So I have a T/A that I need help fixing. A family member offered to rebuilt my engine and has now stopped half way through. The engine and transmission is half in and I don't think I have the right drive shaft. I need help finishing the project, I'm not 100% sure what I'm doing. Is there anyone y'all would recommended going to or willing to help?

 

Are you going to try to put it back together yourself or are you looking for a shop to do it for you?

What is your level of experience, working on cars?
Do you have tools and a place to work?

I would recommend that you try to do it yourself, if it is at all possible. Most shops will charge more to finish a half done job than to do the whole thing as there are invariably pieces lost/missing/misplaced.

Why don't you post a bunch of pictures of what you have and try to describe, in as much detail as possible, what each picture is of and as much as you know about what has been done so far. If you do that, lots of people here will be happy to help you figure out what you need to do to get it put back together.

If you want to get someone to help you turn wrenches, you should probably start by going to some local meets and try to find some locals with third-gen experience. Also, if you are willing to put in wrenching time on someone else's car, not only will you gain experience, but they will probably be willing to go help with yours some other day.

There are several people with lots of third-gen experience who attend the Houston-F-Body.org meets. HFB is hosting a big meet in less than 2 weeks. It would be a bit of a drive from Spring though.

 

I'm looking for direction. I want to make sure the cables all go to the right places. I will get pictures up tonight after work. As far as experince, I've helped rebuild an engine (not putting it in though) and I've replaced my carb. I have a place to work, but not all the tools. If needed I will aquire whatever is needed.

 

Here are the photos, I have one more of the underside of the car. It showed there was no driveshaft.

 

So, it looks like you have the engine and transmission in place, but with nothing hooked up. Is that right?

Are you going to run a carb?
Was it Carb'ed before? Same carb?
Are there any significant changes in the setup? Different, intake, different transmission, etc.?

 

Yes it is going to be running a carb, same one with the same intake. The engine itself is the same block but it has a stroked crank and shortened pistons, making it a 383. The transmission is the original one when I got the car, I removed the T-5 and is why I don't have a driveshaft that fits. It also has new headers.

 

If i'm not mistaken, in 1982 these cars did not come with a T5. From looking at those pics that transmission looks like mine 'Borg Warner T10' 4 speed. If it is a T10 then the drive shaft will be hard to find as they are not the same length as the auto cars or the T5 cars. The T5 is a hydraulic tranny and the T10 is a mechanical linkage tranny. If you still have the T5 i would try and use that. It will be easier to find a driveshaft because auto driveshaft will fit a T5 if i'm not mistaken. Of course all that will depend on weather the car has been converted to hydraulic clutch for the T5.

These are all assumptions because the tranny in the pic looks like a T10. Better pics would help.

 

You are correct, that is a T10. I have all the linkage , just not the drive shaft
From what I was told, the T-5 is a weaker and wouldn't handle a 383. I also was told there a guy near the medical center that does custom driveshafts at a decenter price...although it was the same person who said this would be done in a month and then stopped, so I could be wrong on some of this. Hence the ask for help.

 

Yea am still running my T10 rather then a T5 for that reason. 6 speed is on the wish list.

I think i have the original drivehsaft for the T10. I have updated mine to a 3" aluminum and am sure i have the original in the garage somewhere. PM me if your interested in it.

As far as having one made. I would deal with Randy's Driveshaft Service near downtown. Very affordable and good work.
http://www.randysdriveshaft.com/

 

There are a bunch of drive shaft shops around town, look in the yellow pages. If you know what you need or have something to copy, any of them can make one for you. It has been WAY TOO LONG since I used one so I can't make any recommendation .. except perhaps to go with the one Jupiter recommends. But if I were you I would take Jupiter up on his offer.

It sounds like a fairly simple engine re-install. Possibly (optimistically) as little as one days work to get it started. Getting the tuning sorted out is another matter but it will probably be drivable as is.

I would probably start by getting the headers in place...just in case you need to rock the engine off of the mounts to get them in.

Then the clutch linkage, drive shaft, shifter, radiator and hoses and shrouds.

Then the distributor (set timing), plugs and wires, then carb, fuel and throttle cable.
What kind of distributor are you using? It is computer controlled or "old school"?

 

CT driveshaft at 610 and 45 south off of griggs road has done a few shafts for me, and are reccomended by pyle brothers axle shop. they are fast, well priced, and seem to do quality work.

http://www.ctdriveshafts.com/

 

Okay, will a Chilton help to figure out where the hoses and all go? Does anything outside the engine need to be torqued?

 

Since it isn't really stock a Chilton manual will not do a lot of good.
I can't think of anything off hand that would need to be torqued. Every bolt has a torque specified for it, but as long as it it "tight" it will be fine. You don't really have to be all that accurate. I would pay special attention to he bolts that hold the bell housing, transmission and engine to each other and the car. You REALLY don't want those to come loose.

You shouldn't need that many hoses. Once you hook up the ones you can figure out, the rest should be pretty easy. If you are stumped, post a picture and someone here will know where it goes.

 

What he ^^ said.

When nobody is around to help or advise keep in mind, Google is your friend.
I was just working on my Taurus shift lever and decided to do a simple google search first. From experience i was thinking worn bushing or metal lever in the column was causing my loose shift lever issue. A quick search pointed me to two screws under the dash. Sure enough one screw was loose the other laying under the seat. 30 minutes later, shift lever is fixed. Next, after watching a youtube video i know exactly what i have to remove/loosen to change the heater core. I also watched a youtube video to see exactly what had to be removed to do the water pump a couple of weeks ago. Am sure fixing that caused my heater core to blow... lol

The internet is an amazing thing made easier once you master the art of search query phrasing. When your not getting the results your looking for, figure out another simpler way to phrase your search query.

You can find diagrams for just about anything in google images.
You can find instructional videos for just about anyting on youtube.

 

OK where about are you located. Perhaps I'll try to be the nice guy and just drop in and help put it all back together....