Last weekend I took out my engine (460) to replace the rear main seal and oil pan gasket, now I put the engine back in and try to connect it back onto the tranny. For some reason it will go on untill there's 1/2 inch left to go then it gets hard. I can tighten the 6 bolts that connect the tranny with the engine one by one and that will tighten it together but then the engine won't turn over. If it's off by about 3/8 to 1/2 inch the engine will turn. Did I miss something or am I doing something wrong ?

Bert

 

I'm assuming you have an auto for a tranny. If that is the case make torque converter did not slide out some. Spin it has you are pushing it in. It should seat once then seat again as the dog ears line up.

 

Yes, it's a Automatic. So, what do I do exactly ? The converter is the big round thing, what do you mean by seat it ? It's bolted on to the engine and doesn't move.

Bert

 

what he means is take the torque converter off the flywheel and insert it into the front of the transmission and seat as he said it would..then drop the engine in lining up the bolts of the belhousing and the 4 bolts of the tourque converter at the same time...Its a b!%#ch!! but be slow and careful and you can line it all up easy enuf..Mike

 

Aha, now I see what I did wrong, I had the converter bolted to the flywheel and then tried to connect the engine with the tranny. Duh !!
Well, I'll let you guys know how it goes, probably won't be till thursday.

Bert

 

I hope you didn't bust your pump. To see if you are close on having your converter back far enough, take a long flat edge and lay it accross the back of your block and measure the distance from it to the outside edge of the flywheel, then once you have your converter back as far as you can get by spinning it and working it untill you feel it drop back 2 times, put the straight edge accross the bellhousing and measure the distance between it and one of the bases of the converter studs or bosses that the bolts go in, according to what set up you have, the numbers should be real close, I would say 1/8 to 1/4 inch this well give you an estamate whether you are close to having the converter back far enough. This is just a guide to go by. Pay attention to the thickness of your flat edge.

When all is done and you start your engine, if trans fluid starts pouring out the front of the trans. then you have busted pump. Hope you don't, but if you do don't fell lonley, alot of people have done this.

Good luck, I hope it works out good.

deerhunter3814

 

a tranny guy gave me a good idea for installing ford engines to transmissions. buy a couple of bolts with the correct threads and cut the heads off to a useable length and intall them in the block in two locations. while slowly postioning the engine, use the studs to align the engine with the transmission...the bolts should slide through bellhousing holes. make sure a torque converter bolt lines up with a flexplate hole. when everything is lined up and close enough, use the bellhousing to engine bolts to pull the engine to the transmission. after cursing and installing the rest of the bellhousing bolts, you should be able to push and pull the torque converter bolt and feel a small (1/16th inch?) amount of play between the torque converter and flexplate and you should be able to move the torque converter slightly from side to side. you may want to put the tranny in neutral and turn the engine using the crankshaft bolt and make sure everything sounds okay and nothing is bound. now you can install the 4 nuts which attach the tc to the plate. doing this too soon may pull the tc from the pump...you don't want the tc to move away from the tranny when installing the engine.


when i pull the 5.0L engine from my race car, I always pull the C4 tranny with it to make this process a little easier. an engine leveler is a must when removing/installing engine w/ tranny...good luck, take your time.

 

maybe its just me, but ive pulled quite a few engines in my time, and ive found it easier to pull the tranny and engine out together than to do them seperatly...granted you have to raise everything up a bit higher to clear the front end, but in my experience it was easier with the tranny still hooked up.....and i do most engine swaps alone so thats not a factor.....if you think about it, you have to take out the tranny crossmember to lower the tranny to get the bellhousing bolts out, if the crossmember is out the tranny will follow the engine out with no problems, its easier to unhook and rehook the two entities out of the vehicle, rather than fighting with them in the engine compartment.......thats just my personal opinion and my 2 cents....good luck...