habu

To me, that all point to more of a transmission problem than engine. You could drain the oil, motor, and see if any metal comes out. If anything died it'd be at the bottom of that pan and less likely to be on the dipstick.

How or What in the tranny could *pop* like that I don't know.... throw-out bearing ??
Does or did it rattle when you have the engine running that the clutch fully engaged ?? That would slow the trans and possibly the knock/rattle without slowing the engine down. It could further narrow down the possibilities.


BTW, I'm praying brother...

JonCo

I'm praying for ya to bill. Hope it turns out a small problem and nothing serious

tom281

Bill, sorry to hear about your troubles..... The thing that worries me is I can not imagine why you would have smoke coming out of the air filter- that does not sound good. Think of it, when the car is off the throttle blades are closed so the only place that smoke could come from is from the line running to the cam cover area, right? Unless it's coming from the blower itself.

That and the fact that running into boost or WOT while the engine is under severe load (going up hill, hitting 5th instead of 3rd) has been documented to cause engine failures on these cars. Again I hope this is not the case and hope it is the clutch but time will tell once you get into it. No leaking fluids, no obvious visible damage is the best news you have right now.

Good luck.

Superfly SN95

+1 Bill.

Superfly SN95

I might have an idea on what it is... the more I think of it though, the more it sounds like it's not. Well, I might as well write it to throw an idea up in the air.

In short, I THINK it might be the crankshaft and/or tranny.

Had a friend with a 95 Z28. Auto. 200k on the odometer. Same knocking noise. Only difference is his never saw smoke and the engine never "freed up." He had his tranny rebuilt. I'm not sure if the knocking noise had been there before the rebuild or after. Either way, the engine was pulled apart only to find a broken crank. Oddly, he drove with the knocking noise for about two weeks before taking the engine apart.

LEO_06GT

FYI-I spoke with Bill on the phone which is why I'm not posting anything. Just so know one thinks wow Leo that ahole.

Superfly SN95

Wow...Leo...that A-Hole

There reallly isn't anything to post. I'm speechless. I wish I could help somehow.

tom281

Oh, we wouldn't think that.

89Trooper

I knew about it before he posted... so everybody can say, wow, Tom that A-hole!

Hope everything works out... definitely a good time to change the clutch if you have to drop the tranny. Which, I think you would have to have done (like the gear change-out). I heard that doing a clutch change is a be-otch in these cars.

StangMahn

wow Tom-that A-hole...jk
I dont even know what to say. my only guess is that it would have to be from the tranny. That's where the knocking sounds like it's coming from on my speakers. if it started after a missed shift, I dont think it could be the engine. smoke doesnt necessarily show exactly where the problem is (like the day my truck blew a head gasket). as long as the block isnt cracked, even if the problem is in the engine, you can still replace it with cool stuff, go for the forged.

StangMahn

why's that?

NYNY53

OK Bill I listened to your very first startup vid you posted

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpVAQ-hWA2U

listen to it very closely again. Do you hear anything at all in this video, I know when I first listened to it something caught my ear, can't explain it but maybe I was just hearing things. Not talking about when you rev it up or the supercharger whine, talking about when its first idling (like 20 sec into the vid) . Just thought I'd throw that out there not that it helps at this point as closer inspection will tell the tale.

Sorry, I know how much you have been anticipating getting your hands on it and the upcoming show. I have this vision of you doing a Chip Foose SEMA deal where Chip is in the last day of getting his car ready for the show and working days of all nighters with tons of staff folks. Just saw this on Rides on the TV the other day, love that show.

Hope it all works out to a plus for you Bill

89Trooper

Any severe load (as in 5th) at WOT will tax the drivetrain. Add boost and you are only making the situation worse.

Hopefully this isn't the problem, though.

TacoBill

Thanks for all the concerns guys. At this point, more fingers point to the trans-clutch-flywheel area rather than the engine itself. So in hopes of that, I'm planning on jacking the car up today and pull the starter off.

Other points..
On the up hill mis-shift, he said he was not in boost or even close to WOT when the initial clicking/knocking started. Yes, the engine-driveline is under additonal load going that slow and in 5th gear, but geez.. a rookie learning how to drive a manual probably makes that mistake daily in these S197's. Thing is, as soon as he realized he hit 5th, he pushed in the clutch and engaged 3rd, so it wan't like he completed his journey up the hill lugging it in 5th.
However, this addt'l load may have been the straw that broke the flywheel's back.

Smoke from the filter.. somewhat of a mystery. The engine was under throttle when I abruptly shut it down, clutch in, and coasted to the side of the road. Could any un-burnt fuel possibly work its way back thru the intake tract? Also, lots of new parts installed, could it be just a 'smoke off'?

Brian: The knocking sound was there, no matter if the clutch was fully engaged or not. When I started off 1st gear gently with little throttle, the knocking slowed way down, but so did the rpms.

TacoBill

Interesting reads...

http://forums.bradbarnett.net/showpost.php?p=5334972&postcount=1

http://forums.bradbarnett.net/showthread.php?t=440840&highlight=flywheel+damage
(most all the flywheel bolts loose????)

kh765

Finally got caught up from last night...

I know I won't try to add anything to the analysis Bill. Just want to wish you the best of luck and I hope it's not anything too serious.

Superfly SN95

Well, my brackets for the cdc trunk corral finally came in
Bad service from Cdc. After getting Bs left it right it finally gets shipped.
They are finally here and glad to report these are correctly threaded. What a headache for a simple thing

mikes rx

Bill, I'm praying for you. I know that the "I do the same thing" or the "same thing happened to me" statements don''t reverse what happened to you. But, hopefully it may help point toward something that you were already thinking, or something different. So, here it goes:

Like you, I don't understand how a 2 to 5 skip shift would do harm to the tranny part of the car. I skip shift all the time in mine (and have in other non-mustangs with manuals). Usually it's not a 2-5, but rather a two gear skip (ie: 1-3, 2-4, 3-5), and only if the speed is there. It's actually good because it minimizes wasted shifts, which should SAVE the clutch components.

But, I've done the 2-5 before, both by accident at lower speeds and on purpose at higher speeds. I honestly don't know how that would cause damage, especially if not under any boost. If not boosting, wouldn't the car "technically" be the same as stock, more or less.

Maybe everything is just from a major coincidence. I had a problem with my Triax shifter in my 2000 the moment I got the car back from getting the clutch replaced, and although it would seem that the dealer did something wrong, it ended up just being a fluke.

Maybe that's your situation as well....Just a coincidence. If so, maybe it's something that the dealer will fix under warranty while "ignoring" the s-charger

89Trooper

You can skip gears all you want with no damage. We were just saying that an accidental shift to 5th with WOT when you think you are in 3rd does put a huge load on the engine. For example, if you want to see if your clutch is going to slip, throw it into 5th at a low speed and floor it.

But, with what Hector is saying, the small amount of time going to 5th (without boost) wouldn't hurt a thing... just a little bogging.

89Trooper

I know it's early notice, but we are planning a trip to CA next year around this time... all 3 of us (or possibly 4 ).