I have a 1964 Grand Prix with a 421 and a roto-hydramatic transmission. I pulled the troublesome slim jim in favor of a TH400 transmission. I have it all bolted together and the first time I tried to start it the bendix got stuck on the ring gear. I have shims and a couple washers between the starter and block for spacers. I removed the starter and tried it by itself and it works.
After removing the spark plugs I tried to rotate the motor with a breaker bar on the crank and it will not budge. This may be why the starter will not start the car. I drove this car into the garage yesterday, so I am sure the motor is not frozen, but it certainly will not turn over.
Any suggestions?
Mike Z
Hey there Mike,
If you are certain the motor is not locked up, I would look carefully at the flywheel, torque converter and the transmission installation to see if something is rubbing or in a bind.
Blessings,
Austin Davis
Hey Austin,
Thanks for the reply and I hope you had a nice vacation. I had a friend of mine helping me and he had installed the torque converter on the tranny, but he failed to completely seat the torque converter, thus causing it to bind up once the transmission was bolted to the engine. We had to remove the transmission and push the torque converter in all the way. Everything is bolted back up now and the car runs and shifts much better then the Slim Jim did.
Thanks for you help.
Mike