87_LG4

So my rebuilt 305 got put back in yesterday with the original 700r4. Barely got it in and bolted to it's mounts before I had to go to work, so I left it as it was. Next day, plan was to start out bolting the engine and bellhousing together. What do you know, they don't line up. It seems the transmission is slightly askew towards the passengers side. Also it seems to be rotated a bit clockwise as seen towards the front from the transmissions point of view. The flywheel and torque converter seems to be lining up but not making contact like they should, although it's kinda hard to tell. I have tried to the best of my abilities (which in all fairness is limited) to align them, but my only available tools are a crowbar, a jack and two jack stands. The car's front wheels are on ramps and it's standing on gravel in our drive way.

Does anyone have any experience in going about such a hassle? Can the transmission be moved backwards safely to make realignment easier? I would really like to fix this without having to pull the engine back out, as I don't have the proper equipment to do so (PM me and I'll send you a pic of the jerry rigging we used to hoist the engine)

Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you!

aremy10

iTrader: (3)

the torque converter may not be slid back on the shaft all the way you should be able to bolt the tranny to the motor without the torque converter bolted to the flexplate. you would have to pull the tranny back and mess with the converter till it seats down all the way , then line up the tranny to the two dowel pins and start bolting it on , you may have to jack it up and down to get at some of the bolts. once its bolted on then you can spin the converter freely until it lines up with the flexplate , then bolt that in

aremy10

iTrader: (3)

all you need is ajack and some ***** lol.. get under it and shove shove shove. and twist it into place there are two dowel pins that have to line up once you get one bolt in then you can move the tranny a little to line it up better .


the converter should not make contact with the flywheel before its bolted thats normal when you bolt it in you just pull it forward. if it is making contact its not in all the way, cause the teeth arent lined up inside

aremy10

iTrader: (3)

another thing you can do is find some longer bolts like water pump bolts or something like that, get one in on one side and move the tranny around till you can get one in on the other side then push the tranny in to the motor and get a few of the right bolts in place, then take out the long ones you used and put the right ones in place. not too bad to do just gotta muscle it around

aremy10

iTrader: (3)

also try movin the tranny on the jack till its tilted with the motor as close as possible

aremy10

iTrader: (3)

it can be frustrating but hang in there and youll get it

87_LG4

I tried jacking the passenger side of the tranny up to fix the rotational angle relative to the engine, but the rest of the tranny came along. So, I tried blocking the drivers side of the tranny from ascending in various ways but then the whole car was lifted. I tried to lift the engine and tranny seperately to see if they would clear each other enough that I could align them laterally (as they then could be lowered down to where the guide dowels would pop in place), but also now they seem to be stuck to each other. I'm pretty sure at least one of the guide dowels are caught along the inside edge of the bellhousing, forcing both parts to rise and fall along with the other. I also noticed that if I try to lift the tranny too far up the center thingy of the converter gets caught on the flexplate bolts. What I need to do is move the transmission further back. I have tried to do so with a crow bar from a lot of different angles with various leverages, but each time it gets pushed back it simultaneously slides off towards the passengers side of the car and also rotates counter clockwise as seen from the front of the car facing the rear. It really frustrates me that I know what I have to do, but I need more people to help me do it (at least two people with crow bars to push the tranny back and someone to push it sideways), but there won't be anyone here at least till the week end. Unless that is the tranny can be unbolted from its crossmember and slid backwards, but I have read enough stories about people doing so without a proper jack and a level surface to avoid doing it. But thanks for your help. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Just for giggles, here's a pic the DIY engine hoist me and my dad used. Enjoy!

aremy10

iTrader: (3)

wow thats one hell of a hoist!!! ya you are gonna have to unbolt the tranny from crossmember. it will make your life easier. if you are worried about jacking on the tranny pan than put a wooden panel of some sort between the jack and the pan. ive done trannys in my car alone with just a jack. its not as easy as with two people . but it can be done with care. i jacked up my tranny and when it was close to the motor i used my foot to move it back and forth, be carefull not to slide the tranny off the jack. but you can use your foot to angle the tranny up or down. have fun hope ya get it in

Ca[maro]88

iTrader: (2)

i suggest NEVER taking a tranny out by yourself without the tranny strapped to the jack. it can easily slip off the jack and smash your fingers between the tailshaft and the floor board.. dont ask how i know...

87_LG4

Like I said, I've read enough stories to be aware of the dangers. I appreciate every advice I get, and I'll take them all into consideration, but ultimately it's my choice, and in this case I think I'll wait for dad to get home.

Nice image by the way. Pull a lot of strange with those kinda scars?

Ca[maro]88

iTrader: (2)

wasnt pointed towards you 87_lg4, more pointed towards the people that say "just throw that around on top of a jack and muscle into place grow some *****!" thats just ignorant when you have a hundred pounds over your head.

87_lg4 i appreciate your common sense. although your engine hoist is.... well.... uh... do what you gotta do bud.

87IROC-DAN61

Hello 87_LG4!!

How are you????

I see that you have a bit of a problem!!

It would have been easier if you would have mounted the transmission to the engine, outside of the car!!

Then you would have probably had another problem with the "hoist" that you have there!!



My suggestion would be to remove the engine, and join them together outside the car, however, there is another way!!

Back off the transmission, and check to make sure that the torque converter is actually all the way seated into the transmission's pump drive, like aremy10 said!!

Once that's done, "line up" the transmission to the engine, bring them together, and it should slide right together!!

Any "hard" resistance means you've got another issue to figure out!!



P.S. You may have to remove/loosen the engine mount bolts, and angle the engine a bit to acheive a good line up of the two!!

87_LG4

I did it!!! It worked!! Great job guys!! I used the trick with the longer bolts to line it up, and it worked!! Next step now is setting lifter preload, so I'm off to buy that last quart of oil to fill her up, then it's headers and y-pipe, accessories and all that other stuff (not to mention all the wiring )

Thank you all for your help and support!!!

aremy10

iTrader: (3)

man that probebly makes you pretty happy, i know i would be. i love it when things start goin the way you want

have fun

i was just jokin around with the "*****" statement ... sorry if i affended you
glad it all worked out

87_LG4

None taken man I'm just really happy I got it working. Thanks

mm1972

thanks for this. solved my issue as well!!