Finally at the stage of road testing my 1949 Hudson project. Installed a running 500ci engine that I took out of a 18K original owner '76 Coupe de Ville, drove the car to my yard (felt great). Starts and runs fine, new custom one-piece driveshaft Ididit column, Lokar column shifter....but when I put it in gear (on the lift) I need to rev it up to about 2000RPM before I get the wheels to turn. Brought it down to ground and it moved a little in reverse but not enough to get over lift ramp then put it in Drive and wouldn't go forward at all. The trans has a new filter and fluid....any ideas? Thanks in advance...
If it was fine before you touched it, check everything you touched first. Fluid level Shifter linkage Modulator line Converter Filter placement my th400 acted the same way. Fluid level was low.
______________________________________________________________________ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This first!! Plus did you use the same dipstick and tube that it had in it from the start? Did you check it while running after you fired it up?
Like saltflats said probably sucking air. Put two o rings on the filter pickup. Make sure they fit snug in the pump. Also, if it’s a daycron type ( cloth like element) filter chuck it. I’ve seen them brand new won’t flow. Probably been damp in the box. Put a wire mesh/Allison type filter in it.
Did you move the shifter through all the gears, then check it again? And did you look carefully at the dipstick? both sides? They can be tricky. I usually end up checking the level several times, and get it so it gets up to the "full cold" line, or the bottom of the crosshatch if it has one, then go for a drive, and check it again hot. If you're sure it's filled, then you might need to pull the pan and look at the pickup tube again, make sure the O ring is in place at the top of it.
Just so you know, not all TH400s are created equal. For myself I would leave it with 'the guy' who know how to build them.
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