After our last track night at Daytona I developed this weird transmission leak. Running it was fine. If I parked it longer than a week, it would dump quarts of fluid out. Of all things that I can do, automatic transmissions are still completely black magic to me. So as I am doing my teardown for the swap to the new 408 engine and five speed trans conversion, I pulled out the old 904 transmission this week. As soon as I pulled it away from the engine, the case decided to do a impersonation of the grand canyon:
The bell housing is cracked right through the front pump mount and about 90% of the full way around! I am guessing during the last track night that maybe some flex did this. I did three wheel the big car a few times. That or it cracked when the harmonic balancer came apart on me on the highway. That was fun.
At any rate, since I have to fab up a new trans mount for the NV3500, I am going to make a longitudinal spool type mount that will allow some flex if need be. The car has a 6 point cage in it, but it doesn't tie to the front of the car. I am running the hard urethane K member mounts, and I beefed up the K frame while I had it apart. OH well, I beat the piss out of this car so things will happen I guess.
A little JB Weld, some Bondo, dab of paint, Good As New.
Damn. Last time I cracked a case like that I needed three surgeries. 
(Pics were taken five years later after it had been sitting)
That's some impressive carnage!
I'm dealing with a trans fluid leak as well this weekend in my truck, although fortunately it's just the line to the cooler.
The same thing happened to the Duster that Car Craft built in the 80s to give away as a prize. The poor editor who was tasked to drive it cross country (with no radio! And 14" tires with short gearing!) had to make an emergency stop right in the middle of nowhere when the trans kind of decided to be two-piece.
Dr. Hess said:
A little JB Weld, some Bondo, dab of paint, Good As New.
Then straight to Craigslist! I know what I've got! :)
Knurled. said:
The same thing happened to the Duster that Car Craft built in the 80s to give away as a prize. The poor editor who was tasked to drive it cross country (with no radio! And 14" tires with short gearing!) had to make an emergency stop right in the middle of nowhere when the trans kind of decided to be two-piece.
Wow! I guess I am lucky this thing stayed together. I drove it all the way from Daytona to Darlington and back!
You would post this just as I'm getting ready to dive into my 904.
NickD
PowerDork
11/1/19 7:21 a.m.
Knurled. said:
The same thing happened to the Duster that Car Craft built in the 80s to give away as a prize. The poor editor who was tasked to drive it cross country (with no radio! And 14" tires with short gearing!) had to make an emergency stop right in the middle of nowhere when the trans kind of decided to be two-piece.
I remember the guys at Bangshift dynoing a tired old Caprice 9C1 and the driveshaft came apart at 125mph wheel speeds and exited from under the car in like 3 pieces. They got under it, removed the transmission crossmember and the whole transmission fell out from under the car, with the bellhousing and the torque converter attached to the engine. Even better, they thought it was a junk U-joint, so chucked another driveshaft and a 700-R4 in only to have the same thing happen again. They got talking with some guys in the industry and discovered that over 120mph, they were exceeding the drivershat's material strength and they were just flying apart.
slantvaliant said:
You would post this just as I'm getting ready to dive into my 904.
Sorry man! But in all fairness, I beat the crap out of this car.
NickD said:
Knurled. said:
The same thing happened to the Duster that Car Craft built in the 80s to give away as a prize. The poor editor who was tasked to drive it cross country (with no radio! And 14" tires with short gearing!) had to make an emergency stop right in the middle of nowhere when the trans kind of decided to be two-piece.
I remember the guys at Bangshift dynoing a tired old Caprice 9C1 and the driveshaft came apart at 125mph wheel speeds and exited from under the car in like 3 pieces. They got under it, removed the transmission crossmember and the whole transmission fell out from under the car, with the bellhousing and the torque converter attached to the engine. Even better, they thought it was a junk U-joint, so chucked another driveshaft and a 700-R4 in only to have the same thing happen again. They got talking with some guys in the industry and discovered that over 120mph, they were exceeding the drivershat's material strength and they were just flying apart.
Damn! And that's what I am thinking here. I've made 157 with this car. Shooting for a 170-ish goal. It's fun finding weak points and fixing them.
