So went to the local TM shops and spoke to a few people. All said it's highly unlikely I could bend an input shaft. More likely that the pump housing would collapse before the shaft bent. One guy asked if it vibrated when in park and I raise the RPM and I couldn't answer that but have come home and give it a try.
NOW it's making all kinds of horrid noises without even driving so this plot just thickens every day.
See what yous think...
Might be time to cut me losses and just sell it as is or wreck it. I don't have the money and am now starting to lose hope with it...
In a general sense, vibration of rotating stuff can be caused by anything. Stuff can get bent, balance weights can get knocked off, stuff can be a bit out of balance and get put in with the wrong clocking (compounding the unbalanced state or upsetting balanced assemblies), new stuff may be inherently out of balance, etc, etc … that’s why it’s important to mark clocking before removal, check new and old parts carefully for removed meta balance marks, etc, and be cautious during disassembly…
Then there is finding leftover stuff on the floor post repair, which always has me worried. Some just shrug shoulders and move on but I can’t do that which is why I laughed so much during the bolt throw scene in Ford v Ferrari. Hopefully you didn’t find a driveshaft balance weight on the ground.
But at the end of the day, some form of analysis is needed to try and isolate the problem part. As such, lifting the car (safely) and spinning it up while taking note of what’s shaking can help… just don’t rev it so that it bounces off the stands or get too close to spinning bits where it sucks a bit of your loose clothing in and all hell can break loose… vibrations can sometimes be seen but always felt… so using a stick to press against things when spinning can give hints as to what is shaking… again be very cautious when near spinning things…
Isolating the driveline by removing drive shaft will highlight if the driveshaft is contributing to the shake. Isolating the gearbox is harder with an auto so not sure what can be done other than remove the flex plate bolts and pushing the TC towards the transmission and fixing it away from the flex plate, then see if it still grinds when the engine is spinning.
As to the TC, the inner gearbox spline spins while the outer is fixed. These two spines are the two clicks people refer to as they locate to the bits inside the TC. The third click is the TC snout engaging with the oil pump. But I’ve got no experience with auto trans so can’t say what would be damaged and how to check for damage if you hang the box from the TC when bolted to the flex plate.
One other thing I’ve seen mentioned in YouTube videos is to apply a thin bit of grease on the front TC boss that goes up against the flex plate as that can cause noise and wear leading to vibrations. You’ve probably seen similar videos.
The other thing I’ve experienced is the honeycomb within the catalytic converter can fracture if you’ve dropped the exhaust. Fractured honeycomb can sound like a bucket of bolts when the engine is rev‘d. Also, exhaust manifolds can leak adding more noise to the mix…
Add as such a bunch of small conditions together and all these sounds end up seeming much worse together…
Obviously any transmission business will always say you booked it and will want to strip things down as they have to guarantee their work. But don’t be disheartened, take a break, decompress and then start to methodically look at each thing you’ve touched and check it’s ok. Also get a one meter section of garden hose and use it as a stethoscope to listen to the sounds at idle… hopefully you can quickly work out where the sound is coming from and where it’s not…
Basically I’d be checking every part I touched from the starter motor, exhaust & manifold, driveshaft, transmission, TC & flex plate… and slowly working through the problem… It can be a PITA but little by little you’ve been converting what wasn’t very nice to something approaching a nice car (once all the bugs are ironed out). Just take your time and don’t focus on it 100% at gne exclusion of other things…
Me, I’m thinking a dropped cat converter and fractured honeycomb within or a stuffed second hand TC… How one tests a used TC is usable I’ve got no idea but in my youth I knew others who did TC mods included pulling them apart and brazing all the vanes within as they can loosen and rattle… so I wonder whether the second hand TC had a hard life with lots of full power launches and is showing the results of such owner punishment. Who knows…
I tend to say it like it is if I think someone is out of order.
