I got a 9.5inch converter from Pro-Built and he said get between .100 and .125 thousandths of an inch. Now I cant find a feeler guage that big. Is there an alternative? Should I put washers until very very little play is there?

 

as far as i know that would be measured by placing a straight edge across the front of the trans for clearance and to insure you have the converter seated on the oil pump drive notch. you'd bolt the converter directly to the flex plate

 

When you install a GM converter, push it all of the way into the tranny and make sure it turns freely while while you tighten the bellhousing to engine.

Now with the tranny tight and the converter back into the tranny, pull it forward 1/8". Now you will need washers to make up the difference between the converter pads and the flywheel. This will allow the converter to fully drive the pump rotor. This has always been a problem on GM converters leading to premature pump failure.

 

If there is only an 1/8 clearance between the flywheel and the converter fully pushed in should I just bolt the converter righ to the flywheel?

 

I had a similar situation with my Yank converter. Fully seated on the tranny there was only about 1/8-1/4 of an inch to the flywheel. I just bolted it up without washers. It seems fine and is still nearly fully seated on the tranny.

 

Yes.

 

As I and transfixleo have said, this has always been a problem with GM. You should have (as I stated earlier) no more than .125 & no less than .100 clearence. If you have more than this, it is to be made up by installing a shim at the "3" corners. Whatever thickness you arrive at, the washer thickness for all the 3 must not vary at all. If you have, for example .185 clearence, then you would need shims at .060-.085 to get within the desired range. The point here is whatever you decide that the thickness of the shims should be, "all 3" have to be the same thickness in measurement, otherwise you will offset the torque converter and the front pump bushing will have premature wear coupled with a front seal leak. The person who said that he had between a 1/8-1/4" clearence is taking a "big risk" that the front pump rotor does not break or wear out due to the extra clearence (less contact area). When you have little contact area between the the rotor & torque converter hub, you can accelerate a condition that very few are aware of. The condition is known as "dither". This occurs even where oil is constantly present. The rotor oscillates on the torque converter hub and causes wear, even though these parts are "never" without oil! If the contact area is not maxiumized, the desired clearence between the flex plate & torque converter (more rotor to hub contact area at the torque converter hub) during the installation, problems can/will occur as stated above.

 

Well I'm the guy who said that. I'm not really sure how much space there was. Probobly not that much as i previously stated, now that i think about it. I know it was less than my stock converter had, by alot, and i had no problems with that for 125,000+ miles. It only came out very, very little till it contacted the flywheel. Sorry if my "measurements" are off.
Anyway, listen to him, he's smarter.

 

Another reason to keep it to this spec is that the converter moves in and out during use! Under higher pressures the converter moves forward and then settles back when you release the peddle. When you have too little contact area, along with wear, eventually the hub can hop onto the front side of the rotor and drive it right into the stator, wiping the pump out.