The final nail in the coffin of my attempt to get the 77 to the Roundup happened last night. Got the tranny bolted to the motor, but the motor would not turn so I could put the other three torque converter nuts on. Checked for obstructions, found none. Pulled everything apart, tried a few more times to seat the converter more, nothing. Compared with the old one again -- the kiss of death -- the converter isn't sitting as far into the bellhousing. Converters are the same height, if anything, the new one is an 1/8th shorter. Turns out the bigger bellhousing is also 1/4" longer. I had no problem seating the new converter in either tranny, and in the old one, it set 1/4" farther back into the bell. Was going to try to make an emergency trip to get the converter fixed but could not get off work early enough. Oh well, I tried.
At least it looks pretty! At least you found all this out before installation. I put my Engine and Toploader together outside the car like you and installed it as a unit. Had everything ready to go to start the car except the starter installed. Went to install the starter and found I had a 157 tooth flywheel in my 164 tooth bellhousing I had to jack the car up and pull out the tranny to install the correct flywheel. Then the clutch kit I had did not fit the 164 tooth flywheel so back to the parts store I went. Tranny's ain't light - that is for sure .. and so much for a easy install .... Once it's all together you'll forget all about the problem encountered to get it right!
That sucks Matt. We were all pulling for ya. This crap happens to all of us, so dont take it too hard. Still going to the Roundup right? Dan
Man, I'd take the drive train there just for show. I'll share with you my bad experience if you promise not to tell the other guys. I recently put a used motor in my Mustang. I didn't notice until it was too late - that there was a pilot bearing in the crank - I have an aod. :wah: I had to drill a couple of holes in the bearing, then chisel the d*&#m thing out - all while laying flat of my back in the garage. Shhhhh....
matt, i've had similar problems. evry time i got the tranny and engine together the engine would not turn. i just had to keep trying and put the bolts in a little at a time and turn the crank to make sure the engine and tranny were going together right. are the tranny's the same year? i had a 68 c-4 then changed to a 74 c-4. found out that the spline on the main tranny shaft changed in 1970 from a 24 to a 26 spline input shaft. had to get a new convertor. hope this helps. good luck.
My dad always used grease instead of papertowels. works good. Hydraulics. Just have to have a tight seal on the socket or whatever you pound in there.
Sorry to say the problem with Matt's converter was it was set up for the depth of the big bell......why do I know this cause I spent quite awhile on the phone with him last night exhausting all Ideas why do I feel bad about this......Because the guy's at the shop where I work built it.granted I only built the tranny(by the way it's a 74 model)and it was tested before I took it to him but on our current dyno we cannot run stalls.(i'm told that in the year we are to get a new one) so I had to test his tranny with a stock converter....so with that said I will say........sorry Matt
That sucks Matt, I wish that I lived closer....i've got a stock converter sitting in the garage that would work........
