So here's the deal. I have a 1985 f150, 4x4, 302 carb motor. My old motor was getting a bit tired so I bought a 302 out of a mustang. The motor itself is fine, fires right up every time. However, after I had the motor swapped out, and had my new motor in I fired it up and got ready for the first test drive, after putting the truck into gear, I realized that I went absolutely nowhere.

None of my linkage seems to be bent, and it's still moving as it should. If I play with the shifter at the column, I can get the truck to seem to sort of go into gear, however once in gear, I can barely creep foward, and giving the motor gas does absolutely nothing. The only thing I've been able to think of is the torque converter perhaps not being filled to the proper level.

The transmission ran and shifted perfectly prior to old motor being pulled out, and I kept the same torque converter. I have a timing gun and set all of that up prior to initial test drive attempt. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

Did any transmission fluid leak out anywhere? if it's too low it won't do anything.

 

The converter will automatically fill, provided there is enough fluid.

But it must be engaged back onto both sets of splines, and the oil pump drive.............& stay in place as you install it onto the engine.

It needs to be slid onto the first splines as far as it will go; then rotated with a little backward pressure, until you feel & hear it 'clunk' back onto the second set of splines; then continue to rotate it until it 'clunks' again, into the pump drive. You need feel each stage, to be sure it is in place.

If the pump drive didn't engage properly, unfortunately there is likely to be damage already done.

 

Yes, you didn't have to draw the tranny and engine together with a lot of force on the bolts did you?

 

Yep, the torque converter aligned up with the oil pump drive, this was something I made sure of, as I had this issue on another truck I owned in the past. Is there a possibility that I didn't fill my torque converter to the proper level, and it filled off the fluid in trans and caused my tranny to just be really low on fluid, resulting in my dilemma?

 

The converter will finish filling itself when the engine starts.

With the engine idling & your foot on the brake, cycle the shifter through each position to fill all the galleries etc.
Then check the oil level, idling with the transmission in 'Park'.......normally you would do this when the trans is hot, but that's not going to be possible for you initially.

I think a 4x4 C6 (if that's what you have) holds around 13-14 quarts