Is this truck cursed?!?!

So, after much hand-wringing, ol' Rusty is going to live to plow another day. The burned up 429 is on the stand, and an old friend is "lending" (with option to buy) his freshened up D1VE block/D3VE headed engine. Though I easily resisted the urge to put in the replacement Comp X4262 cam (haha), I couldn't help but stick on my old RPM intake. I figured those shiny fenderwells would look silly with a big ol' blue iron 4v intake.

So I dropped 'er in Sunday with zero drama. Heck, might as well have wing nuts on the motor mounts by now, right?? The converter slid right into the crank pilot, no prob. Studs lined up, I squeezed it all together by hand, and threaded the 6 bellhousing bolts in. Stopped for the night, and then tonight I torqued all the bell-bolts down, and crawled under the Tetnaus Shot. Popped the starter in, and grabbed the 7/8" socket to turn the engine over, to access the rest of the converter studs. Nothing. Not a PRAYER for turnin' this b!tch over. In fact, I think the truck laughed at me. Or was it me, laughing at the fun I have with this damn truck?

Any thoughts on WHAT the heck is going on? Any chance that some flexplate depth is goofy, or some such thing? Hell, all the bolts are tight. Yes, it turned over before I got it married, though I did not rotate it more than a few degrees. Probably wrecked the trans, with my luck. I packed it up for the night. I need beer. I guess the hoist comes back out tomorrow.

I hate cars.

Is the torque convertor all the way in the trans?

I went through the same issue last month with my motor. 1st off, I had an 1/8" steel mid plate, no block plate, and no shims between the crank and flexplate. With the stock flexplate, the motor would go in and spin fine, but when I switched to the Hayes SFI flexplate and put the motor back in it bound up tight as can be. My final solution was to change out from the 1/8" midplate to an aluminum 1/4" midplate. Just that little bit of difference was all it took to get the converter clearance back in check. The new thicker plate was the culprit. I also have several stock flexplates that are belled differently, so check it against your old flexplate to see if it's the same.

How I check it was to loosen the bellhousing bolts and slide the motor out just a bit until it would spin over free again and check the converter clearance. Give that a shot, worst case you may need to make a spacer plate to go between the bell housing and block.

It's the same trans, flexplate, and block plate as the C9VE 429 I just removed. If I resist the urge to burn the garage down tonight, I'll loosen it up from the trans and lift 'er up a little. At least I didn't get the headers bolted on yet. And I think MOST of the rust has fallen off the truck and landed in my eyes, so I've got THAT going for me.

I'll let you know what I find out.

Is the convertor Pilot size the same on both cranks?

Yeah, it's the early 1.848". THAT burned me last time, so the truck has a brand new converter!

Thanks,
Pete

You said the motor did turn over before, was that before or after you installed the flywheeel? If it was before the flywheel, is there a chance you have too long of flywheel bolts and they are up against the rear of the block? If it is, you should be able to look up from the bottom and see if the bolts are sticking thru too far. As the others ask also, did the convertor spin freely, and how much gap did you have between the convertor and flywheel before you installed the firsat convertor bolt?

don't think he can answer the question -- he pulled up the tq/conv. one bolt then tighten the bell bolts. might have pulled the tq/c hub out of the pump

Didn't get too far on it last night; Daddy Day Care duty until 8:00PM, then I was lured out of the garage with talks of a new Galaxie. Funny how it's feast or famine with the Boss.

Anyway, the starter is out, and the nut for the converter is off. I can't move the converter in or out at all (I sorta thought I might be able to, even if it's snug on the pilot), but the two converter studs I can see (one in the starter hole, one at the bottom inspection plate) are through the flexplate by 0.375" or so. I can say with great certainty the converter rotated to line up the flexplate holes; I can't say I moved the engine (though I'm sure I must have a little). And, to refresh everyone, the engine and trans slid completely together by hand, on the alignment studs. I finger-tightened at least two of the bellhousing bolts all the way down - so, I can be sure that nothing got too bound up at that point. If I can free up enough time tonight (and I don't keel over from exhaustion), I hope to tear the engine out and figure this thing out. I've got a pretty bad feeling that the engine is tight for some reason.

Thanks guys!
Pete

Yes, I'm a dumb@$$. I got burned putting the 429 in last time with converter pilot diameter. So I knew to check it. And this new 460 has a 1.848" outer pliot. BUT, it wasn't deep enough for the old style converter I bought. It occurred to me after about the 5th time out of the truck to check the depth, and that's when I thought to check that inner pilot diamter. Sure wasn't the 429's 1.25" hole. It was the 1.350" or so hole. Damn!!! Shoved the old converter on, and she's runnin'. Hope I didn't frag the C6! So far, no ATF leaks. As soon as I bleed the brakes (fenderwell headers required moving the prop valve), I guess we'll see if it still moves.

Thanks for all the advice, and sorry to waste your time with my stupidity!

Pete

let me ask you a question! you say you took out a 429 and put in a 460? ok I thought the 429's and 460 were different balances so is the Flywheel 0 balance or is it going to vibrate like a dog Crapping peach seads???? just curious


Randy