TexasJohn55

I just had to share this. I bought a parts car to keep it from getting crushed. After putting in a radiator and hoses, clocking distributor with new points and condensor, freeing up starter, removing plugs for inspection and replacement,( I spun it by hand before investing time in it) spun it by starter till it built oil pressure. Did a compression test, had enough to eliminate a dead hole. Dropped fuel line off electric pump into a bucket and fired it up. Within a minute it ran smooth, no knocks or rattles, lifters good. I let it warm up and dropped it in gear, dynaflow pulled good all gears and no whine. Can you beat that for a junker sitting in a field since the 80's? And the engine has 150 psi on all cyls except one which is 125. It actually sounds better than mine. I pulled the engine and trans. Ordered parts to reseal trans. Resealed and adjusted both bands. Re-used later style vulcanized torque ball retainer and improvised a dust seal over it. Pulled the '56 trans out of my car and installed this one. Road tested and it pulled good and no leaks yet. How's that for luck? This is the first post since forum software update, I am at the library. My home pc is not functional on forum except to recognize me and use the 'like' button. I cannot respond to this post on a regular basis. Just wanted to share this.

In addition to above info: Fan clutches are matched to the fan blade, engine rpm (gearing) and desired operating temp range. I once owned an '82 Suburban with the 6.2 diesel and HD cooling system. The factory thermal fan clutch worked so well, you might think it was being "switched" on and off. It only ran when pulling a load and then infrequently. The fan clutch was so well matched, at 8000 ft elevation or higher, it engaged and roared all the time at normal temperatures due to the thinner air and reduced drag on the fan blade. The fan clutch is designed to work with the original OEM setup, changing the fan blade may change the operating characteristics. I would also question whether the replacement clutch is a good match or just calibrated for a wide range of vehicles.

Should I have said "the coolant is sealed from the bearing cavity"? Is packing not considered a seal? Do those water pumps not have weep holes to dump coolant and grease to prevent cross contamination? As a side note, soap is a thickener for the OIL based lubricant. Most greases (80-90%) use various "soaps" as the thickener. Google it.

???? The bearing cavity is sealed from the coolant.

Do some basic troubleshooting first. Check and record codes. Do basic tune up with new plugs and wires. Buy a cheap fuel pressure guage and check fuel pressure. If engine has a misfire/ running rough, get a spark tester to determine if you have a coil pak failure which will affect 1 or 2 cylinders. Each coil fires 2 cylinders. Do not start swapping out parts or converter until you have done basics and determined what the problem is.

Not enough info to help you. Go to local auto parts store and have them check for codes. If "check engine" light is on, you have an active problem. Too vague to guess whether it is engine related or not.

Sounds like a classic case of evaporator freeze up. This can happen when the system is low on freon and there is limited air flow across the evaporator such as fan speed set to low setting such as on long trip after cabin has cooled down. The evaporator is eventually covered with ice and air flow reduced even further. The other scenario is that the low freon causes the compressor to cycle off too frequently and reduces cooling. Either way, add a can of freon.

2carb40, Actually my rear wheels look to be centered in the wheel wells and an inch forward would look odd in my mind. I don't recall any other areas of concern, it just moved everything back 1". The extra length of the '56 trans over the 55 is the bell hsg (and corresponding converter).

I put a '56 dynaflow in my '55 Special. I removed it from my '55 Century parts car! Then found out it was a 56 trans with alum bell hsg and 1" longer. Install in the 55 Special was routine, only slotted some holes and used same crossmember. The '56 ujoint will need to be replaced with the '55 to mate with driveshaft.

Ronnie and 1953mack, If it is any consolation, I have had the same problems for months, cannot upload and icon keeps spinning, cannot add or delete any images from previous file manager. Don't recall error messages, haven't tried in months. I am on dial-up which is painfully slow but it worked in 2014. The only image I successfully uploaded lately was my profile picture. TJ55

Kevin, I see ICM was replaced and fixed problems, are we to assume that you reused the same old used coils?

If you have no "check engine" light or codes, I concur on basic tune-up. Ignition misfires may not show any codes and the 3800 is known to have troublesome ignition which is usually plug wires or coils. Misfires usually occur at low rpm and high load such as you describe.

Time for an update. Still running good, Moral of the story: Engine will not run right and MAF CANNOT READ CORRECTLY IF THE HONEYCOMB SCREEN IS MISSING OR DAMAGED OR UPSETS THE LAMINAR AIR FLOW ACROSS THE SENSOR.

another failure.

68rivgs, Yes on both counts. I noticed that all the options on the above tool bar were ghosted out, this time they are accessible. I will try again. OK, It did not upload from my pc but I clicked on "my media" and was able to attach a photo that I had previously uploaded to "my attachments". Well,...On my edit screen, it shows [shared media=core:attachments:651558] but didn't show when posted.