Ever have one of those days

So I'm working on the ol' '49.. anxious to finally get the 350 in it. I've got a TH350 from another source, but came with the torque converter. Went to mate the two together (after pulling the pilot bushing out as the motor originally had a manual attached to it).. and do you think those two would mate up? I tried several times to sink the converter farther down onto the shaft of the tranny.. feels like it's seated correctly, but when I go to attach tranny to motor there's about 1/2" of gap that I just can't close. So for mock up I just pulled the converter and attached the tranny to the motor and did the install. THEN I had a driveline from a previous conversion. It was originally attached to a powerglide tranny. I have heard that powerglide and TH350 ends should be the same when it comes to the driveline. Do you think it would slide on there.. argh. Frustrated.. nothing seemed to happen for me over the weekend. Upside.. I was still in my shop spending quality time with my ride.

 

There are only two kinds of days. Some days are good days and the rest are character builders.

 

WORD, Laroke

 

For what it's worth ,I realized years ago the best way to install a convertor was to set the trans on it's tail ,pointed straight up. The convertor will go on so much easier you won't believe it. It seems there is always enough misalignment with the splines I can't get it to fit ,particularly if the convertor is new. Best of luck.

 

I have one of those days ALL day every day !!!!! Tom ( Tired Old Man)

 

I feel for you man, ran over my 60+/- y/o Mac tools creeper in my garage this weekend. Broke my heart.

 

If you have to, stand the 350 on the tail shaft and work the converter in, when the converter is all the way in the pump there's no room for your fingers between it and the pump. The 350 you have is a 350 and not a 350c ...the c is a lockup and uses a lockup converter that will not fit a non lockup.

 

Laroke- I hope you don't mind, but i'm stealing that one!

 

Changed shocks and U-joints on my daily the other day. Managed to spill a new gallon of paint, had to cut the U-joints and the shock bolts off... stuff that should have taken just a few minutes each ended up taking hours.

 

When installing the convertor onto the input shaft of the trans, spin the convertor until you hear a clunk (and it drops a bit), then continue to spin the convertor until you hear a second clunk and it drops again. After the second clunk it should be in as far as it goes. I am sure you already know this, but just in case...

 

Man, I feel your pain. It took me nigh a fortnight to get mine to mate up correctly. Didn't know about the inversion trick the others are mentioning. The old slide, rotate, slide thing didn't do a lick of good for the last 1/2 inch. I just had to sit there and vibrate it like a jackhammer as I was sliding it in till it found joy. I know how that sounds....and it's exactly as good as I felt after I got it on.

 

I've had converters with a little rust on the snout, wouldn't go into the end of the crank, used emery cloth on the snout and the hole in the crank, went right in.

 

i have them days everday

 

I have those days at work ,,,,I wont go there ,The best way to get a converter on is stand on tail and and spin .......

 

Ha! Oh I just got that visual.. gee... thanks.

Glad to hear others have had the same problems.. and by reading that some have had worse! I try and keep it in perspective. I'm in MY shop, working on MY classic.. those two things alone are grounds for graditude.

 

I'll try that. I was thinking it felt a little "gummy"....