Well from what you said, it sounds like the converter...had one do a similar act...I looked under car from drivers seat at stoplight at night and talk about glow!!! And the place you got if from may not have known it was getting ready to take a dump. And side note.....seeing as mine is a few yrs newer, it may not apply, but on my 97 if you slam the gas down it will start cutting out at about 3 grand...lets call it a safety feature !
Hope this helped