I was going to order the torque converter that I need when the engine gets here and my tranny is ready. So I jump onto JEGS and man if it doesn't make it hard there too. There are two different ones that I believe will fit the tranny. There are 32 splines on the bigger output and 24 on the smaller. I am guessing that the torque converter attaches to the smaller (but it's just a guess because I don't know anything about it) since JEGS didn't have anything that had the higher number of splines in it. But of the two that had 24 splines, one was a 10.5" bolt patter, and the other was an 11.4" bolt pattern. Which do I need, or how can I figure out which one I need?

The link to the two different ones are:
TCI 450600 - TCI Saturday Night Special Torque Converters - JEGS
TCI 450800 - TCI Saturday Night Special Torque Converters - JEGS

Any help is appreciated.

(The tranny is a 1968 C4)

 

You need the smaller bolt pattern. The large one was used on trucks in the 70s that had the 1 inch larger bellhousing.

 

I ordered the torque converter with the smaller bolt pattern (10.5). The thing wouldn't fit all the way down against the seal. So I called JEGS and they said that since my tranny has the dip stick going into the pan instead of the case, it needs to be the larger bolt pattern.

I called the guy that I ordered the engine and flex plate from to find out if I could switch it out before they shipped it. Well he said the engine was shipped yesterday (so I'm excited about that), but he also said that tranny's with the bigger bell housing are really rare and he doubts that I have one. But if I did, I could just send the flex plate back and he'd send me another one.

My question is, who do I believe? I'm more prone to believing the JEGS guy because the torque converter for the 10.5 bolt patter won't fit.

I also found a site ( TCI - TECHNICAL INFORMATION: C4 Bellhousing Applications ) that agree's with the pan fill needing the bigger pattern. I wanted to measure the bellhousing depth, but I don't know what exactly you're supposed to measure. I asked my dad to do it (since the tranny is at his house and I'm not there) and he said that it's 4.something. So I'm guessing he's measuring the wrong thing....but don't know what it is.

Anyone able to help clarify???

 

Here is a picture of a big bellhousing c4. Look at the main body of the trans do you see where it meets up with the bellhousing it flares upward? The small bellhousing c4 the main body does not flare up like that and is the easy way to tell without measuring. I thought that the big bellhousing with the pan fill did not come out until the 70s. So if you have a big bellhousing trans I think you will need the bigger torque converter and flexplate and maybe starter to match. Are you sure it is a '68 c4?

 

Here's a comparison pic for you...

 

I took the valve body to the tranny place that I bought the rebuild kit from and they said it was a 68. The guy that rebuilt it for me didn't say anything about any of the pieces not working for it.

As for the bellhousing, as you explained it, I believe that I do have the smaller one. I will include a picture at the bottom so you can double check my vision (it gets kinda blurry after looking at computers too long). But if it is the smaller bellhousing, why won't the torque converter that I ordered fit??? I've had me, my dad, and another guy that's replaced too many tranny's to count, all try to get the converter on, but none of us succeeded.

 

Ford changed the spline count on the input shaft somewhere around 69 sounds like that is what the problem is. There are two different "small" torque converters and that difference is in the spline count. You might need the earlier one and you now have the later one. You can count them on your input shaft and then look in the end of the torques converter and count it. Your trans does look like the small bellhousing trans.

 

I did count the splines on the tranny. It was 24. I didn't look down in the converter because when I ordered it, it said that it was 24 spline. If I go to his house tomorrow I'll count the splines on it to make sure they didn't send me the wrong one.

 

There may be another possibility; we had trouble getting the t/c in the last little bit, and it was because the input shaft had come out of the rear planetary set while moving the trans around, and a thrust washer had fallen down enough to block the shaft going all the way back in. The washer is plastic, so you can't force it at all.

There are also two different types of front pumps; don't remember the exact differences but the tangs on the t/c are different. The change occured in the late '60's or early 70's. You can change the pump gears to whichever you need pretty easily.

 

I guess I looked at it wrong, it doesn't go directly into the pan, it goes into the case first. So I was wrong about that. Oops.

So if it were the input shaft coming out (which would sound right because if I measure from the inside of the tranny to the end of the shaft, it is longer than if I measure from the inside of the t/c to the end of the lip that sits down in the tranny), would it be easy to fix that washer, or should I take it to a tranny guy. I'm not very knowledgable about tranny's

 

You can pull the small diameter input shaft out of the tranny without fear of something dropping off inside. I've seen it done and done it myself. If the trans is a fresh rebuild it might be tight going in or out but it is built to do this. Your shaft may be out a bit and turned so that the splines are off and won't push back in all the way.

 

All I can say is, we had to do a complete R&R two weeks after putting a fresh tranny in, because the thrust washer CAN drop out. I think in most cases, the oil film will keep it in place. If the shaft isn't going into the splines, it would stand out more like than an inch , would be real obvious.