Midwest Musclecar Challenge **May 29th & 30th**

[MarkM66]

Originally Posted by 69MyWay

Well guys, just finished putting the trans back in. He replaced the entire case, valve body..etc.

Now...it has all the gears (after it warms up) but it won't shift OUT of 3rd unless you back way off and baby it.

I'm driving it up to the trans shop in the morning for him to ride in it if it makes it there.

I'm not feeling the love for this car to make it. If somebody was standing here with a checkbook in hand...this would be the time to make this car disappear - family treasure or not

Sounds like a never ending pain in the azz. Good luck .

[69MyWay]

Originally Posted by MarkM66

Sounds like a never ending pain in the azz. Good luck .

The funny thing is I considered taking this opportunity when it first went south to put a T56 in. I found a couple in the local area, but then thought this would surely cause delays. So, I instead opted to do what I figured was the wise conservative thing and fix what I have instead of re-inventing the wheel.

DOH! Now, I have spent as much money as I could have bought a pull out T56...and am still no-where-ville.

[69MyWay]

For real...it is fixed this time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You guys are not going to believe this. While the goof up of no gears except manual low and reverse was truly something that went wrong in the rebuild the rest of the problem was....

wait for it



wait for it



wait for it



The speedometer. It has an Autometer Pro-comp ultra light unit. While the speedo reads perfect, if you watch on the scanner after about 45 mph it starts swinging wildly and as you speed up more it bounces around 25 to 37 mph while you are actually doing 80. The whole time the needle is steady and solid.

Something is backfeeding into the PCM. I unplugged the speedo and all is well. Just took it on a major test with the scanner hooked and the trans guys. It is functioning like a jewel. Better than ever actually since it turns out it didn't need a trans overhaul anyway in the first place!

So, going to use the GPS to keep Johny Law from putting the blue lights in the rear view on the way over and back...and place a call to Autometer to sort this out.

[69MyWay]

Autometer said there have been times where they have seen the speedo more or less "hog" up the signal. When it does this it doesn't leave enough for the PCM and you get goofy shifting.

That appears to be our issue. The speedo head has either fried, or something, but we will use the GPS this weekend and deal with that later.

I can experiment putting a resistor in-line to cut the signal to the gauge - he said this often works.

[69MyWay]

The event was worth every penny of the pain and time getting the car ready to go.

WOW - the organizers, sponsors...and volunteers that stepped up to make this happen were incredible.

I've never, and I repeat NEVER seen an event go so smooth and so well as this one. Everything was timed out to give ample track, social...and cool down time.

Was talking to my wife and came up with this. It was like an All-YOU-CAN-EAT-BUFFET of automotive tire smoking fun. There was so much track time that you could either run your wheels off...or sit it out for a lap or two...and still had more than enough time to thrash the car and improve your skills.

Putnam road course was clean, nice, and FAST. The track was top notch in every way. The sound system was key as well. It worked...you could hear what was going on and the announcement personality was awesome!

The cruise was a great wind down...cool down, topped off with some of the best ribs I've ever had. The families that came to this event were friendly and fun to hang with.

Thanks to the SCCA stepping up, the mid america course was fast, fun, and safe. Again, the sound system was perfect. There wasn't any crummy old music playing - just the sound of engines and tires getting lovingly abused while effective and entertaining commentary kept you up to date on what was happening.

My transmission was PERFECT - should have been - considering I just had it rebuilt when it wasn't bad to begin with! The car ran cool and smooth. We drove there and back - no trailer at all, so I laid off the car a bit and put it away between sessions once I had my fill at the buffet. Still managed to rank 24th in the overall unofficial points.

One the way home the in-tank fuel pump quit. It couldn't have quit at a better spot and thanks to a very kind man, I was able to get a ride to the store and we had it changed and were back on the road within an hour. Turned out a good thing we left a little early or else we would have been in the dark long after stores were closed. Everything works out for a reason!

Anyway - best show...er, I mean EVENT ever!

Can't wait until next year.

[Jimi-FM3]

Chris, thanks for the props, glad you had a good time! That's the best one-man testimonial I have ever seen, mind if we use it on our website?

[69MyWay]

Originally Posted by Jimi-FM3

Chris, thanks for the props, glad you had a good time! That's the best one-man testimonial I have ever seen, mind if we use it on our website?

Sure! Can't wait until next year!