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That sucks man, it always feels like it never ends, but that is just absurdly unlucky.

I have no idea what the initial problem was, but I'm thinking an initial flywheel/crankshaft issue caused this.

Good luck

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This is my dad's first car and it has sat multiple times due to it being to frustrating and dad steps away from it for a while. We redid my car when I was in high school instead of working on his. Him and I have barely even got to cruise around together because of the problems we run into with his car.
Worst part is that I know the car is just going to sit for quite a while cause my dad is just done with it. Putting all the time and money into rebuilding everything and now that's what happens. rant/venting over

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Wooooow, that is freaking impressive. Plenty-o-$$$-carnage. Sorry it's going to take a lot out of your dad's passion for the car.

I can think of a few ways to tear up something like that.
Bad mounts.
Incorrect drive shaft angle, maybe length.
Cracked bell that escaped detection.
Missing/loose bolts.

Lot's of ways to get there.

Were you banging on it? Hit any big bumps?

All fun and games until you break something and the wallet needs to come back out.

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So we rebuilt the motor last year and had a new clutch, pressure plate, flywheel, throwout (sp?) bearing put in. But we still had a slight vibration, so that was the only thing that hadn't been replaced. Took his old one out and had it rebuilt. Transmission guy said all seemed okay as far as possible vibrations coming from that, but went ahead and replaced a few things in there that had wear. Tighten everything back up and the car didn't want to go in any gear. Got the clutch rod adjusted correctly and this was the second time taking it out on the road. First time was a local cruise, 5 mph up and down a street blocked off for the cruise and a ten minute ride on the highway there and back. Then today took it out and got on it twice. Heading home going 45 mph and then that. I thought pinion angle as others talk about on here, but the car has been set up this way since the 80's. correctly aligned the bellhousing studs, so that takes out that possibility.
Also while chasing the vibration problem my dads bellhousing had previously broke and it was welded back together. Told transmission guy about that and he sent us a new one $$$. Also motor mounts are new and not the cheap ones and the transmission mount was new (now toasted). I believe rebuild on this was over 1k and less than 50 miles (at most) later it eats itself. Went back and found a big chunk of the bellhousing, clutch rod, boot, and the fork on the road.
I'm surprised at how my dad kept his cool through it all. Best case scenario is it needs a new bellhousing, transmission, and the radiator fixed. Usually when I'm I'll go take a cruise in my bee or challenger, well definitely not doing that tonight!!
Trying to do a few things to my car before Nationals, but this has killed it for me too. I'd rather just work on getting his car going again that weekend.

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After sleeping on this, I bet that bellhousing needed to be indexed even though it was stock, and was just a bit too far off

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After sleeping on this, I bet that bellhousing needed to be indexed even though it was stock, and was just a bit too far off

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This , new bellhousing , it is not indexed to the engine . Original bellhousing are attached to the engine block when it is being machined and mated to it .

the vibration could have been anything , it should have been found .

I'll ask a dumb question , was there a cover on the bottom of that bellhousing ? Also what was the source of that bellhousing , used replacement part or brand new ?

as far as the pinion angle , you say it's been like that since the 80's , but that doesn't mean it's correct , what were the rear springs ? Was the rear and original car rear or a modified truck rear ?

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Indexed, does that equal the dowel pin deal? If so, that was done. I believe it had one of the plastic inspection covers on it. It is the correct Dana for the car with SS leaf springs still on it.
Well considering we got an entirely different block, different balancer, literally everything was different and it was still present. Nobody could figure out what it was from.
New motor, unhook all the power accessories and it was still there.
New motor mounts, new front end, new transmission mount, driveshaft balanced, new u joints all the way around, different exhaust (in case it was hitting) etc etc.
Cut the input shaft in case that was the problem and that did nothing. Then when we got the transmission rebuild that was all new input shaft and what not. I would have to find a receipt to see if the bellhousing was used or brand new. The "new" bellhousing was used before we got the transmission rebuilt with no problem. One of us would torque down bolts and other would always check, we were that paranoid (cautious?).
Look at previous threads I had on this problem and no solutions worked out.
Thats about all I can think that we have done with the car. O and lots of cursing at it over the past 3-5 years . Something I was surprised I did not even hear last night when this happened lol.

