63 4 speed jumps out of 1st n 2nd gear
10-31-2011, 08:45 PM
#1
2nd Gear
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63 4 speed jumps out of 1st n 2nd gear
Just bought a 63 SWC. Right off the bat I notice that it will jump out of either 1st or 2nd gear occasionally. Doesn't seem to do it in 3rd n 4th gear. Have never had this happen in other corvettes that I have had. Any ideas? The car was sold as a frame off restoration done some years back. I suspect the tranny has less then 2000 miles on it but was never provided the info on it. Bought the car from Vintage Vettes LLC out of Kansas City. That experience wasn't too great either.
10-31-2011, 09:20 PM
#3
First thing to check is if the right lever arms are on the transmission. It sounds like the first-second arm is not engaging all the way and it is popping out because it is just being held in gear by the shifter rather than being locked in gear by the right placement of the gear.
10-31-2011, 10:12 PM
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Just bought a 63 SWC. Right off the bat I notice that it will jump out of either 1st or 2nd gear occasionally. Doesn't seem to do it in 3rd n 4th gear. Have never had this happen in other corvettes that I have had. Any ideas? The car was sold as a frame off restoration done some years back. I suspect the tranny has less then 2000 miles on it but was never provided the info on it. Bought the car from Vintage Vettes LLC out of Kansas City. That experience wasn't too great either.
10-31-2011, 10:24 PM
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2nd Gear
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63 vette popping out of 1st n 2nd
Yea, the shifter will pop to neutral during accel/decel phases. I believe it pops out in other phases like just driving at a constant speed. I tend to just hold the gear shifter to keep it in place to keep it from popping out of gear. I have only driven the car less then 150 miles since getting it because of this issue. Plus, I live in the Pacific NW and it is getting ready to snow soon. Don't plan to drive it anymore until spring. There's a local mechanic that claims he has worked on vettes, so maybe I might drop it off to him, but I thought I'd investigate the problem alittle first.
11-01-2011, 06:15 AM
#10
Team Owner
Boy I think there are enough forum members up that way so that you could get a little more info on a good vintage Corvette tranny technician..1snake (Jim) and a few other knowledgeable folks in that area .
11-01-2011, 10:37 AM
#11
Without knowing the car or its history, you can't assume the correct linkage is on the car. To many, four speed linkage is all the same and I have seen several cars with the wrong length shifter levers installed. Many of these cars are pieced back together after years of hot rodding and such.
If you have a long lever in a place where a short needs to be on the transmission, you may not be fully engaging the gears, and nothing will keep it in gear if it isn't fully engaged.
Since both 1st and 2nd disengage, I'd suspect the arm is not fully engaging in either direction, not just adjustment.
11-01-2011, 11:49 AM
#12
Chuck,
Without knowing the car or its history, you can't assume the correct linkage is on the car. To many, four speed linkage is all the same and I have seen several cars with the wrong length shifter levers installed. Many of these cars are pieced back together after years of hot rodding and such.
If you have a long lever in a place where a short needs to be on the transmission, you may not be fully engaging the gears, and nothing will keep it in gear if it isn't fully engaged.
Since both 1st and 2nd disengage, I'd suspect the arm is not fully engaging in either direction, not just adjustment.
Without knowing the car or its history, you can't assume the correct linkage is on the car. To many, four speed linkage is all the same and I have seen several cars with the wrong length shifter levers installed. Many of these cars are pieced back together after years of hot rodding and such.
If you have a long lever in a place where a short needs to be on the transmission, you may not be fully engaging the gears, and nothing will keep it in gear if it isn't fully engaged.
Since both 1st and 2nd disengage, I'd suspect the arm is not fully engaging in either direction, not just adjustment.
What you need is an experienced (knowledgable) tranny mechanic to look at it.
A vette guy might know what he is doing but there is nothing exotic about Muncie or Borg Warner trannies.
11-01-2011, 02:48 PM
#13
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Normally, 2/3 are the culprits because of power shifting but if someone was attempting to downshift into first at relatively higher speeds that could cause the problem you are experiencing now, although grinding would be more of a symptom as the stress put on the blocker ring over an extended period of time will render it pretty much useless.
11-02-2011, 10:49 AM
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11-02-2011, 10:59 AM
#15
Safety Car
Every time I have had this problem (lots) it has always been bad syncros! A rebuild is in order. 
