone was.

 

[smallfoot]

Many times, that light at the end of the tunnel is a train...

 

[Bamamav]

OK, after a little cooling off period, I think I now have a plan of action. By the amount of fluid under the car, I'm almost positive the pan has a hole in it. I've decide to get a new pan and change the filter out while I'm in there. Looks like I can buy a chrome pan cheaper than a stock one, what's up with that? I cranked it a while ago, and it will still move under it's own power, so maybe I can get it back up on some ramps or the trailer so I can get underneath and see how to go about this. Think I'm going to go ahead and put in a rear seal while I'm at it, it wants to drip a bit when the front of the car is on the ramp. Hopefully that will cure my trans leaks. Going to have to back it out of the carport and wash off the tranny fluid first though. Might get to that tomorrow since I don't have to leave out until tomorrow night.

I shined a light down into my fuel tank, too. Looks like the pickup line goes into the bottom, then curls upward and back down. Still have to get the old gas out to be sure, but from what I can see inside the tank, it looks good. I'm going to hook a hose to the pickup line, force some air through it to make sure it's not stopped up, then try and drain the old gas through the line. Might have to rig up my electric pump and pump it if it won't siphon through the line.

 

[Old Iron]

Bama, I don't recommend using a chrome tranny pan or even an engine pan as far as that goes.
They are notorious for leaking and virtually impossible to get sealed up.

 

[BlueNorther]

old iron is right those chrome trans pans leak like sieves.

had one on a th400 for extra 2qrt. capacity and it leaked no matter what we did.

put on a cast aluminum pan and it never leaked one drop.

 

[Bamamav]

I had a chrome oil pan on my 302 in the Maverick, didn't have a problem, sealed right up. [S Might have been lucky. It did rust though.

I'd really rather have a stock plain steel pan anyway, you could never see a chrome on under my car anyway since it's so low. It's still odd the chrome ones are cheaper though, probably cheaper steel.

 

[Dirtyrat]

I had a chrome oil pan on my 302 in the Maverick, didn't have a problem, sealed right up. [S Might have been lucky. It did rust though.

I'd really rather have a stock plain steel pan anyway, you could never see a chrome on under my car anyway since it's so low. It's still odd the chrome ones are cheaper though, probably cheaper steel.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-China...

 

[Bamamav]

Well,it doesn't look like the pan is leaking after all. I put it up on the ramps and got under it with a light. Pan looks dry, the flywheel cover has some fluid on it, as does the yoke. Front seal might be leaking a bit, but now I'm thinking the rear seal is the culprit. I've never seen a tranny leak this much just sitting though. It lost at least a quart, it will still pull itself, but when I started up the ramp it lost pressure and went into neutral, then pulled on up.

Could the rear seal lose that much fluid just sitting? I had a heck of a puddle, half as big as the car. I'm going to replace it anyway.

 

[BlueNorther]

no, rear seal should be above the oil level, any oil getting in tailshaft should run forward to pan.

 

[05snopro440]

What transmission are you running again?

 

[Bamamav]

Turbo 350.

I got to thinking, when I took the speedo gear out, I lost a good bit of fluid. Maybe I cut the O ring when I put it back in. I need to check that, too.

This thing has a serious drip somewhere, just got to find it. I followed the cooler lines, they're dry, as is the radiator. Only drip I saw was off of the wishbone ball, directly under the rear of the pan. I guess I'll look again.......

 

[05snopro440]

Sometimes the rear seal will leak, it's possible that's the location. Another location where they sometimes leak is the shifter shaft seal, and you already mentioned the speedometer gear housing.

Is it possible you're having a problem with the drainback valve for the converter? It could cause the kind of issue you had with going up the ramps.

My TH350 in my 62 Bel Air was leaking, it turned out to be a combination of the shifter shaft, as well as the pan loosening while driving, no matter how many times I tightened it. I ended up putting loctite on all the front bolts on the pan and it solved the issue.

 

[Bamamav]

I think it had just lost so much fluid, that it was starving for a second. I checked the shifter, it's dry. Pan bottom is dry, so it's coming from higher up. I'm now leaning toward the speedo gear housing, it's right against the cross member and a biotch to get in and out. Didn't have time to do anything today, had to mount four tires by hand for a church van.

 

[jfg455]

My TH400 in my chevelle will puke out about 2 quarts if I et it sit more than 6 months. As soon as I start driving it then it won't leak any more. Also make sure you are using Dexron 3 atf in it. If you use the newer dexron 6 stuff then it will leak with new seals due to the smaller molecules. Older transmissions weren't made with the tighter tolerences

 

[Bamamav]

A little update: I pulled the speedo gear and replaced the O ring. Don't know yet if that helped or not, as it's still on the ramps. The gas tank developed some pinholes, or should I say the gas melted the undercoating on the tank that was covering some pinholes, and started to leak. The tank is out right now, I cleaned it in the leaking area and used a epoxy product from Permatex that is supposed to stop the leaks, and is also supposed to be ethanol safe. I have coated the inside with one coat of Red Kote, will put in another coat tomorrow.

Also, got me a fuel level sender from Speedway that matches my Stewart Warner gas gauge. I destroyed the original sender unit so I could use the mounting cover. Had to mod it a bit, enlarge the center hole a bit, but other than that, it worked out great. I will install it after the second coat of Red Kote dries.

I have some pics on the camera, but I'm going to wait until I get through with the tank to post them.

 

[earthman]

......................[P

 

[Bamamav]

Here's a pic of inside the tank before I cleaned it out:



Here are the pinholes that started this project:



Putting the epoxy strip on the outside over the pinholes:



Will take more pics after the second coat of Red Kote dries and I get the tank undercoated again.

 

[Bamamav]

OK, we now have a hopefully leak free tank. Here's what the Red Kote looks like inside. It looks thick, but it's actually just a thin layer:





I sprayed the outside with a Rusteloum Rubberized Undercoating. I like the way it looks and feels, I think I will do the whole underside of the car with it.





Going to put it back in soon. First I have to change the upper bolts in my spring shackles for some a size larger and make up some 1/4" spacers to go between the lower shackles and the springs. Also have to fab up a drop bracket to mount my electric fuel pump just below the tank bottom. Then it's back under the hood to hook up that end of the new fuel line.

 

[Old Iron]

Is that just one coat? I've never seen that process done before. Looks like it should do the job [cl