I got a little surprise.

[donsrods]

Yesterday we decided to take Dan's rpu to the guy who did the engine machining so he could see it all finished and running. I followed Dan in my roadster. When I was driving along the transmission jumped out of high gear and I thought I must have bumped the shifter with my leg, but a little while later it happened again.

When we got back the the shop I looked at it and determined that the new shift boot I had installed on the Hurst shifter was pulling the shifter forward enough to pop it out of gear. The original Hurst one I had on it was over 20 years old and had cracked from age and I found a similar one at the local Advance Auto, but it was a Mr. Gasket..........slightly different, but it fit.

As I was removing the boot I looked down into the hole and noticed the shifter was loose on the transmission, so we jacked up the car to tighten it up. Not only was the shifter loose, but so were the bolts that hold the transmission to the bellhousing, they were only finger tight ! Then Dan put his hand on the starter and it only had one bolt holding it on and it was loose too. Finally, he started shaking stuff and found the front spring u bolts had worked loose too and he could rattle them. This car shakes so much from the cam that it keeps loosening stuff up, even with locktite on bolts.

After everything was tightened we went for a long drive last night and the car never felt so good and stayed in gear like it should. I am really horrible about maintaining a car and even hate washing them, so I guess I am going to have to start being better about that. It kinda scares me when I think that only a couple of months ago I was driving at 92 mph at the drags.

Never claimed to be the brightest bulb in the pack.

Don

 

[timbo]

Im glad you found out what it was it before it was too late. [cl I have always went around and checked my suspension and steering bolts and tie rods and balljoints every once in a while. I have seen cars/trucks within 5 years old have suspension just break out of the blue. We all may have rat rods but they need to be safe so we can keep on keeping on.
Tim

 

[Dirtyrat]

Sounds like maybe its time to drill and wire some of those bolts...
Glad you found the issues before something bad happened!!!

 

[jcillch]

x

Mr. Don, are You guys coming up for the Kaiser-Devereux show in srq on the 29th?

 

[rainman]

More proof. live right and you will be taken care of!![ddev
I'd try a different type of Locktite!!

 

[ratrodz]

try the green loctite

 

[46FORD$PU]

i have a bumper sticker on my saddle bag "hunk for falling off parts" and it worked one time when my tail light was hanging by a wire[cl
keep these three rules while driving listen,look and recover.

 

[maverickmk]

Whew! Close call, that could have been tragic.

 

[Sam_Fear]

That's why I like rat rods - rust is natural loc-tite.

Good thing that didn't go any farther before you caught it!

 

[Tripper]

Funny u bring this up Don. When I put my car up on the lift the other day... I noticed the bolts on my motor mounts & tranny mounts were loose. It's always good to do a lil inspection every now & then!!!

BoB

 

[sneakysnake]

I hate when things just falls off.LOL I used teflon nuts any where I could,but if your ride shakes like a Harley its a good idea to do a walk around every once in a while.

 

[patina]

this is a perfect example of why everything should be re checked once in a while. I think you a extreamly lucky that this didnt happen to you on the track

 

[jakas66]

LOL. I seem to have the same issue on my rat Shovelhead chop. They were bad enough at occasionally shakeing parts loose in stock form, this one is a 93 inch stroker engine in a home done rigid frame.

 

[Old Iron]

"I got a little surprise."
WOW that's a relief I thought you were goin to tell us your girlfriend was pregnant [ddev

 

[59imp]

loctite works best when both male and female parts are clean clean clean.....
most people just slap it on any ol' greezy nut'n bolt and are usually dissapointed with the results....hope that helps

 

[donsrods]

Mr. Don, are You guys coming up for the Kaiser-Devereux show in srq on the 29th?

Didn't know anything about it. Probably not, that is a Sunday and my Son Dan works every Sunday. Must be a good show, I bet.

As for the stuff coming loose, now that I think about it, those parts weren't Locktited, they all had anti seize on them. Probably why they are coming loose. Dan uses all ss fasteners and he anti seized them like there is no tomorrow, so he has gotten me used to using it on every bolt and nut. I'm just going to have to not be so lazy and lay under it more often.

Today we went to the car show in Punta Gorda and both cars ran great. Dan is starting to get more confidence in this motor being right and I am really happy for his sake the problems seem to be behind us.

These homebuilt creations are SO much fun.

Don

 

[Tripper]

These homebuilt creations are SO much fun.

I like to call it... the... er... "Joys of Hot Rodding"!!! [ddd[ddd

BoB

 

[goose-em]

Loctite is great stuff for certain applications (I am noting you did not loctite these)

I tried loctite on a machine at work where the bolts were constantly coming loose, blue loctite, no worky, red loctite, no worky, green loctite, no worky.

Gave up and redesigned the bolt so that it has a set screw that locks it in place, couldn't wire these.

Moral of the story, loctite is great stuff but is not foolproof. Still need to check thing once in awhile.

Of course I am with you Don, I hate maintenance, washing a car, ha, my wife washes hers, my F250 hasn't been washed by anything but mother nature for the past 4 years, maybe if it was new and shiny I would wash it but it is a 95 forest service truck so the green color needs the dirt to hide the ugly anyway.

 

[Ricks Garage]

Drag a magnet behind you to catch falling bolts.....
Had a similar problem....I bought a lot of lock washers and installed them...worked a lot better than locktite, plus its easy to see if the nut is backing off. Of course you HAVE to look at the nuts and bolts once in awhile.....

 

[hapster]

This spring I will have to get under the car and check mounts as well. Haven't done it since I put it together 2 years ago. I do check my front ball joints and tie rods like Timbo does. The thing is noisy enough being a roadster.






is it spring yet?