Long sidebar about the above:
1 - That happened in Columbus. Two years in a row I destroyed something and was parked in that same pit spot.
I said to my buddy "man - I don't know what I'm going to do" and he replied "well - I'd start by parking somewhere else!".
2 -
I knew I was in trouble when the car kept slowing and slowing each pass, and when I returned to the pit and it left a trail of fluid. A quick check revealed it to be trans fluid, and a visual inspection from underneath revealed the big crack in the bellhousing that you can see in the picture.
I was pretty dejected, because it was our series "World Finals" in Columbus. My buddy, and engine builder - Scott - said "hey....why don't you just throw my spare trans in*. It's a TH400, so it should work...".
* - He carried that spare transmission around in the back of his truck (now my truck) everywhere he went - lol! He helped me move houses and there was that TH400 in the bed of the truck.
Knowing that these things always uncover some detail that ends up biting you in the (rear) end, I thought about it for a while. Finally, I said "Scott - is there any possible way this could not work?"
He said "How could it not work? It's a TH400, same as yours. Same length, same splines - everything's the same".
I said ok and we decided we would eat supper first and then tear into it.
So after eating I popped the car up in the air, and he and I had the trans out on the ground and the new trans installed in about 45 minutes. At that point it was time to slip the driveshaft back in and.....it wouldn't go. It was like the shaft was too long to clear the pinion flange on the rear axle. I couldn't get it pushed in far enough to get it to swing up into place. We horsed around jacking the car up and down, moving the rear axle up and down, even tried taking the bearing caps off the u joint - no luck.
So - now we're back where we started. I thought about it for a while and I said "you know, I have another shaft back at the house (in the Detroit area - about 5 hours away). It's a little shorter. I could call my wife, have her bring it - I could meet her halfway and we could visit and then I could bring it back from there".
So I did. I called my wife, walked her through finding this other drive shaft in the garage, and she drove down. We met in a rest area off I-75 in Bowling Green Ohio, had coffee, exchanged the driveshaft and each went back on our way. By the time I got back it was late Friday night/early Saturday morning.
Saturday morning I got up early, slipped the shaft in (it went right in!) and topped off the fluids. I fired the car and drove it around a bit, even going down to the end of the track to do a little burnout and a part throttle blast. Everything seemed to be in order.
When the time came, I went up for my first practice run. Did the burnout, it seemed fine. Staged the car, the lights came down, I nailed the throttle and.....blah.....the car was a total dog. Just kind of motored out off the line. I shifted into second and it picked up; I shifted into third and WHOA NELLY the engine free revved and I got off the throttle right away. What the heck?! I tried it another time or two on the return road and the same thing happened.
I got back to the pit area and said "Scott, I think your trans is broke....it's got no high gear". He said "well, that can't be right. It's a fresh rebuild, and we dyno tested it before I brought it home".
We sat down and thought about it for a little while. Finally, I jumped up and said "I know what the problem is!"
My car runs a "Full manual" valvebody, which means the car only shifts when you move the lever. If you put the shifter in 2nd, the car starts out in second. If you put the shifter in 3rd, the car starts out in third. Same with Scott's. But - my car runs the "standard" shift pattern (PRNDSL), Scott's car runs a "reverse" pattern (PRNLSD).
I had unwittingly started the car out in third gear, shifted to second, and then to first.
The burnout was ok because I always do the burnout in second gear.
I figured well, that's ok. I can just move my shifter intentionally in the wrong direction and still drive the car. I just thought it was funny because we so thought we had psyched every angle out.
In the end, it was a moot point. While waiting between rounds I decided to change the engine oil. After draining it I noticed it was full of bearing material and metal shavings, so I quit at that point (I know when I'm licked). Subsequent investigation revealed a spun rear main bearing and damaged block, which resulted in an entirely new engine, which is another story for another day.
At least it wasn't raining…
