The angle issue certainly could be causing the noise, but if you feel no vibration, then probably not. I would expect it to be at least as noticeable by feel as by ear.

But your pics are worrisome. It was just an observation that the angle of the output shaft and the angle of the pinion are ideally parallel, and if the x-member and/or tranny mount are changed, that output shaft angle may have been changed.

Using the frame rails as a reference, the centerline of the new trans' output shaft needs to be at the same elevation as the output of the old one (assuming the new one isthe same length as the old one - but I don't suppose a Tremec and a T-10 are the same, are they?).

I don't know any easy way of getting a handle on the angle at which the engine/trans combo sits, other than to try to get the new tailshaft at the same elevation as the old tailshaft. And that gets very complicated with geometry if the two tail shafts are different lengths...

(edit - forgot which trans combo we were talking about for a minute... sorry!)


[Modified by Gator81, 2:42 PM 4/28/2003]

 

I havent taken the picture yet but the shimmed up trans (different from the image in the beginning of the thread) is much higher and the angle looks a whole heck of a lot better.

 

The transmission will not shift nice until you have 500 miles on it Monty told me this when I got mine and he was right. The first few hundred miles the shifter feels stiff but wait until you have 500 miles. It will shift very smooth. To me the transmission was hanging down a little too much. Mine it right up almost against the floor.
The angle the the transmission points down must equal the angle the rearend points up. Mine pointed down 1 degree measured on the back of the output shaft so I aimed the rearend up 1 degree. The 2 angles must cancel each other . A absolute straight drive train is hard on universals and if the 2 angles do not cancel each othe the driveshaft speeds and slows down every revolution. NOt a good thing.
Good luck and you will enjoy the tremec.

 

to measure the angle of the pinion and tranny, just pull the driveshaft, and measure the angle, vertically.

 

Eric,

Nice to see you are out driving it!!! Awesome! Sorry to hear about your vibration. I hope you get that cleared up. I am lucky since I "eyeballed" the height of the back of my Richmond six.

Do you like the new first gear ratio as opposed to the 4 speed you had in there?

Bob :cheers:

 

Not so much a vibration, more like gear clater (chatter?) actually its very smooth. 1st gear is incredible - 3.27:1 ratio added to my 3.70:1 rear gear gives me an insane 12.09:1 1st gear final ratio - I have to be careful not to leave rubber as it is nearly effortless. I also spend a very short time in that gear as I get to daily driving shift points very quickly.

2&3 pull real strong and keep me in higer revs so the car is more in its power band (so it seems) - drove up to escondido on sunday (35-40 miles) 2500 rpm and getting passed by nobody.

I cant imagine why anybody wouldnt do this (apart form the cost :lol: )
A few issues I have to take care of - the vacuum manifold (better word?) that attaches to the back of the HVAC controls fell apart when I took out the center console - so now I have a vacuum leak - new controls on the way - Also I am this close **fingers 1" apart** from redoing my interior just because....

Anyway, if I can come to some conclusion about the noises its making I will be quite happy.

 

Gator81,
Thanks for pointing out this thread to me.
I've got a few "issues" with a Bowtie x-member. It's for an L81 as the late model x-members can't be used for 200-4r installation. It looks well made & uses metal about 5mm thick for the mounting perch & brackets for bolting to the frame. On an '81 (& I guess also an '80) the x-member is held to the frame by two 3/8" set screws fixing each end from the underside up into the frame. There is also a long bolt fited horizontally through the thin ears welded to the frame. The holes in the x-member for these bolts were too low so needed modifying. Apart from that everything fitted well, with no interference with any part of the floor pan, etc. The x-member, being tubular, is shaped in such a way that there is plenty of room for exhaust pipes (far more than the stock x-member). For those interested, it's also about 2lbs lighter!
The problems started when fitting the tranny to it (200-4r). The tranny is definately to low, no arguement, it's as obvious as your nose that the engine slopes down in the engine bay. The fan also touches it's shroud.
It could be worse in that the tranny could be too high. At least I can shim it up to solve the problem. Everything else with the Bowtie installation has gone well, but I wish that the instructions had said to measure the position of the driveshaft yoke before removing the original transmission. Sounds blatently obvious now, because without that dimension I've got a big problem.
:cry