1975 2wd standard cab 390FE with C6.

Long story short, took it out to have it rebuild got it back last thursday and I been working on getting it back in since. This is the first time I have droped and tried reinstalling a transmission in general, so im rather new to this aspect.

I purchased one of those niffty trans jacks from HF to help with the hangles and what not.

So the problem, first off I am not even 100% that the torque converter is all the way on. I was told to spin and push in and it will be all the way on when it spins tight and I cant get my hand behind it. Well I have small hands and its tight but I can still get hand behind it.

I have aligned the TC studs with the flywheel and they mate up. when I push the Trans to mate up with the engine block is it seam to not want to slide onto the block studs that stick out, but will slide on if I start to bolt it.

When I start bolting it, I can get a few bolts in all the way then the others will have easy turning then become really hard to turn, like im affraid im going to brake the bolt tough. I am completely and utterly lost, I feel like something is not aligning and Ive run out of ideas.

 

Sounds like the toque converter is not all the way in, take it out and try pulling the converter out look at the shaft that comes out of the transmission,turn it and push it in make sure its in all the way, then take converter and turn and push you should fill two steps one for each shaft that comes out of trans,the face of converter should be in past the edge of transmission. also make sure they didn't replace the converter with the wrong one this is something recommended wen you rebuild a transmission, the center that gos into the crank are different .hope this helps

 

Actually you should feel three clicks or steps when you install the torque converter.
There is the input shaft, that's the one that sticks out of the middle. The stator support, that's the one the input shaft sticks out of. The third one is the oil pump drive tang. This is the hub that sticks out of the torque converter. There are a couple of flats that must engage the oil pump to drive it. This is the one that gets you in trouble if the tc isn't seated all the way. If it's not seated and the trans is tightened up, you will destroy the front pump.
When everything is properly seated and the tc is pushed all the way in, the trans should bolt up easily to the engine and the tc will actually have clearance between the flex plate and tc. When you tighten the four studs it will draw up the tc to the flexplate.
One other thing to consider, there are two different tc pilot diameters (that's the little "nub" on the torque converter that fits in the area of the crankshaft that would normally hold the pilot bushing on a manual trans. Small blocks take the small diameter and the FE's and other big blocks take the larger diameter, IIRC the larger is 1.375" in diameter)

 

Thanks for the help, I took it back to the fella that rebuilt it and hes tearing it down again to see why the TC wont slide all the way on. It slides on to a point and it gets harder to rotate but it will wabble, so its obviously not seating all the way.

The 1.375" is for Big Blocks?

The older gentleman that rebuilt the trans is the only reputable guy in the jacksonville, nc area so I trust him and hes been alot of help on my other projects. But I he does have some age on him, I wonder if he knows which diameter TC he got.

 

I was a little off, the 1.375" is for the small blocks. The big blocks take a pilot diameter of 1.848" although, if your having problems getting the torque converter to even seat properly, I don't think the pilot diameter is the problem.