Bolisk
Well-known member
So, went to a custom exhaust place yesterday. They had a drive on lift. They had me drive my '70 onto the lift (no issues), and they proceeded to install my custom 2.5" flowmater exhaust.
When finished, they told me to back the car down off the lift. I slowly did as instructed. . .only to be jolted to a stop with a loud metal on metal bang! I yelled out, what did I hit. . .and they said nothing arround the car. . .the under carrige must of hit the back side of the drive on ramps. So I put it in first gear and attempted to pull the car back on the ramp. I got about a foot forward, only to have the shifter pop out of gear (with nasy grinding noise), and followd by the car quickly rolling backwards for another jolting stop with another metal on metal bang! I tried it again, this time holding the shifter forward and got it back up on the lift.
A quick inspection showed that there did not appear to be any damage to the undercarage or any drive train parts. Besides the exhaust all hangs lower than all of the drive train parts (and there were no scratches. . .or nicks on the exhaust). There is only one spot on the car that is low enough to hit when backing off the lift, and that's the cross member that the exhaust passes through. So, we put 2X4's under the ramps and tried again. No issues this time.
I paid the nice man and went about my way. However, shortly after I began to notice that 1st gear was getting worst and worse. . .and would no longer stay in gear. . .no matter how hard I pushed on the shifter. I now have no first gear.
I quickly went to my local Corvette restoration house (Vetteran Automotive. . .good guys there), and told them I lost first gear. Joe the owner, always the comedian asked me if I went back and picked it up. For some reason, even though I was in no mood for humor. . .that made me laugh.
At any rate, Joe mentioned a few things that could be wrong but said I will have to wait until monday when he can get me in the shop. He also mentioned that he might have to cut a section of my newly installed custom exhaust out. . .because the exhaust shop welded the entire system together which blocks access to the tans. Appearently. . .the stock exaust is held together by clamps just forward of the cross frame member. . .so that the forward section can be removed for transmission service.
Sadly. . .and slowly (cause I have to start in 2nd) I made my way home, trying to think of what to say to my wife about the several hundered dollars I might have thrown away. Believe it or not, that was the worst part of the day. If I were single. . .I'd just say. . .oh well. . .stuff happens. . .and move on. But instead. . .I have to explain everything to my wife. . .and hope she doesn't get more mad than me. . .
So, now I'm sitting arround (until monday) racking my brain. . .trying to figure out what the hell happened. . .
So being the parinoind. . .yet inquisitive person that I am. I would love to hear what people think could be wrong with my tans. . .and explain to me how they think it could have happened.
One more thing. One of the first things I noticed, when I bought the car, was that when I put the shifter (hurst comp pluss) into first. . .it never seemed like the shifter was moving all the way forward as far as it goes in 3rd gear. Now that this problem has occued, it's worse than it was. . .and i have since confirmed that the shifter does not move as far forward as it does in third gear. It's about 1/4 to 1/2 inch shorter throw than third. Could this just be a simple "stop" adjustment? If so. . .why would it magically get worse from these two very low speed jolts.
Any explanations would be greatly appreciated.
-Bolisk
When finished, they told me to back the car down off the lift. I slowly did as instructed. . .only to be jolted to a stop with a loud metal on metal bang! I yelled out, what did I hit. . .and they said nothing arround the car. . .the under carrige must of hit the back side of the drive on ramps. So I put it in first gear and attempted to pull the car back on the ramp. I got about a foot forward, only to have the shifter pop out of gear (with nasy grinding noise), and followd by the car quickly rolling backwards for another jolting stop with another metal on metal bang! I tried it again, this time holding the shifter forward and got it back up on the lift.
A quick inspection showed that there did not appear to be any damage to the undercarage or any drive train parts. Besides the exhaust all hangs lower than all of the drive train parts (and there were no scratches. . .or nicks on the exhaust). There is only one spot on the car that is low enough to hit when backing off the lift, and that's the cross member that the exhaust passes through. So, we put 2X4's under the ramps and tried again. No issues this time.
I paid the nice man and went about my way. However, shortly after I began to notice that 1st gear was getting worst and worse. . .and would no longer stay in gear. . .no matter how hard I pushed on the shifter. I now have no first gear.
I quickly went to my local Corvette restoration house (Vetteran Automotive. . .good guys there), and told them I lost first gear. Joe the owner, always the comedian asked me if I went back and picked it up. For some reason, even though I was in no mood for humor. . .that made me laugh.
At any rate, Joe mentioned a few things that could be wrong but said I will have to wait until monday when he can get me in the shop. He also mentioned that he might have to cut a section of my newly installed custom exhaust out. . .because the exhaust shop welded the entire system together which blocks access to the tans. Appearently. . .the stock exaust is held together by clamps just forward of the cross frame member. . .so that the forward section can be removed for transmission service.
Sadly. . .and slowly (cause I have to start in 2nd) I made my way home, trying to think of what to say to my wife about the several hundered dollars I might have thrown away. Believe it or not, that was the worst part of the day. If I were single. . .I'd just say. . .oh well. . .stuff happens. . .and move on. But instead. . .I have to explain everything to my wife. . .and hope she doesn't get more mad than me. . .
So, now I'm sitting arround (until monday) racking my brain. . .trying to figure out what the hell happened. . .
So being the parinoind. . .yet inquisitive person that I am. I would love to hear what people think could be wrong with my tans. . .and explain to me how they think it could have happened.
One more thing. One of the first things I noticed, when I bought the car, was that when I put the shifter (hurst comp pluss) into first. . .it never seemed like the shifter was moving all the way forward as far as it goes in 3rd gear. Now that this problem has occued, it's worse than it was. . .and i have since confirmed that the shifter does not move as far forward as it does in third gear. It's about 1/4 to 1/2 inch shorter throw than third. Could this just be a simple "stop" adjustment? If so. . .why would it magically get worse from these two very low speed jolts.
Any explanations would be greatly appreciated.
-Bolisk
arent classic (or antique)cars the greatest form of relaxation
hnoes
