I've been working on my car night and day because I want to get the thing running but I keep having major setbacks. After I put my rebuilt C4 and my rebuilt engine into the car and had everything hooked up, I realized my crank wouldn't turn. After some thinking I loosened the bellhousing and it turned again. I thought it could be the snout on the torque converter because it was a little tight when I installed the tranny. So I took the whole tranny out and sanded the snout diameter down about .001 so it fit nicely and spun in the end of the crank. I put the tranny back in and the crank was turning fine until I did a final tightening of the bellhousing bolts. Now it won't turn again. The input shaft must be hitting or something. What the **** should I do now???
Check the bellhousing, is it correct for the flexplate you are using? This exact thing happened to me when I did a swap in my T-bird from a V6 to a 302. The bellhousing bolt pattern was the same but the depth was wrong and yup...frustration. Loosened the bellhousing bolts as you said and I could turn the crank again. Swapped the bellhousing and problem solved. The flexplate was interfering with the bellhousing just enough to cause this. Now if this is the same engine-tranny combo that you had before, is the block plate (the thin steel plate between the engine and the tranny there)? If it is...possibly wrong diameter torque converter? Hope this helps and good luck.
Thank you for the help. The block and tranny are the same and the plate is there, but I do have a new torque converter, flexplate, transmission pump and input shaft. The converter bolts match up with the flex plate and I measured the distance from the mounting points to the end of the converter shaft and it is the same measurement as the original converter. The first time it bound up, I took the tranny out and when I took the converter out the input shaft was kind of stuck in the converter and I had to hammer it lightly to get it to fall out. Could that mean anything?
Double check that flexplate and make sure it is the same diameter as the old one along with the depth from the mounting ring. Also check the diameter, not the length of the torque converter, V8 Mavericks and Comets use a smaller diameter torque converter in conjunction with the smaller diameter bellhousing and flexplate to clear the firewall. You shouldn't be able to get the torque converter to push in both clicks when installing on the input shaft if it is the wrong diameter. About the input shaft being stuck in the converter? You got me there. Check the other items mentioned before and if not...GUYS AND GALS??? Help!!!!
you have to index the torque convertor with the shaft/hub and stator support if it's in right it should sit back from the bellhousing flange(bolt edge)about 1"to 1"1/2 cup you hand under the hub and keep spining the convertor when installing into the trans as previously stated should slid in about 3 clicks the studs on the convertor will be inside also about 1/2" they also made a 24 spline and a 26 spline input shafts make sure your input shaft fits into and comes out of the new convertor without and trouble when installed and bolted it should move in and out of the flexplate a little
i had the same problem.....you need to check and see if the pilot bushing is in or out of the back side of the crank automatic tranny's DO NOT have a pilot bushing... the front of the torque convertor goes in the back of the crank manual tranny's DO HAVE the pilot bushing in the back of the crank this allows for alignment of the clutch and all that... the crank i had was from a stick and i was putting an auto in there and i could get any free movement....until i found the problem with the help of an "old timer" hope this helps you out good luck
I think the converter is fully seated. It sits into the bellhousing 1/2" or so, it clicked in 2 or 3 times. How much does it move into the tranny on the last click in? Everything moved fine with only about 1/16" of space left between the bellhousing and engine. It only binds when I tighten the bolts. There's no pilot bushing on the crank, the converter mates with the flexplate fine. The converter diameter is only 9" and the flexplate is the same diameter as the old one and is 157 tooth. The input shaft is correct and it slides in and out fine except after I took it out the first time it was slightly stuck, like it was pressed to tight against the converter or something. Could it be a slight misalignment problem due to tightening the converter to flexplate before torquing down the bellhousing?
that happened to me i was what the heck! broke a bering removal tool doing it too so erick what happens when you put the other convertor on the car. i mean i'd say the same thing as all these other guys. but if you put the other convertor in the car and it works then you know what your problem is right? i guess that would be alot of work not to menation alot of but it would eliminate what it wrong. now did someone menation the height of the convertor bolts between the flexplate and convertor itself? is that the same as before? i have see that problem b4 too. is the convertor a contenintal? i think you told me it was... if it is call chris and ask him for suggestions.
That sounds like a custom converter -- make sure it's not too long. When I had mine made, it was made too long. (I wish that was not the only problem I had getting my car back together!) I had to send it back and have them cut it back open and make it the right length and send it back. Since there are all different depths of bellhousings, you have to make sure the coverter is made for your app.
Matt: What was too long on your converter? I measured the converter mounting points to the end of the converter shaft and it is the same as the original converter. Is there an inside measurement that may be different? I checked the input shafts and they were the same length too. Thanks.
Another item to check if the trans has been swapped at some point is that 69 and earlier C4's have a 24 spline shaft where 70 and later have 26 splines. A mismatch between that and the converter can cause your issues.
I seem to recall reading when putting in my TCI converter the the input shaft on the C4 goes in one way. It said something to be carefull when removing the old converter to note which end went into the tranny in case it came out with the converter?? the splines are deeper/longer on one end??
