I have a 62 Ranchero that I've replaced the front end with a MII crossmember and related parts, I've fabricated the floor boards and a new transmission tunnel, I've adapted bucket seats from a donor car, I've rebuilt a 1988 5.0 and connected it to a C6. I've never done fabrication work before, but with the help of Jerry McReath, I'm learning. On to the problem, the motor turns fine sitting on the floor with a tool on the flexplate. Snug like a new motor should be with no resistance on a whole revolution. I bolted the C6 to the motor, outside the car (was able to reach and tighten 2 torque converter bolts), put the motor and the tranny in the car, bolted on a new Autozone/Duracraft starter to bump the motor over and get to the other torque converter bolts; well, the motor won't turn over with the starter. It acts like it's too hard for the starter to move. I am hotwiring straight to a battery and have even had a battery charger on the battery at the same time. Tried a breaker bar on the harmonic balancer bolt, but did not want to tighten it too much beyond the torque limit. Is there any way that I'm not considering to turn this motor over without removing it from the car, separating the motor from the tranny and using the tool on the flexplate? Any suggestions? Motor turned over fine every step of reassembly and also turned over before I connected the tranny and installed it. I've thought of taking the battery out of my diesel and trying it. More starting power. Its been suggested to cut a hole in my C6 and using the flexplate tool to rotate it. I prefer not doing that. Help please!
When you slide the torque converter in you need to engage several different splines and the pump is driven by two flats on the converter snout,....you probably missed aligning the pump drive and the converter is sticking out too far.....loosen the converter to flex plate fasteners and see if you can wiggle the converter ....
It sounds like you do not have the torque converter properly seated..... If this is the problem, and you do not FIX it properly BEFORE you turn it over . . . YOU WILL TRASH THE TRANSMISSION . . . . Lynn W
I'm with them on that one. It happens all too often. From your post : I bolted the C6 to the motor, outside the car (was able to reach and tighten 2 torque converter bolts) There is the problem, you should have been able to rotate the engine easily right there to get to the other bolt (s) That is when you should have taken a step back and figured out what is wrong. Here is what I suggest, Support the engine so it doesn't tilt down or drop more than a half inch or so. Support the trans with a jack and take those converter bolts back out and then loosen the bellhousing bolts so you can slide the trans back a half inch or so. That might take swapping in a couple of longer bolts in the bottom bolt holes to do. with the converter back away from the flexplate enough to turn it turn the converter while gently pushing it into the pump. It should clunk in and then after turning a bit more go in some more. When you get the bellhousing bolted back tight to the block you should still have clearance between the flex plate and the converter and actually have to pull the converter to the flex plate. That is on any automatic trans with separate flex plates and converters. If you need more room to spin the converter by hand get longer bolts so you can slide the trans back further. Then all you have to do is slide the trans back in on those bolts and push it up against the block and put in the other bolts before putting in the correct bellhousing bolts in those spots. Saves a shit load of wrestling the trans under the car that way.
Thank you everyone who has responded. I really appreciate it! I cannot work on the car today, but will follow the suggestions tomorrow. Hopefully I will have room to separate the tranny and the motor (a little) while in the car. Hopefully. But, remember this car is a small body Falcon, designed for a 6 cylinder and there is not a lot of spare room. Worst case scenario I'll pull the motor/tranny. I suppose it is entirely feasible that when I was bolting the motor and tranny together that I pulled the torque converter to the motor/flexplate when I shouldn't have and pulled it off one of the splines. Sounds totally plausible. I knew I could count on a good answer from skilled workers and once again, thank you. I will post back and let you all know the outcome Ray
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