I really hope someone can help me with this one....
I took advantage fo the break in the rain today to drive my 67 camaro to work. On the way home, about 20 minutes into the trip, the car lost power, the radio went off, and the engine started to spin down. I was cruising at 65 at the time! The headlights were still on and the hazards worked, but when i pulled over, and the car started to come to a stop, I heard this awful grinding/whining noise. All i could think was that the car was still moving and the trans was in drive and I did something to the trans, when the engine stopped spinning, but the wheels were moving. Ughhh.... anyways, its a stroked 350, TH 350 trans, and a 10 bolt rear end.
After a breif check that there was no fire or smoke, I started the car up again, and very nervously drove it back home. I have not had a chance to take a really good look under the car yet.
The engine has died on me before, but when I was at a stop light, and it fired right back up. I just recently replaced the oil, oil filter, and fuel filter. Any advice? Will I need a new transmission? Could this have been a timing problem?

Thanks...

When you changed the fuel filter, was the old one clogged?

Not exactly, theres was small specks of dirt in there, but nothing like sludge or anything.

I would bet its an ignition switch related deal, the radio going off at the same time points to electronic for sure. The reason I think ignition is the lights and hazards work with the key off, but the radio won't and the car won't run.
The nasty sound you heard was just the trans and gears probably, obviously everything else was quiet so it would sound louder than average. I doubt you did any damage to anything, an auto trans will "freewheel" in drive, you just don't want to do it for long.
Old cars are notorious for loose or poor connections in the electrical. Check connections at the ignition switch, possibly the firewall plug (though I doubt that because the lights still worked), maybe even the switch itself, I'm sure thats where your trouble lies.
Good luck with it.

I agree, it sounds like there might be a loose connection somewhere leading up to the ignition switch. Check all your connections under the dash as well as the engine compartment. Also, check the connections around the battery including the junction block and also the battery cables. Have the car running and shake each wiring harness and see if that has any effect on the engine.

Thanks for the suggestions, I will definitely look into the ignition and electrical. Is it wierd that this would happen only after the car is significantly warmed up? Would I benefit by getting an ignition controller box in there?

Thanks.

Bump :)

Has it happened other times, or do you say "after its warmed up" because it was at the time? It may have just been a coincidence that it was warm. If its a loose connection, the car moving would make it more likely to happen. Its only done this once though, right?
As for the ignition box, no benefit as far is fixing the problem, but they help the car idle better, etc. You need to check into the current problem before adding anything else. What sucks is, with this type of thing you may never get it to die like that again, those types of things can be hard to troubleshoot.
I'd just search around and make sure your connections are good and tight, with no corrosion, and do the "wiggle test" as camaro dave suggests. And if it doesn't repeat, hopefully you fixed it!

Actually it has happened before, but never when the car was in motion. Its cut out twice before at stop lights, again after I had been driving for about 20 mins. Im going to check my timing, and try to reset to factory specs. Ive done a cursory wiggle test at idle, just poking the wires around under the dash, and the wires going to and from the horn relay in the engine compartment. What else should I check? There's a dodgy looking groundstrap from the driver's side head to the firewall that looks like it could be replaced, but it is making contact.
I'm wondering if theres some component that is heating up beyond its functional point...

thx

Just an update to let you guys know how everything turned out. I ran a timing check up and carb check up on the car, made some minor adjustments here and there, and the car ran great. For about 2 days. Then it happened again, lost power under load and the car back fired before coming back to life. I pulled the distributor cap and it was a mess inside. Carbon builup on the terminals and the coil ground wires were being clamped by the cap (Mustve been sloppily installed, or I shook it up a bit). So I took it to a local guy who builds mopars and chevy's and he swapped the distributor cap, rotor and also adjusted the spark wire routing to prevent interference. Two things remaining to do, 1) new air cleaner base, offset for the HEI distributor cap 2) replace the original wiring harness. So far the car has been un-stoppable (except at the pump).

did you check to see if the battery was loosing charge or went dead while driving...this happen to me in my old 66 pickup my battery was actually discharging and when dead and barely made it back home.

Yep, battery was the first thing i checked. My battery has been fine, and none of the other electrical went out (lights stayed on etc.). The new engine harness is a safety precaution, the wires coming out of the distributor seem too small for the output of the HEI, and they can get pretty hot after a while.