We've thought of just about everything, even possibility that the floor pans weren't welded in good enough and that's how were feeling it

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After sleeping on this, I bet that bellhousing needed to be indexed even though it was stock, and was just a bit too far off

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This , new bellhousing , it is not indexed to the engine . Original bellhousing are attached to the engine block when it is being machined and mated to it .

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After sleeping on this, I bet that bellhousing needed to be indexed even though it was stock, and was just a bit too far off

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This , new bellhousing , it is not indexed to the engine . Original bellhousing are attached to the engine block when it is being machined and mated to it .

the vibration could have been anything , it should have been found .

I'll ask a dumb question , was there a cover on the bottom of that bellhousing ? Also what was the source of that bellhousing , used replacement part or brand new ?

as far as the pinion angle , you say it's been like that since the 80's , but that doesn't mean it's correct , what were the rear springs ? Was the rear and original car rear or a modified truck rear ?

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Indexed, does that equal the dowel pin deal? If so, that was done. I believe it had one of the plastic inspection covers on it. It is the correct Dana for the car with SS leaf springs still on it.
Well considering we got an entirely different block, different balancer, literally everything was different and it was still present. Nobody could figure out what it was from.
New motor, unhook all the power accessories and it was still there.
New motor mounts, new front end, new transmission mount, driveshaft balanced, new u joints all the way around, different exhaust (in case it was hitting) etc etc.
Cut the input shaft in case that was the problem and that did nothing. Then when we got the transmission rebuild that was all new input shaft and what not. I would have to find a receipt to see if the bellhousing was used or brand new. The "new" bellhousing was used before we got the transmission rebuilt with no problem. One of us would torque down bolts and other would always check, we were that paranoid (cautious?).
Look at previous threads I had on this problem and no solutions worked out.
Thats about all I can think that we have done with the car. O and lots of cursing at it over the past 3-5 years . Something I was surprised I did not even hear last night when this happened lol.

We've thought of just about everything, even possibility that the floor pans weren't welded in good enough and that's how were feeling it

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hi ,

with that kind of damage there shoud have been oi /trany fluid every where ?

did not see it in the pic , you did have fluid in it ????

also is that a internal balanced engine or a cast crank external needing a matching flywheel ?

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This happened ~a mile up the road. Someone gave me a ride to our house and I grabbed the truck to pull it home. Realized the driveshaft was not going to cooperate so went back home and got tools. Basically the pictures are from 2.5 hours after this happened and in our shed. It was full of fluid, you can follow our trail home bc of all the fluid. That and a bunch of antifreeze. I don't remember the motor specs, but this all was looked at before the rebuild since the vibration was the reason for a rebuild. Once again rebuild = New block, heads were reworked for the old motor bc someone said that could be the vibration, new crank, cam, everything.
I work overnights so I'm heading to bed now. Don't really know what my dad is gonna do with the car now. I wanted to start taking it out last night, but kept as is to document better and see what dad thinks.
Thanks for all the replies though and constructive criticism. I will show dad this to verify what I'm saying is correct or answer questions I can't.

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After sleeping on this, I bet that bellhousing needed to be indexed even though it was stock, and was just a bit too far off

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This , new bellhousing , it is not indexed to the engine . Original bellhousing are attached to the engine block when it is being machined and mated to it .

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I can see that you have never been in an engine machining / assembly plant.

The only thing attached to an engine block for machining is the bearing caps or main bearing bedplate (if equipped).

A bellhousing is machined separately, most likely in a separate plant, or at a minimum in a separate area of the plant, and taken off a palate or feeder and randomly selected to be bolted to the back of an engine. This is a relatively non-critical joint as far as geometry goes.

Looks like an assembly error to me. Probably left the bolts loose.

Accidents happen, especially on long term off again / on again projects.

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After sleeping on this, I bet that bellhousing needed to be indexed even though it was stock, and was just a bit too far off

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This , new bellhousing , it is not indexed to the engine . Original bellhousing are attached to the engine block when it is being machined and mated to it .

the vibration could have been anything , it should have been found .

I'll ask a dumb question , was there a cover on the bottom of that bellhousing ? Also what was the source of that bellhousing , used replacement part or brand new ?

as far as the pinion angle , you say it's been like that since the 80's , but that doesn't mean it's correct , what were the rear springs ? Was the rear and original car rear or a modified truck rear ?

