I decided not try running the engine without a trans in the car. Too much extra work. If you've been following along - I put the automatic back in the car this morning (I'm getting good at this - 3 hours out, 2 hours in). Knowing what I know now, I'd rather R&R an automatic than a manual - once you know the tricks it comes out faster. I started it back up and the noise was still there. With futher careful listening (and some choice words), we decided that it sounded like hydraulics noises in the converter and decided to let it run a while. I finished filling the trans fluid as it warmed up, and all- of=-a-sudden it quieted down and sounds perfect. Go figure. At any rate, my current theory is that whatever piece of crud was stuck got unstuck and everything is back to normal. This is a car that had been stored for the past 15 years or so, and there are still some parts that are apparently waking up. Yes Bill - this is the car I bought last year in SC and am doing a relatively complete restoration to re-sell. I had the engine out of the car and replaced every last seal and gasket, short of removing the heads. I also replaced all the exhaust hardware and refinished the manifolds. When its done this will be a very nicely prepped near-show-quality driver car. 81 Black Gas Flap Automatic. Emissions legal in all 50 states. More info to come as I finish it up. Dave Swingle --- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "content22207" <brobertson@xxxx> wrote: >> > Since you at least have the crossover pipe loose, you ARE going to > replace the carbon nuts with stainless, yes? > > Bill Robertson > #5939 To address comments privately to the moderating team, please address: moderators@xxxxxxxxxxx For more info on the list, tech articles, cars for sale see www.dmcnews.com To search the archives or view files, log in at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: dmcnews-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/