bigtony1938

I recently purchased my first car, a 1994 convertible. When i start the engine, its a very hard start. Then when i apply some gas, it squeels and screaches something awful. Someone told me that it was the flex plate (because it is an automatic). I was also told that the hard start up may be due to a loose transmission. Is that possible? Come to find out, the previous owners replaced the tranny. As of now i have NO idea what transmission is in it but im assuming it is the standard AOD transmission. any ideas?

Also, if u can think of some cheap ways to increase horsepower, id appreciate it

Azrael

Cheap HP I can do. Try Cold Air Intake (from ebay, for about $50, cause the expensive ones aren't worth it). Then, you can add true dual exhaust. After that, get 4.10's (since you have an auto). All said and done, you're under $500 if you can do most of the work yourself. Maybe $1000 if you have to take it to a dealer, cause they charge the max for their time. As for the engine, the sound could be a bearing of some sort, maybe the alternator? You may want to go to the local auto store and have them use their stethoscope on it.

JKs95stang

I would check the battery terminals for corrosion, if that doesn't help, go get your battery tested for free. The squealing is probably a serpentine belt, or an idler pulley bearing making noise. As for your transmission going out from a hard start, not likely, someone has no clue what they are talking about. As for cheap hp, there's nothing cheap about cars, you could squeeze a couple pony's with pulleys and such, but it's not going to be a tremendous jump in power.

neo8222

a guess one of the most effective HP gains for under 1000 would be get a aggressive cam, intake, and exhaust. that could grab you about 50ish depending on parts and give the car a nice lil sound

vagabond

When you say get 4.10's, what do you mean by that? Get a tuner? What's involved if not?

If I understand correctly, the higher the number the better the acceleration and the lower the top end, right? Will this lower your gas mileage (beyond the increased frequency of jamming the gas down for fun ;P)?

neo8222

4.10 refers to the gears in the rear differential. 4.10 means it take 4.1 rotations of the drive shaft to turn the wheel once. this does infact increase acceleration and lower top end. you'll probably top out at 95-100 for a automatic i think, and yes you do lose a little mpg, not much maybe 1-2 mpg at the most

vagabond

and this is all done with a tuner or is there assembly required?

brent4

First off gears are waste without some form of traction lock(ex: auburn, detroit true track, or the ford t lock)...with gears you have to get them installed and unless you have done it before or know somebody that has done it and they are willing to help then take it to a shop ..if you have a 94-98 you can just get the speedo gear to calibrate your speedometer, if you have a 99-04 then you will need a tuner(ex: sct xcal 2 or 3) to correct your speedo.

bigtony1938

alright, cool. i deff wanna look into a new exhaust, the one thats on it is rusty. Does anyone know if a cracked flex plate will make that noise?

bigtony1938

thank you for your quick responses!