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Indexed, does that equal the dowel pin deal? If so, that was done. I believe it had one of the plastic inspection covers on it. It is the correct Dana for the car with SS leaf springs still on it.
Well considering we got an entirely different block, different balancer, literally everything was different and it was still present. Nobody could figure out what it was from.
New motor, unhook all the power accessories and it was still there.
New motor mounts, new front end, new transmission mount, driveshaft balanced, new u joints all the way around, different exhaust (in case it was hitting) etc etc.
Cut the input shaft in case that was the problem and that did nothing. Then when we got the transmission rebuild that was all new input shaft and what not. I would have to find a receipt to see if the bellhousing was used or brand new. The "new" bellhousing was used before we got the transmission rebuilt with no problem. One of us would torque down bolts and other would always check, we were that paranoid (cautious?).
Look at previous threads I had on this problem and no solutions worked out.
Thats about all I can think that we have done with the car. O and lots of cursing at it over the past 3-5 years . Something I was surprised I did not even hear last night when this happened lol.

We've thought of just about everything, even possibility that the floor pans weren't welded in good enough and that's how were feeling it

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Cast crank or forged , internal or external balance ? Was the flywheel checked for neutral if it's a neutral as i see it is an OLD original flywheel. SS springs , was the pinion angle corrected when they were originally installed as they do change the pinion angle.

Yes indexing is the offset dowel deal. Do you have a picture of that bellhousing when it was in one piece ?

Link to old thread on this issue ?

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Cast crank or forged , internal or external balance ? Was the flywheel checked for neutral if it's a neutral as i see it is an OLD original flywheel. SS springs , was the pinion angle corrected when they were originally installed as they do change the pinion angle.

Yes indexing is the offset dowel deal. Do you have a picture of that bellhousing when it was in one piece ?

Link to old thread on this issue ?

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Lot's of answers found in the old thread. You actually helped out also.
Here is the one I could find. Seems this issue has been going on longer than I remembered.

https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Number=5264280

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After sleeping on this, I bet that bellhousing needed to be indexed even though it was stock, and was just a bit too far off

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This , new bellhousing , it is not indexed to the engine . Original bellhousing are attached to the engine block when it is being machined and mated to it .

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I can see that you have never been in an engine machining / assembly plant.

The only thing attached to an engine block for machining is the bearing caps or main bearing bedplate (if equipped).

A bellhousing is machined separately, most likely in a separate plant, or at a minimum in a separate area of the plant, and taken off a palate or feeder and randomly selected to be bolted to the back of an engine. This is a relatively non-critical joint as far as geometry goes.

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I'm going to GUESS that you did not work for Chrysler in their engine plant back in the 60's? ... Neither did I .... I see that you are were a Diesel development Engineer and have probably forgotten more than I know, but ....

I don't know if I saved it but on more than one occasion a picture has been posted on this website during a discussion about this subject ... indexing a bellhousing ... showing Chrysler engine blocks before/awaiting assembly and it clearly shows EMPTY blocks both with and without bellhousings attached to them waiting for their turn.

I put a stock '513 alum 130 tooth bellhousing on the back of a 68 383 block and checked the runout , it wasn't even close to the factory allowable spec ...

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Seems like the problem bounced around a bit, but in the old thread ph23vo mentions you might have the big rod.
If your engine has the "six pack rods" which were much bigger than the LY rods you need to have a specific harmonic balancer, AS WELL as a specific flywheel. Even though it is a steel crank. With the six pack rods there isn't enough weight on the counter balance weights of the crank to offset the weight of the rods.


If you DO have the six pack rods, then AFTER you get the proper balancer (it will look assymetrical, with more weight on one side)you then need to have the whole rotating assembly (pistons, rods, crank, balancer, and flywheel) ALL BALANCED TOGETHER.

IF you DON'T have six pack rods, then you need to get a harmonic dampner and flyhweel that are completely symmetrical (no weights on one side)
and it should still be balanced, although this time balanced without the dampner and flywheel.

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Seems like the problem bounced around a bit, but in the old thread ph23vo mentions you might have the big rod.
If your engine has the "six pack rods" which were much bigger than the LY rods you need to have a specific harmonic balancer, AS WELL as a specific flywheel. Even though it is a steel crank. With the six pack rods there isn't enough weight on the counter balance weights of the crank to offset the weight of the rods.


