C6 swap problems with my 66

[dotcentral]

This is for my slick, and not my bump. I am trying to swap engines and transmissions. My 66 had a 352 and 3 speed manual. I bought a clean looking 352/360 (not sure which) from a local guy, was supposedly running but the guy wanted a 390 in his truck. Cleaned it & painted it, spins at the balancer with a little effort. Got a FE C6 from a buddy, and all the parts. I am trying to put the trans on the engine and put the whole assembly in the truck. I thought I had it all together right, but seems like I am about a 1/4" shy of having it seated all the way.

To eliminate the obvious, yes I pulled the pilot bearing out. The flywheel is facing the right way. I have that 1/16" or so thick plate installed. The torque converter is lined up right with the flywheel, the drain plugs and converter nuts are fitting in the right places on the flywheel.

I pulled it apart and checked it all. The converter is about 5/8" inside the bell. Should it be more? The edge of the threaded torque converter studs almost lines up with the outside edge of the bellhousing. Plus the more I tighten it down, the less freely the engine and trans spins.

It seems like maybe the torque converter is not fully seated. Or that small tranmission driveshaft is not in the right way. One end of that small shaft has splines about 1/2" longer than the other end. So I tried to measure the splines, the torque converter splines are pretty deep in there, so not exactly accurate but did my best and used the end of the shaft where the splines was just about the same length of that inside the converter. Not sure how well that comes across. But anyways, still can't get it right.

Anyone know of a good C6 site? I need to get this resolved ASAP. I have this sitting at the local community college and they are starting to get a little crabby with me keeping it parked there in-op.

I may have to break down and buy a running 302/C4. Or sell it as a non-running project, which would be bad in several ways.

[BobbyFord]

Sounds like the torque converter is not seated in all the way.

[FORDification]

As long as the mounting lugs on the torque converter are below the front edge of the bellhousing, the torque converter is fully seated.

Have you tried just bolting the bare torque converter to the flexplate? I'm wondering if maybe the torque converter is binding up in the center pilot hole of the flexplate. But then again, even if it was, it shouldn't cause the engine/trans to be harder to spin.

Are the locating dowels on the mounting surface of the block correctly lining up with the holes in the transmission bellhousing?

I guess it this was me, I'd first try bolting the bare converter up to the flexplate. If this goes OK, I'd then remove the torque converter and try bolting up the transmission (via the bellhousing bolts) without the torque converter installed. That way I'd be able to determine whether it's the torque converter that's giving you problems or the transmission itself.

[DuckRyder]

Did you have 3 distinct clicks when you installed the converter?

Does the converter have the proper sized pilot?

If the they have been bolted down and caused enough bind to make the engine difficult to turn, I would be concerned about the pump...

[DuckRyder]

Here is a good C6 site:

http://raceabilene.com/kelly/hotrod/trans.html

In particular:

http://raceabilene.com/kelly/hotrod/ima ... /c6exp.gif

You also may find the Ford transmission site helpful, there is a lot of knowledge there although I find them a bit gruff most of the time...

http://www.network54.com/Forum/260730/

[BobbyFord]

If you want to be sure that the converter is fully seated, measure the distance from the block plate to the trans side of the flywheel at the converter stud hole, then measure the how far back the converter is, at one of the studs, from the bell housing mating surface.