Please help with my C4...

[Fast63]

I installed a new torque converter before putting the 347 in the car, and the furthest I could get it in was about 3/4 of an inch past the bell housing mating surface. The instructions said 1 1/8 inches, but it wouldn't go anymore. I put the flexplate on the TC and then put the starter in the bell, and everything looked like it lined up fine. I have had many instructions that were wrong before, so I decided to put the engine in and see how everything fit. Well all is fine, except that when the engine is bolted up to the bellhousing, the torque converter has NO play at all and I know it is supposed to be able to freely move back and forth, otherwise it has not engaged all the shafts.

A little background, I have a big bell, 164 tooth, 26 spline C4 with a drain pain, not case-filled. The original torque converter has an 11.40 bolt circle, and the new one I have is 11.438, and it DOES make a difference when you go to put the flexplate over the studs in the converter. I modified my flexplate slightly with a cylindrical file to get the studs to go through the holes, and that was not a problem. I guess my main question is, why wouldn't the converter go in any more? Did I not try hard enough? Does this new converter maybe have a longer snout that makes it bottom out sooner?

Why didn't I get a 11.40 converter in the first place? Because they are all 24 spline for some reason as far as I could see in the descriptions, and almost all the 26 splines are 10.5 bolt circle. Plus it is damn near impossible to really measure that slight difference.

I have the TCI-451300 part number.

Anybody have some insight into this piece of junk problem? I guess the next step is to pull the engine back out and try to get the torque converter in more.

 

[Iamdiffrnt]

The only advice I can give is: 1. Unbolt the trans from the engine, 2. rotate the torque convertor by hand while pushing it into the bell housing (try to keep it centered in line with the trans input), 3. Repeat 2 until torque convertor is FULLY seated into bellhousing, 4. Hope nothing in your transmission got messed up when you bolted the bell to the engine.

Personally I'm at #4 right now with my AOD, however my issue was the flexplate. Tip: Even though the bolt pattern on a 164 tooth C-4 is the same as the AOD, the depth IS different. The C-4 flexplate was .040" too far into the bell, and yes that is definetly too much. Arrgh.

 

[Fast63]

turns out the inner shaft was not seating all the way into the torque converter. I tapped it in lightly with a hammer, and got an extra 1/8 inch out of it. Then I installed the engine again with the studs out of the torque converter. Now there is about 1/16 to 1/8 clearance between the converter and the flexplate. The converter spins freely without rubbing on the flexplate. So all should be well now.

 

[Iamdiffrnt]

Cool, Glad to hear it's good now.