If you DO have the six pack rods, then AFTER you get the proper balancer (it will look assymetrical, with more weight on one side)you then need to have the whole rotating assembly (pistons, rods, crank, balancer, and flywheel) ALL BALANCED TOGETHER.

IF you DON'T have six pack rods, then you need to get a harmonic dampner and flyhweel that are completely symmetrical (no weights on one side)
and it should still be balanced, although this time balanced without the dampner and flywheel.

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68 wouldn't have big rods but they could have been swapped in but you don't really need to have it external balance. I had a big rod/heavy TRW piston rod combo internal balanced , small amout of weight added back to the crank. I prefer internal balnce over external balance.

68 , when you get the flywheel off put up a picture of both side s please.

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Woke up to let the puppy out. I'll try to answer all questions quickly.

I do not know what the runout was on it either time. Sometimes they tell you to trim the input if you have a certain bearing in the crank, can't think off the top of my head. But that is what the transmission guys will say (mopar specific guys). It did not change anything, so they replaced that completely.
I don't remember what I meant when I said it looked sideways. I probably just didn't know what I was looking at, at the time haha. That was probably about the time I overhauled my first transmission on my car. If anything, I'd imagine we replaced the transmission mount. Pretty sure even twice. We were literally trying everything, multiple times (where is banging head against wall smiley)
I will check the bell-housing to front bearing retainer. Would hope its the same as we got the trans overhauled and bell-housing from the same person. Thanks!
CabBurge, never wrecked and the vibration felt would be sitting still or driving above, say, 3000 rpm's. With the clutch pressed in or out.

I'll take pictures of everything as we take it out.

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I will check the bell-housing to front bearing retainer. Would hope its the same as we got the trans overhauled and bell-housing from the same person.


the vibration felt would be sitting still or driving above, say, 3000 rpm's. With the clutch pressed in or out.

I'll take pictures of everything as we take it out.

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the bearing retainer should be a snug/slip fit in the bell housing as it is what centers the trans to the crankshaft. The trans bolts are only there to hold it in place.

I'll agree if the vibration was felt sitting still with the clutch in or out and while the car was moving that indicates a severely mis-aligned bell housing, clutch, flywheel, crank, balancer, or other engine issue. keep us posted

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I'll agree if the vibration was felt sitting still with the clutch in or out and while the car was moving that indicates a severely mis-aligned bell housing, clutch, flywheel, crank, balancer, or other engine issue. keep us posted

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I'll agree if the vibration was felt sitting still with the clutch in or out and while the car was moving that indicates a severely mis-aligned bell housing, clutch, flywheel, crank, balancer, or other engine issue. keep us posted

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If the vibration is felt with the clutch pedal pushed IN then the bellhousing is a non-factor.

The big clue is it is felt when the pedal is pushed in as well, my money is on the engine having the wrong flywheel, it was out of balance and the crank finally broke at or near the flange and the carnage followed.

Sorry man, but I suspect that you are looking at an engine rebuild with a fresh crank (all the bearings will be beat to hell from the imbalance) along with a bellhousing and crank. Best check the driveshaft wasn't bent too.

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I'll disagree for the following reasons,
If the bell housing was far enough off center or out of plane with the back of the block it could create a binding on the input shaft that could lead to a vibration whether the clutch was in or out.
I would also like to say that at this time we don't know what the root cause was, nor do we know the extent of the damage. The motor may or may not be fine. Statements such as

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the crank finally broke at or near the flange and the carnage followed.

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are pure speculation and will only make the OP feel worse than he already does

no offense meant to you just trying to help the guy find his problem

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Lot's of answers found in the old thread. You actually helped out also.
Here is the one I could find. Seems this issue has been going on longer than I remembered.

https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Number=5264280

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with the clutch, pressure plate, d-shaft and trans out there was no vibration at any rpm.
put in new clutch, pressure plate, flywheel (refurbished from brewers), rebuilt transmission, new throw out bearing, and the vibration is still there

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Re read that several times and think it through, the answer appears to be somewhere in the second sentence of the above quote

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I'll disagree for the following reasons,
If the bell housing was far enough off center or out of plane with the back of the block it could create a binding on the input shaft that could lead to a vibration whether the clutch was in or out.

