Some convertors have a drain plug in them. Make sure the plug is aligned with the opening in the flexplate for the plug to pass through.
You stated that you had tightened the converter to the flex plate before tightening the bell housing bolts. This could have pulled the converter out of the pump doing it that way, depending how far away from the block the bell housing was. A 9in converter should not interfere with the bell housing at all, seeing as the stock one is around 12in. I think you have a problem with the converter pump drive being welded in to long or the input shaft is bottoming out in the tranny for some reason. Also is the stub that fits in the crank to long? Aftermarket converters are notorious for being assembled incorrectly, unless you are using a name brand such as B&M, TCI etc. How much end play did the crankshaft have when it was assembled? Are the pump gears installed correctly? Lot's of stuff to check but a sytematic elimination of all possibilities, is the only way to really find the problem. Check to see how much end play the input shaft has in the trans, this requires pulling the valve body and prying on the input shell with a dial indicator resting on the end of the shaft. This is all labor and time consuming but necessary in evaluating what is binding up. Good luck and I am sure you will find the problem.
Well I have taken out and reinstalled the tranny 5 times now trying different things and measuring different things. The crank endplay and input shaft endplay was checked before and they were both right in the middle of the acceptable range. After all my testing and measuring, it is either the input shaft is bottoming out or the converter is not fully seated. I made sure it was fully seated during installation, but the place that sold me the converter said that alot of times you have to hammer the converter on with a rubber mallet to get it to fully seat on the new splines. So I guess I'll try that. The old converter is in now and there are no problems so it must be something with the converter. I'm really sore, but hopefully I'll eventually figure it out. Thanks everyone.
Matt Might have the answer when the guy at our shop built Matt's he built it with the depth like it was the big bell....the small bells have a shorter converter.
Sounds like Matt/ Nutt is on to something,, could be the shorter converter,, I have run into that problem before. Dan
I learned alot about C4 bellhousings last year. Who'd have thunk Ford would do something crazy like that.
The new converter sticks out 1/8 to 3/16" more than the stock and I did have it seated all the way in. With my aftermarket hardened input shaft it sticks out 1/4 inch more. I only have a 1/8" clearance between the stock converter and flexplate. I'm going to call the converter manufacturer and try and get it fixed.
hardened input shaft sticks out a 1/4 inch more than stock ..?? why is it longer....is it possible it is the wrong shaft?
Update I found the problem...The pump gear was installed upside down. It has a chamfer on one side and is flat on the other. The converter goes up against this gear and the chamfer allows it to go in another 1/8" or so. Now I just have to figure out why there is no 1st gear...I think it may be that I had a broken forward clutch seal on the pump stator. I'm crossing my fingers. Its all back together now and I'm going to test it tomorrow.
Still no first gear. Guess I'll have to take the tranny out for the 8th time. I think I'll take it to a professional this time...I failed.
You didn't fail man! You learned. Knowledge always has a price... Its probably something real little....
