Thread: Is my Torque Converter on right???

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Hello Everyone! . I hope you all had a great week-end! ..... I'm getting ready to put the motor in my '32 Ford & I put the torque converter onto the shaft that's coming out of the transmission {I've taken torque converters off before but never put one on}. I put fluid on the shaft & inside the converter so it was slippery. It took forever to get the converter to push on but finally it went in. But my question is this; Should the converter wobble around once it's seated on the transmission shaft? It seems to me as if the transmisson shaft should seat firmly into the spline's inside the converter & not wobble. But it's not a firm fit at all. Is this right? {I'll try to say this next part without confussing you!}; I bolted the transmission adapter to the engine {I'm hooking a 392 hemi to a Chev.Turbo 400 transmission}. I measured the distance from the surface where the transmission mounts to the transmisson adapter to the mounting point on the torque converter. This is 1". I then measured from the mounting service of the transmission adapter to the surface of the flex plate that bolts to the torque converter. This is 7/8". So this leads me to believe that once the engine is in all I have to do is slide the tq. converter forward 1/8" & bolt it to the flex plate. BUT the wobble? Is this right? If the wobble isn't right then I'm thinking my tq converter is still not fully seated & that I have {rather they sent me} the wrong spacer that goes between my flex plate & crankshaft flange..... THANKS Bill

the front of the converter will center up on the crank hub the converter has a pilot should fit in your crank hub spacer .till in it will have wobble if your adapter from block to trans is 1 inch or however thick then the hub spacer need to be the same thickness for your converter the last 1/8 up to the plate may not want to bolt up from a burr on the pilot or paint on your coveter push it back sand some paint off or a small file put some oil on it or lube and push it back up and if it move up more then draw it up

Sounds correct to me...1/8 inch is perfect and there should be some wobble in it if not connected to the flexplate..It's when the convertor sticks out past the plate that you have trouble..

....Thanks Pat, ok so somethings not right. My transmission adapter is 3/4" thick, I can't measure the flex plate adapter exactly w/out taking it off cuz it's bolted on the engine but there's no way is 3/4" thick. And my torque converter must not be all the way on either. If I turn the tq. converter should the driveshaft also turn? . My worry is that I have the wrong crank hub spacer & it's not thick enough. If I knew that the crank spacer was right then I'd know if the tq. converter was on right... Think I'll take a nap & then tackle it again! Thanks again, Bill

Thanks Daffy, hummm I'm just concerned that it's not the right hub spacer. The first transmission adapter that they sent me was the wrong one, then the flex plate & hub spacer were not drilled to the correct diameter so in turn the bolts they sent were the wrong ones {I just drilled it out & bought new bolts}. So when I wasn't sure about if the tq. converter was on right or not it got me thinking; Is the hub spacer the correct one? Thanks again, Bill

well hang on here it a hemi and it would have a flex plat and the ring gear on the converter so your hub could be thicker or thinner would have to do with how much the crank hub hangs out of the block if you know how thick your adapter is to bolt up the trans and you know how thick your hub spacer is subtract to two that will give you how much spacing you have and if you have a chevy V8 engine and measure a chevy from hub to bell housing face it should come out the same as you hub? or just PM me and i will tell you if you want to call me on the phone

There should be two distinct detents when you install the convertor and it should almost hit the bellhousing if it's in all the way...I didn't consider the difference that Pat mantioned about the integrated flywheel/convertor for the chrysler. I didn't think they did that untill the 60s but I could be wrong(And am frequently)

....Thanks Pat! , yep I found out I've got the correct set-up. They offer two flywheels but the one with the ring gear on it is the right one {mine has the ring gear}. They also have two spacers but the correct one is the only one that will bolt to the flexplate that I have. So I'm good to go there.
When I do the measureing I see that I will have an 1/8" of clearance between the flexplate & the tq. converter. So once i put the motor in I just need to pull the tq. converter forward 1/8" & bolt it up. So I'm good there. This is the first time I've ever put a Tq. converter on & it just didn't seem right. But it is.... Now I know .... Thanks again! Bill

good what i was saying and not doing a good job at it was that the spacer for the hub would need to be the same thickness as the bell adapter after thinking about that not so with the chrysler to the chevy? it would be if it was chevy to chevy trans like a mid plate if you space the bell out 1/4 you would need to add that1/4 to the stall pilot to make up the gap or you would burn up the front pump drive lugs you see ? or should i just stop nowif you do not under stand me it.s ok not the best at it

Thanks Daffy & Pat! yes I got the two detents to go into the notches inside the trans.... I understood Pat! Although I rairly do! But the converter must be on right cuz the engine's installed & there's an 1/8" space between the converter & the flexplate. I've just got to bolt it on....... thanks again! Bill

Bill, I also have a turbo 400 hooked up to a Hemi in my Model A. Its a Desoto hemi so there may be some differences. The one thing for certain that I know about this-- DO NOT use the bolts that mount the tranny to the engine to PULL the tranny onto the block. This will for certain damage the front pump on the 400, Been there done that.

Roland

.....Thank you Roland! actually I used the bolts to pull the engine to the transmisson, not the transmission to the engine! So this is alright? Bill

I think he is referring to the fact that: IF the converter is not fully seated, it will prevent the trans bellhousing from mating with the block. If, under that curcumstance, you try to overcome this by torquing down the bolts, then it will drive the torque converter into the pump, and destroy the pump.

the way i can tell if my stall convertor went on is that if you take your convertor off and look down in where the shaft is at the front of your tranny you should see a couple of humps that looks like keys that slides on a shaft,and on your convertor shaft two notches on each side,just slide on your convertor to match up notches,you may also have to spin the convertor some but it should slide all the way in.