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The motor may or may not be fine. Statements such as

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the crank finally broke at or near the flange and the carnage followed.

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are pure speculation and will only make the OP feel worse than he already does

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... and if you look at the one picture of the crank flange it looks like the back of the flywheel isn't in plane with the back of the block.

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... and if you look at the one picture of the crank flange it looks like the back of the flywheel isn't in plane with the back of the block.

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I was noticing the same thing .

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In my first response I was thinking that it looked like that was what happened, but wasn't sure if it was just a funny picture. Still, something was the source of a vibration with the transmission installed, which makes me think that whatever the failure was the root cause was in the bellhousing runout.

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From one of your posts in the old thread

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with the clutch, pressure plate, d-shaft and trans out there was no vibration at any rpm.
put in new clutch, pressure plate, flywheel (refurbished from brewers), rebuilt transmission, new throw out bearing, and the vibration is still there

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Re read that several times and think it through, the answer appears to be somewhere in the second sentence of the above quote

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Refurbished flywheel from a well known, all Mopar transmission guy?

The camera angle was weird on that pic as the flywheel looks even all the way around once fully under the car. It won't budge anywhere with a pry bar. I'll be able to talk with my dad tomorrow to see what the plan of attack is.

edit: also, the vibration is not as bad as it used to be before all of these new parts were put on it. It wasn't jarring or anything horrible, just enough to annoy you. But most of that subsided. Since we have been working on this problem, it has gone 2-300 miles at the most. That's including the old set up and when the problem appeared. So he hasn't driven it much at all because of it, just don't want you all to think that he's been driving it all around with this problem.
I've driven my super bee 25,000 miles on a transmission and bell set up that we did years ago. Have had my transmission in and out 3 times since I've owned it. Not saying mistakes don't happen, but we've done this in the past and no problems.


Also to clarify exactly what the vibration was felt in all of these scenarios:
-At a dead stop with clutch pushed in and revved up and with clutch released when revved up.
-Driving, no particular speed was it felt at, only at the rpm level. (Just the same thing as if it was at a dead stop).
So really that takes out the driveshaft, although I understand "good" pinion angle is not guaranteed.
Would the possibility of poorly welded front floor pans cause a flex on the area where the transmission mount is....? Trying to think out of the box .
I still will investigate all ideas you all have written. I really do appreciate it everyone

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The camera angle was weird on that pic as the flywheel looks even all the way around once fully under the car. It won't budge anywhere with a pry bar. I'll be able to talk with my dad tomorrow to see what the plan of attack is.

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From one of your posts in the old thread

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with the clutch, pressure plate, d-shaft and trans out there was no vibration at any rpm.
put in new clutch, pressure plate, flywheel (refurbished from brewers), rebuilt transmission, new throw out bearing, and the vibration is still there

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Re read that several times and think it through, the answer appears to be somewhere in the second sentence of the above quote

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Refurbished flywheel from a well known, all Mopar transmission guy?

The camera angle was weird on that pic as the flywheel looks even all the way around once fully under the car. It won't budge anywhere with a pry bar. I'll be able to talk with my dad tomorrow to see what the plan of attack is.

edit: also, the vibration is not as bad as it used to be before all of these new parts were put on it. It wasn't jarring or anything horrible, just enough to annoy you. But most of that subsided. Since we have been working on this problem, it has gone 2-300 miles at the most. That's including the old set up and when the problem appeared. So he hasn't driven it much at all because of it, just don't want you all to think that he's been driving it all around with this problem.
I've driven my super bee 25,000 miles on a transmission and bell set up that we did years ago. Have had my transmission in and out 3 times since I've owned it. Not saying mistakes don't happen, but we've done this in the past and no problems.


Also to clarify exactly what the vibration was felt in all of these scenarios:
-At a dead stop with clutch pushed in and revved up and with clutch released when revved up.
-Driving, no particular speed was it felt at, only at the rpm level. (Just the same thing as if it was at a dead stop).
So really that takes out the driveshaft, although I understand "good" pinion angle is not guaranteed.
Would the possibility of poorly welded front floor pans cause a flex on the area where the transmission mount is....? Trying to think out of the box .
I still will investigate all ideas you all have written. I really do appreciate it everyone

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From one of your posts in the old thread

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with the clutch, pressure plate, d-shaft and trans out there was no vibration at any rpm.
put in new clutch, pressure plate, flywheel (refurbished from brewers), rebuilt transmission, new throw out bearing, and the vibration is still there

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Re read that several times and think it through, the answer appears to be somewhere in the second sentence of the above quote

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Refurbished flywheel from a well known, all Mopar transmission guy?

