Hello. I'm doing (finishing) an engine swap in my 74 F100. Put in a 351M and a C6 transmission. Have been working several says on getting everything put back together. Got to a point today that i thought I'd go ahead and try to get her to turn over, so i put the battery back in and turned the key. i got a loud CLUNK! not a click like the solenoid, but a very loud clunk. I'm almost certain it was the starter engaging the flywheel (with nothing happening) but I'm not positive. I took the starter off to inspec the teeth on the flywheel and the starter drive. both looked ok. i did notice the torque specs for the starter mounting bolts was from 17-22 lbs. i had them much much tighter. would that have caused it to bind? Geeze i don't know I'm really at a loss. Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated

 

It could have been your torque converter. if it isn't aren't lined up correctly and you turn the motor it can break. so inspect your torque converter

 

not lined up correctly? What do you mean? i did pull it off the transmission before attatching the trans to the engine (when it was on the sop floor before putting it in the truck). i had a hard time getting it to go together when trying to put the trans on the engine with the converter already bolted to the flexplate, but eventually by turning the flexplate with a prybar it slid right on. was this the wrong procedure. i couldn't figure any other way of getting it bolted on. you can probably guess I'm a novice. actually this is my first engine swap.. how would i check to see if it is the converter? Thanks.

 

Yea, it is the wrong way. You may or may not have ruined the pump housing, but kinda sounds like it. Which means pulling trans and having that repaired/rebuilt why you're at it. To put the trans to engine, first seat the TQ in the trans, then fit the trans to engine and bolt it together. There will be, when correctly done, about 1/16th to 1/8th inch separating the TQ from the flexplate. Slide the TQ to flexplate and match up the holes to bolt TQ to flexplate. This way the pump housing doesn't get destroyed.

Don't feel too bad. It is a rookie mistake some of us have done. Next Time, ask and I assure you someone who knows what he's talking about will respond and help without any attitude. That's a nice part of the site, great knowledge shared freely.

Sorry about the trans, but maybe I'm wrong which is the norm for me.

 

I am new at this to it's just what my mechanic told me when me and my dad we're replacing a motor in a truck to always make sure the torque converter is line up correctly because it will break. here's the procedure he gave us

1. put the torque converter on the shaft
2. lift up the rear end of the transmission a few inches so the transmission is at an angle.
3. spin the torque converter till it clicks stop push it back a little and spin it again till it clicks then the torque converter goes back further.
4. bolt up the motor and line up the flywheel before bolting it tho the torque converter
5. after the motor is bolted to the tranny go to where the starter is held bolting the torque converter to the flywheel when getting the nuts on the torque converter bolts turn the motor over with a wrench to get to the rest and when doing that see if it turns over easily by hand
but before you go pulling out your motor and tranny talk to other people to figure out what else the problem could be and to get more ideas on the subject
If you're not able to turn the motor over at all by a wrench after the motor and transmission are bolted together, something is defininally wrong

 

Thanks for all the info guys. I sure hope you're wrong too bart8109 lol. But let me ask you this. i noticed on the shaft that the torque converter came off of, there was a "bump" for lack of a better term, on it which corresponds with an "unbump" (geeze i know this sounds stupid) in the converter. in order to get the trans attatched to the converter i rotated the engine with a prybar to line up these corresponding "bumps" when they lined up that's when the trans slid forward. then i just bolted it onto the engine. would that have damaged the pump?

 

Embreechristopher and bart8109 are correct. Basically the torque converter should lock in twice to the tranny. It will slide in and click and then turn, slide, and click again. It should be recessed a little past the bell housing. Line the 4 studs on the torque with the 4 holes in the flywheel. You should never force the tranny to the engine. Do not use the bolts to seat the engine to the tranny. You can use the bolts to keep it lined up.Turn the engine at the crank bolt to tighten the 4 bolts on the torque converter. You may have damaged the front pump on the tranny the way it was installed, because the torque converter was not locked in all the way.

 

i may attempt to correct that if i didn't break anything. Thanks for the advice. Getting back to my original problem of the engine not turnig over and only hearing a "clunk." i measured the distande from the edge of the starter mounting surface (with the starter off of course) to the flexplate ring gear. it was only a little over a centimeter. the pinion on the starter was almost surely already engaged in the ring gear before the key was even turned. it just doesn't look right at all to me. Think i may have the wrong starter? honestly i don't see how any starter is gonna work without some major shimming. according to a parts search i did on advanced auto parts website it's the right one. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

the "clunk" you are hearing is probably the starter hitting the flexplate and unable to turn it over because by not installing the TC correctly what you have done is bound up the transmission and making it impossible for the starter to turn it over most likely. Also since you have put the TC in a bind and it not being seated all the way something has to move, most likely you have broke the front pump on the trans BUT the other part that will move is the flexplate, meaning it will bend forward when you force it that way reducing the distance between the ring gear and the starter so yes most likely the gear is almost if not already engaged because the flexplate is probably bent a 1/4" or more.
You REALLY need to get that correct before proceeding any further worrying about the starter, most likely once you get the tc and front pump issues fixed the starter clearance issues will go away honestly. If not of coarse we can work on that then.

 

ok i finally got the transmission off the engine. since i couldn't turn the engine by hand this was extremely difficult. But i did get them apart. I'm still a little confused though because the torque converter spins freely. and now that i have them apart i can turn the engine over by hand. If i damaged the pump in the trans would it still spin freely? (when i turn it by hand i mean)

 

ok i see that may be unclean now that i go back and read it. i have the engine and trans separated. i can spin the torque converter (in the trans) easily. if the front pump was damaged would it still spin freely?

 

oops. the word i meant to use was "unclear" not unclean ha ha

 

pull t.c out and reinstall should spin and press back should feel it click and slid back spin and press again and t.c. should click and slid back more.

 

if it does seat back in after i follow the spin click spin click procedure would that mean the front pump isn't broken?

 

ok. i went back out to the shop (seems like the past week or so i've lived there ha ha) and spun the torque converter again. it slid back some more which from what i've read, means it's now engaging the pump and it's fully seated. when i had it bolted onto the engine it wasn't in this position (foolishly, from ignorance, i bolted the converter to the flexplate then put the trans to the engine. I'll know better next time) so i need some advice. should i reconnect the trans to the engine now that i know the converter is seated fully? Or should i take it to the trans shop down the road to make sure i didn't screw up the front pump? i really need to get this project finsihed up while i have time. we'll have a new baby girl in a couple weeks (or sooner) and there'll be no time for my toys then ha ha.