I have a 1967 mustang coupe 289 2brl auto. Whenever I try to put the car in gear the engine stalls. The only temporary solution I have found is to increase the idle really high and it will kick it into gear, otherwise I have to hold the brake and give it some gas for the gear to kick in. It also will stall when I come to a stop if it's not in high idle or giving it gas. My best guess was the torque converter because I also have a leak at the front of the tranny. I took it to a trasmission place today and the mechanic told me he wasn't sure that the stalling problem was related to the transmission and said I should have the whole tranny rebuilt because of the leak. Can anyone help me with finding out what the stalling problem is? I've been trying to fix this problem for several months now.

 

check for proper float level in carb. Could be too much fuel flowing into carb.
Bad timing, old points, vacume leak

 

I've redone the carb, timing is dead on, no points just switched it to an hei distributor, no vaccum leak that I can find.

 

Is your trans full? What is your idle speed? (in park) What does the motor do when you step on brake? any difference?

 

Did the problem show up after this work ^ ? Before?

Carb mixture good? Choke operating well? Good compression? Good plugs/wires/coil? These are the usual suspects...

 

What is the speed of the engine prior to engagement into gear? it should be around 850-900. If you have the correct park idlesetting, then the problem is most likely carburation too lean, which when you put it in gear, not enough idle circuit to keep the engine going. Put a rag over the choke horn and see if the rpm speeds up. Next is not enough compression to handle the load & next would be too much load by the trans/torque converter