I got my car back from the shop and after about 20 miles the transmission just whent dead. I talk to the shop they said that they did notice fluid leaking during there test drive but they did nothing. I got the transmission off and the front pump was shot. Now that I got everything back to normal I was looking at the flywheel and it just didnt seem right to me. Should it be installed with the inner ring facing the motor?
That looks correct,the inside has the dish toward the crankshaft so you look good there.there should be a lip on the rearward facing part.In other words the lip on the round part goes on the backside toward the tranny.
One of the biggest mistakes when installing a converter is to not have it totally seated on the tranny. When the converter in not seated, it pushes against the pump, destroying it. When the tranny is bolted to the engine, the converter should spin, and have about 1/2" play front to back before you bolt it to the flexplate.
I learened that the hard way... 3 miles after putting the engine back my tranny pump gave up. BTW - is it even physically possible to put a flywheel on backwards? Wont the bolt holes only allow it to be bolted on one way?
I though so too but you never know actually the manual does say that the wholes are made so you have to put it on a certain way but why couldnt it be flipped it. thats what I was thinking.
Thats right about the holes! I had a flex plate without the flange (around the crank hub) so it could set either way but the holes would not line up when it was backwards. Good luck!
Thanks I think now the whole problem may have been that it got overfilled. I did have a bigger pan on it and I think that may have also caused some confusion.
ya know, looking at the wear around that one bolt hole it looks like that might have been from a washer, is there a similar wear on the other side. Maybe you could see a difference from the bolt side/converter side. Does that make sense? o No: D.
Well I know there were no washers on there I think that is just from the torque converter it does look like there was one though everything looks good now that I am 100% sure that it is on right.
Heres what I got, I got the trasmission bolted to the engine and the tail resting on my transmission jack. I felt the three knocks bumps whatever while putting the torque converter on and at the top of the torque converter I cannot totally put my hand between the torque converter and the housing and the torque converter will spin with no problem but, if you at this picture when I screw the torque converter to the flywheel it is going to pull it from the transmission. As metioned before the thing I listed are all correct I am sorry but I dont understand the half inch that was metioned earlier and I cant find it in my book.
Im no expert, but mine was the same way when I put it together. The first time I did this, I could barely spin the converter to get the bolts in the flywheel. I didnt know the difference, and this ruined the pump of the tranny.. any way a $600 rebuild later... I put it together for the second time, and my tranny friend was there.. he set the converter for me and there was space like you mention. I had to bring the converter forward about 1/2 an inch to meet the flywheel..... everything worked perfect this time.
The converter will pull forward and bolt to the flexplate. The 1/4" to 1/2" clearance is right. If there is no clearance, the converter pushes against the pump, destroying it. Were there washers between the converter and flexplate when you took it out?
Tom: Your picture has two areas circled where the bolt holes are on the torque converter and asks if that is the area for the 1/2" or so of clearance. Yes, that is just exactly how it should look when you put the transmission in place and bolt it to the engine block. Your converter should spin freely until you put the bolts through the flex plate and into the converter. You actually should have to pull the converter forward to even start the bolts. If the converter doesn't spin easily, it just may be that the nose of the converter isn't lined into the hole in the crank. It doesn't go in very far like a pilot on the input shaft of a manual trans, just enough to keep it lined up and be a PIA if it isn't. Only ever had this problem with a smallblock Olds and a T-350 but once was plenty.
There were no washers when I pulled it out so I am going to move forward and just bolt it up. You guys have been a great help I really dont think I could do this without people being there to answer questions like this. Thanks Tom
Its hard to tell from the photo in post #12. It appears the flexplate is backwards. Look at the photo where the teeth are close to the starter housing. It looks too close to me. The simplest thing to do is slide the converter forward and see if the mounting tabs on the converter make contact with the flexplate before the hub of the converter touches the crank flange. If you can't bring the converter far enough forward to have the mounting lugs touch the flexplate (without pulling it forward with the bolts) then its backwards. To install a converter, just support the converter by the hub with one hand and spin it several times til you feel it slide rearward with a couple distinct movements or clunks. There shouldn't be more than a 1/8" to 1/4" between the converter body and trans housing down by the pan. Sometimes you have to spin it a bunch of times to get the converter to seat in the front pump.
I thought "backwards" too, but in the first post you can clearly see the extruded lip of the flexplate-to-crank ID facing rearwards as you'd expect for correct assembly (and I don't think it can be reversed anyway, as previously stated, but it's been awhile). I think the 1/2" gap is a bit excessive myself...for hi-po assemblies I usually add a washer at each point to minimize the gap (thus increasing converter snout-to-pump gear interface) while still maintaining around 3/16" to 1/4" gap before bolting things up. Devon
Devon, Just reviewed the first photo and you're right the lip has to face rearward. So its in there right.
When I bolt it down is it ok to turn the torque converter I am having trouble grasping the fact that I lined everthing up just so I can basically back the converter off and then turn it to get all the bolts in.