The camera angle was weird on that pic as the flywheel looks even all the way around once fully under the car. It won't budge anywhere with a pry bar. I'll be able to talk with my dad tomorrow to see what the plan of attack is.

edit: also, the vibration is not as bad as it used to be before all of these new parts were put on it. It wasn't jarring or anything horrible, just enough to annoy you. But most of that subsided. Since we have been working on this problem, it has gone 2-300 miles at the most. That's including the old set up and when the problem appeared. So he hasn't driven it much at all because of it, just don't want you all to think that he's been driving it all around with this problem.
I've driven my super bee 25,000 miles on a transmission and bell set up that we did years ago. Have had my transmission in and out 3 times since I've owned it. Not saying mistakes don't happen, but we've done this in the past and no problems.


Also to clarify exactly what the vibration was felt in all of these scenarios:
-At a dead stop with clutch pushed in and revved up and with clutch released when revved up.
-Driving, no particular speed was it felt at, only at the rpm level. (Just the same thing as if it was at a dead stop).
So really that takes out the driveshaft, although I understand "good" pinion angle is not guaranteed.
Would the possibility of poorly welded front floor pans cause a flex on the area where the transmission mount is....? Trying to think out of the box .
I still will investigate all ideas you all have written. I really do appreciate it everyone

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Have the floor pans been replaced ?

I'd be looking at an imbalance with the Flywheel and pressure plate .

Did you confirm the flywheel was neutral balance or did you just ASSuME it because you got the flywheel from "a well known, all Mopar transmission guy" ?

Not that I'm knocking Wayne, but I have bought high dollar parts from big name companies that were not as good as they should have been.

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I would not even be thinking about the floor pans etc. An old engineering manager of mine would call that "chasing ghosts". The answer is somewhere in your previous post.

The vibration appears after installing the clutch assembly and transmission, OK that would indicate to me the vibration was due to
1. something in the clutch assembly.
2. A problem with the bell housing itself
3. The transmission.

Another thing to keep in mind is, we don't know that the vibration caused the failure only that it was there before. the 40 year old bell housing may have been fractured due to being dropped and it was not apparent.
I have seen 2 very similar failures (almost identical) both were caused by an incorrect bearing retainer OD to Bell housing ID.

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I see what you're saying, but this has been happening after two different clutches, pressure plates, bellhousings, flywheels, bearings in the crank and after a complete re-haul of the transmission, new fork etc. The car has never been wrecked either (i don't think I answered that earlier).So I can't dismiss something as dumb(trust me, I know it is dumb) as that. But it could have simply been the bellhousing, i believe that was the first thing I found in the road when I retrieved pieces. Once we take it out I will check the bearing sizes.
I'll be back with more info/pictures on Wednesday at the earliest, or if dad pulls it out by himself before then. Isn't too hard since the only thing holding the transmission is the transmission mount .
Thanks again fellas

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I would not even be thinking about the floor pans etc. An old engineering manager of mine would call that "chasing ghosts". The answer is somewhere in your previous post.

The vibration appears after installing the clutch assembly and transmission, OK that would indicate to me the vibration was due to
1. something in the clutch assembly.
2. A problem with the bell housing itself
3. The transmission.

Another thing to keep in mind is, we don't know that the vibration caused the failure only that it was there before. the 40 year old bell housing may have been fractured due to being dropped and it was not apparent.
I have seen 2 very similar failures (almost identical) both were caused by an incorrect bearing retainer OD to Bell housing ID.

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I would not even be thinking about the floor pans etc. An old engineering manager of mine would call that "chasing ghosts". The answer is somewhere in your previous post.

The vibration appears after installing the clutch assembly and transmission, OK that would indicate to me the vibration was due to
1. something in the clutch assembly.
2. A problem with the bell housing itself
3. The transmission.

Another thing to keep in mind is, we don't know that the vibration caused the failure only that it was there before. the 40 year old bell housing may have been fractured due to being dropped and it was not apparent.
I have seen 2 very similar failures (almost identical) both were caused by an incorrect bearing retainer OD to Bell housing ID.

