Ok, I had a very unfortunate incident happen to me last weekend. As some people who have been helping me on here know I had been working on putting my car back together with a rebuilt and modified drivetrain. My 350 had been mildly built to about 325 horse and 385 torque. I had my th350 rebuilt with a shift kit and 2400 stall converter and replaced my 2.56 open rearend with a 3.42 posi which I had someone check out for me and replace bearings. I finally got it back together and running and took it on its first drive. After a couple of miles I heard a clunk and my rear end locked up, luckily after I heard the clunk I had slowed down and started to pull over or that could have been bad itself. I got out and looked under the car and saw the pumpkin smoking. Immediatley I flipped out because I already knew what it was. I thought that the guy that worked on the rearend put fluid in it. He did not. I called him and he says he told me that he didn't which I don't recall. Either way this isn't about placing blame, I now know that I should have looked. The car will roll a little bit forward and backward before locking up. I have been too ticked off to even take the cover off and look yet. Regardless of whats wrong with it I don't have the money to put into fixing it right now as I have already spent a ton of money on this and the Wife is getting angry. Luckily I still have my original 2.56 peg leg rear that I can put back in. So my question is what to expect from my setup with the 2.56 rearend? Maybe that question doesn't make any sense but when I talked to my builder I told him what rearend and tranny I was going to use and he then recommended the cam and stall. Any thoughts are appreciated, I guess the reason I ask is it may be a while before I can afford to fix my posi rearend, knowing how hard the gears are to find and how expensive the carriers are.

 

I would just put the peg leg back in it for now and when you have the cash, fix the other one. You won't realize a lot of performance with the peg leg as it will be a 1 tire smoking machine. What you will get is a car you can enjoy in the mean time.

We've all been there on the failure of parts. Drive and enjoy for a while!

 

I second the vote for sticking the original rear back in. At least you'll get to drive it . . . and as you smoke off the tires just keep rotating them around the car.

 

Thanks, I am just so furious with myself at my own stupidity. Being a novice it just never even crossed my mind that the guy would give it back without fluid in it. But I suppose some people like to run different kinds of gear oil.

 

What are the cam specs?

 

Ha, thanks that actually sounds fun. You guys are giving me the motivation to work on it again. I didn't even want to look at the car after it happened.

 

I don't have the full specs with me but its an Elgin cam .472/.496

 

Another vote for putting the 2.56 back in and driving it.

These things happen, we all do dumb stuff, and we live and learn.
If we were perfect, we'd never get to do anything interesting or have any fun, because we'd know it all already.

It's always good to put "reminders" on things that look "finished" but aren't, such as if you leave an engine without oil in it, put a piece of duct tape over the ignition switch.

You'll never make this mistake again, but don't worry, you'll find another way to screw something up - we all do!

- Eric

 

Thanks Eric, yes it was a very stupid and expensive lesson learned

 

Oh OK. With that info, we know the rest.

One thing for sure; when you try the 3.42's again along with some gear oil , you will not miss the original 2.56 ratio.

 

We never forget these, btw I and probably all of us in the car hobby has had their spouse mad at them for one or more reasons in the past. She will not however, stay mad forever, just hint at, or remind you of, and in addition to.

 

Speak for yourself. Mine's got the memory of an elephant (though not the ankles, I must point out).

- Eric

 

Well, with the 2.56 it should save a
little on gas to help save up for the rebuild.
That really sucks though, he could have said SOMETHING!

 

I fired up a 307 with out a oil pump drive rod. stick the peg leg in it. Enjoy it. I didn't let a hurt engine damp my summer I stuck a tired 307 in it and cruised it everywhere.

 

That sucks but lessen learned put the stock diff in and enjoy the car. Take the wife for a date to the drive in or local car hop with the Cutlass. She might see the up side and not mind the money that you spend on it as much. Don't beat yourself up we all make mistakes.

 

Copper, don't beat yourself up over this. Be glad it wasn't a fresh engine that you started only to find that nobody put oil in. I'm a firm believer in rebuilding a drum-to-drum and changing the entire unit. I think I have 4 rears. Once they are done and set-up, the remove-install takes only about 2 hours. Done it for years. One breaks? No problem? Wanna change ratio? No problem. Snap an axle? No problem. I am fortunate to have the resources and space which many don't have, but I'm 55 and have been at this Muscle Car game 40 years, now.
Learn from your mistakes, don't dwell on them. You're getting off easy in the big picture---you can salvage what isn't bad and be driving in an afternoon. In a short time, you'll be laughing about this and smacking yourself in the back of the head for not thinking. Look, we ALL have done a bone-head move once or twice and anybody that says they haven't is either full of crap or doesn't really play with these cars. Be glad you'll learn something here, and it should never happen again, and I bet from now on your fluid levels (all of them) will be up to snuff.

 

A long time ago I changed the fluid in a Dodge Ramcharger I had. The differential made a lot of noise, especially in turns, I forgot to put the anti-slip additive in it...

 

Well said Dave.
Except for the Copper part, oops.

 

We can start a $hit happens thread.

