Ok, I'm in the middle of swapping my 327 into my car and ran into a small problem ... its near impossible for us to get the engine to go flush with the transmission. It seems like the transmission is lower on one side than the other. Also, I can't seem to get the engine and transmission pulled together to bolt them back into place. Its very confusing and its starting to reall tick me off ... I took my anger out on the old exaust which was crap anyway and am ready to find a good solution. I'm really lost on this one ... once everything is in straight, it'll all bolt up, but untill then, I'm quite confused. Ay help would be great. Just need to get the tranny level and forward enough to bolt to the engine. Thanks.

 

Do you have a std. or auto trans?

Auggie

 

a couple of questions:

1: are both of the "locator dowels" in place, if so you should be able to line one of them up and put a bolt in that side losely and then lift or lower the engine until the other drops into it's hole then put that side's bolt in and pull them up evenly.

2: take a look up under the car and make sure the center of the torque converter is not hitting the center of the crank hole. I think I read somewhere about a guy that was trying to install an auto tranny behind a motor that had a manual tranny at one time, he forgot to pull the pilot bearing out of the crank and it was hitting the torque conveter and wouldn't let it go in all the way.

 

Its a 700r4, I had to actually change the starter and crap behind there to the 327 so its the factory junk all connecting to there. We had one of the dowels in at one time, but we couldn't get the other side pushed up to get both of them in. Part of the problem seems to be that the transmission is almost at a bit of an angle. I'm not sure how that could happen, but I'm quite perplexed. The 305 came out smooth last night, I can't figure out why the 327 is being such a bitch on going in straight with the transmission, or vice versa.

 

Well, when you pulled the 305 out you may haved pulled the tq. conv out slightly (like I did once) and rotated it. Is the hole in the 327 crank the same size as the 305

Auggie

 

TC isn't the problem, its pushed back as far as it can go into the engine ... my big problem is that i can't get the engine and tranny to like up ... its like one side of the engine or tranny is raised above the other and i can't seem to find a way to balance it out, either way i have to work so im setting the project aside for another day or so.

 

You mean the TC is pushed back into the tranney right

Auggie

 

Yeah, its all the way back into the tranny, I think I'll just let it sit for now, and come back tomorrow with a clear mind and a few more people to help. I'll try a new angle with the engine and see how that does.

 

We all know you will figure it out and so do you. Keep at it

Auggie

 

168-tooth flex plate, by any chance? If so, it's probably hitting the tranny bellhousing. You need a 153-tooth version like was used on '82-'85 V8 3rd gens.

Otherwise, it's a matter of balancing the loads to get them to line up with each other. The tranny is just sitting on the back mount, which doesn't provide much twist resistance. If you have the lift chain diagonal across the engine, it's tough to get it balanced both front to back and side to side. A tilt sling is very helpful there.

The engine always comes out easier than it goes back in, in my experience.

 

Thankfully, its an 83 Z28, so the flex plate I switched over from is the 153 tooth version ... I think the starter the guy had in there before was for a 168 tooth one though. I had to switch the plate between the cars along with the starter. Hopefully I'll have roughly 5 guys with me tomorrow along with another friend who tossed a SBC into a chevy pickup on the phone so maybe just maybe between all of us, we can get them to mate. I'll cross my fingers and pray to the engine gods for guidance and assistance in tomorrows endeavors. Unfortunately because of this bastard engine not making the progress I wanted, I couln't line up a substitute for me at work and missed a concert I had planned on going to.

Anyone have any good ways to "untwist" the tranny ... I know shes off by a little and we had to push her back to even settle the new engine in, but how the hell can i get her to move back up into position? I'm thinkin maybe one of those two ton jacks that are on wheels and then just kicking the little bastard forward, otherwise with two guys down there, they can twist it into the right position to come together, but we have no way to push it forward. Any more suggestions would be great ... thanks for the help and reassurance so far guys.

 

How about loosening the rear mounts on the gearbox, putting the gear in park and then turn the wheels, it might work but I could be talking out of my ***.

 

I thought about that also mark, but unfortunately the rear end is on ramps ... we needed it up there to hack out the old exaust. What I was thinking though, was if at all posibl ... probably not, was to try and back the driveshaft out and turn the transmission that way, but im unsure if that would be possible.