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I see what you're saying, but this has been happening after two different clutches, pressure plates, bellhousings, flywheels, bearings in the crank and after a complete re-haul of the transmission, new fork etc. The car has never been wrecked either (i don't think I answered that earlier).So I can't dismiss something as dumb(trust me, I know it is dumb) as that. But it could have simply been the bellhousing, i believe that was the first thing I found in the road when I retrieved pieces. Once we take it out I will check the bearing sizes.
I'll be back with more info/pictures on Wednesday at the earliest, or if dad pulls it out by himself before then. Isn't too hard since the only thing holding the transmission is the transmission mount .
Thanks again fellas

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The motor rebuild was a different block and all internal stuff was different. The old 440 is still sitting in the shed with just the heads off, intake and carb off, they're on the new block. The only reason flywheel and stuff was switched originally was bc we were looking for what the vibration was from. Different motor, flywheel, clutch, bellhousing, etc and it still the exact same symptoms (vibration when in higher rpm's). I may jump on taking parts out Saturday, just because I'm curious on the extent of damage and of course to get your all's help.

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JohnRR, you may be forgetting that he says it vibrated with the clutch pedal in, also vibrated with the clutch pedal out but the transmission in neutral.

I'm beginning to wonder if it is either a perception problem or something off the wall like a distributor with slightly misshaped toothed wheel or cam.

R.

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Could be all of the above ???

Was the car in motion while the clutch pedal was pushed in or was it stationary ?

IF stationary that points to an engine imbalance , but with 2 different engines ?

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JohnRR, you may be forgetting that he says it vibrated with the clutch pedal in, also vibrated with the clutch pedal out but the transmission in neutral.

I'm beginning to wonder if it is either a perception problem or something off the wall like a distributor with slightly misshaped toothed wheel or cam.

R.

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Could be all of the above ???

Was the car in motion while the clutch pedal was pushed in or was it stationary ?

IF stationary that points to an engine imbalance , but with 2 different engines ?

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Hadn't thought of that. I had a problem that I coulda swore was my carburetor. But putting a different coil on it fixed the problem, even though I was just changing it just to change it. Who knows at this point what it is, I haven't messed with it and don't know if dad has either.

Clutch pushed in and out, moving or sitting still and it is felt.

More to come in a few days.

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We are getting a new garage and we were cleaning the old one out so we can tear it down. Power goes out in our neighborhood, so we hop in the GTX too cruise around a bit. Drove around town for a bit and heading home. A mile from our house the car starts grinding and sparks flying everywhere. I thought the driveshaft had just fallen off from the u joint at the rear. Well Dad finally gets it to stop and we go out to assess what happened. First thing we saw radiator was leaking and the transmission looked loose. Driveshaft angle was off, so we pulled it off and towed the car home. Get home, lights go on just as we finish pushing the car in the shed.
I hop under since I can finally see and find this:






The completely rebuilt motor was just finished up last year, transmission was professionally rebuilt, new clutch, pressure plate, bellhousing, driveshaft balanced, etc.
I mean where do you even start on fixing this? The motor let loose and came forward, so the fan took out the radiator in the center, who knows what could be wrong in the motor with the input shaft on the transmission completely ripping off, and hopefully it didn't mess up the rearend. The bellhousing ripped in half along with the front shaft! 18 spline transmission too. So frustrated as we have been messing with this car for two years and now this. The 440 is not pumping out tons of HP either, it is probably a mid to high 13 second car if I were to compare it to my (slow) 14.5 quarter I get in my super bee.

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your bell housing broke probably due to cracks. that left no support for the transmission which then failed as a result. the engine then dropped as there was no support at the rear and that got the radiator. I have blown a bell housing into 100 little bits. unless the rear crank flange is bent , the engine will most likely be fine.[be sure to install a new pilot bushing] this can be checked with a known flat flywheel mounted and a dial indicator if you want to know. then,#1. get the engine back upright and block it level temp. put the known properly balanced flywheel on it and crank it without a disc or pressure plate. if it vibrates , it is in the engine. if it does not , add the disc and p-plate and re-check. you are all over the place with problems and you need to start from a known point to find your solution. btw. you can un-hook all the belts ,even the water pump to test this and add 1 at the time back!