 

I thought Coppercutlass started the thread. Oh well, see, we ALL make mistakes!

 

Oldcutlass that's probably a great subject to do a thread on.

 

You'll be fine with the 2.56 rear (other than perhaps reduced tread life on the RR tire).
I had to put the original 2.56 rear back under my car when I was rebuilding the 3.23 and I drove it to and from work for quite a while. I have a Hughes 2500 RPM stall and a 217/221 cam and the only detrimental thing was the slower acceleration. Highway cruising was nice, though.

 

That's it, just pokin fer fun.
Just like we have all been called a deick
once in a while. I know you thought it
as you were reading, I thought it about
myself as I was typing...

 

X 2. To getting it aback on the road quick with what you got. You will feel better instantly when you get behind the wheel again. I would get into the damaged rear pretty quick. It may not be as bad as you think. As for we have all been there.......I rebuilt my 66 440 GTX back in the day. Somehow did not adjust the hood lock correctly when I put the hood back on and the hood flew up at about 70 mph on the test drive. Couldn't see a thing and wrapped the car around a tree before I could get it stopped. I hope that makes you feel better. As for the wife.....the less she knows the better. Mine still thinks the 2500.oo bill from the machine shop for head work and engine machine work was to regasket the engine.......

 

I too vote swap it out for instant fun
take the wife out for a cruise, get some positive feedback.
Dig into the other one and see, it might not bee too bad.


Speak for yourself. Mine's got the memory of an elephant (though not the ankles, I must point out).
============
Heh
When I mentioned that my wife's memory as "one of her pachydermal traits" she did not find it NEARLY as amusing as her brother did.

 

You said ONE of.

Women read meaning into that sort of stuff, even when you don't mean it.

- Eric

 

Hey, I said she won't stay mad forever, but she will bring it up in the future. I can't remember what we had for dinner last night, she has a 33 year catalog of stuff she remembers.

 

Sorry to hear about your misfortune - we all do things like this now and then. And the ones who don't lie about it. Glad it wasn't your engine or it caused a wreck.
Just put the other rear in and drive for now.
Maybe put premium lube in the bad one and see it it heals!
J/K...

 

Sounds like he didn't finish the job?
How hard is it to put in some fluid and additive?

 

X2

 

I guess there are two trains of thought on whether he "completed" the job. I know my 4-speed guy leaves them empty for me to fill. My engine guy has run-in stand so they have HAD oil in them but they are usually drained empty when I pick them up. I always tape a note on anything to advise myself for stuff just like this. When I'm close to finishing a restoration I always make a list of what needs attention and most of the time tape it to a window. Better safe than sorry.

 

X 2 to weather it was up to the buiLder to fill or not. Remember a new one would probably come empty. But IMHO he should have put a large warning tag on the unit that it was empty and to fill before use.....

 

Sorry about what happened. It happens to all of us from time to time. Just the other week my brother took his race car out for a test drive to check the results of some tuning. He and my oldman forgot to put the pins back in the hood. When the hood lifted off the car it tore the heck out of the hood, the cowl, and front windshield. Bone head move, but they both thought the other had checked everything over. Oh well, we live and we learn.

 

I fill all of my rears with fluid and additive,and include that in the list of parts & labor. I just like to do it to check for leaks.Hopefully you get everything fixed and working fine.

 

Glad you posted this, it reminded me to fill the rear on my Cutlass!!!
My most recent mistake will make you feel better... After spending a few grand and untold hours on my engine and transmission rebuild last summer the trans-cooler line (pressure side) on the case was a little loose and the first time I stepped into it fluid shot out all over my perfectly detailed engine, the transmission, and the exhaust leaving a cloud of smoke behind me! I had to pull the transmission back out and rebuild it again as the pump gouged itself when dry.
We all make them, just gotta learn to laugh about it... later... after you repair it... and have forgotten how much it cost...

 

I don't know if the builder was local or not, but if the rear end had to be shipped, fluids could have been an issue.

 

I'd read it.
Was working at a Chevy dealer mid eightys. Brand new Camaro came in with a rear end noise. Mechanic replaced all the bearings, set preload, backlash, the whole nine yards. Took it for a test drive and it came back on a flatbed. He was the only one to work on it, but he forgot to add the fluid. To add insult to injury, when the rear end locked up (at speed), the left axle snapped, came out of the housing, and speared the quarter panel. Not sure, but with all the other. damage, I think it was totaled

 

Yes that is true, I was just figuring someone in his town and I guess I thought it was done in the car and he just let him drive off like that!!!!!!

 

Thanks for all the nice feedback guys. The builder was local, about a 10 minute drive away. Like you said live and learn. I did swap out the rear end last week, as you said only took about 2 hours. I pulled the cover on the bad rear and the pinion and ring gear are shot. 3.42 for an o-axle, we all know how hard those are to get right now. It appears the carrier is fine but I am going to bring it in to get a full extent of the damage.

 

As for the wife, she would rather you come back inside smelling like oil and fumes than perfume. She'll forget soon enough.