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Freshly Rebuilt Roller 302, pics!

"Horseplay" said:
Make sure when you mount it you get proper alignment of the gear with teeth on the flexplate.
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What do you mean by that? There is more to it other than dropping the starter in and tightening the bolts?
 
Well unlike Chevy's we Ford guys don't have to do all kinds of shimming and such but depending on your bellhousing and starter you can end up with enough "slop" where you will not get the best of gear engagement/alignment.
 
Loosen the starter and push it all the way to the outside of the car taking up any slop in the holes. That will move the starter gear teeth away a small amount from the flywheel. Hold it out there while tightening the bolts.
 
I think i have bigger problems than that. As i watched the flexplate rotate the teeth near the weight were significantly closer to the housing then the teeth on the other side, meaning either the plate is bent, or there is a plug behind it that is holding it out. guess im going to try to slide the tranny back a little bit. i still have the grade eight 3.5" bolts i used for the engine stand, so maybe i can just slide the tranny back on those?
 
Yeah, you can bump it back a bit that way to maybe get a better look. You'll end up taking it down anyway I'm betting to fix the problem. If I understand what you are saying you have already bent the flexplate.
 
sigh, this is so annoying. ive pulled and replaced the engine twice before without a single hiccup, and this time is just one problem after the other. Is it easier to pull the engine back out or drop the tranny? i cant even get the thing to slide backwards...
 
After doing more research im fairly convinced there is a second drain plug sitting behind the counterweight. that is the position where the plate is pushed forward. This actually came from a post made by Johnpro on another forum, seems that he continues to help people...

"Some converters have 2 drain plugs ... these converters can only go on one way or one of the plugs will be against the counter weight.

To answer the original question, yes, you can pull the tranny back about 1/2" or so and spin the converter to the correct orientation, then button it back up."

Question is, other than the 6 bolts on the bellhousing and coolant lines ect, what should i disconnect to allow me to slide the tranny back? driveshaft? bolts on the crossmember?
 
rear trans. mount bolts and I would remove the drive shaft just to be sure it does not bind. Maybe the shifter linkage too.
 
Remove your four (4) flywheel to TQ converter nuts, starter, driveshaft, speedo cable, shifter linkage, etc., etc. just as if you were removing the transmission completely from the car.... then install longer bolts to act as guide pins at the 3 and 9 o'clock trans to block postions.... then place a floor jack supporting the transmission pan.... then remove the transmission crossmember.... then remove the remaining transmission to block securing bolts... then carefully slide the transmission rearward an inch or so to re-align the torque converter such that both drain plugs align with the flywheel.

While in theory you could leave a few things connected... and then install a floor jack under the transmission and slide it rearward to access the torque converter... if the transmission slips off the jack you'll have wished everything was disconnected. It only takes a little bit of additional work to disconnect everything.
 
If it was not grinding with the starter in place, maybe you need to add washers to the starter bolts to align it to the teeth of the flexplate. I had to that to my brother's 66 when it was an automatic. My 67 I didn't have to but sometimes with just oem Autozone or O Reilly starters you do.
 
Well FINALLY we got it sorted out. I recruited my old man to lend an extra set of hands and we slid the tranny back 1/2" or so, rotated the converter by hand, and got it lined up properly. and sure enough, the converter had 2 drain plugs, so the first time i put it in one of the drain plugs was not poking through its hole. Pretty poor design to allow all 4 of the flexplate studs AND one of the drain plugs to poke through while the 2nd plug hides behind the counterweight.

Anyhow, lesson learned i guess. that is the last time i will ever forget my converter has 2 drain plugs. Now i get to fix a leaking waterpump again, woohooo :cry
 
"jonward786" said:
Now i get to fix a leaking waterpump again, woohooo :cry
Click to expand...

Glad to see you got it sorted out. Don't forget to find a bunch of other things to fix "while you're at it"! :eek:
 
Today was a successful day. Fixed my flexplate issue, fixed my coolant leak and tomorrow will be first start of the new engine, pretty excited. Thought id share a little engine porn for the heck of it

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And my throttle linkage i finally got around to making...

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Was walking out to the garage and heard pops curse pretty passionately. Turns out as he was taking one of the water pump bolts out he pulled the POS threads out with it haha. Calm down dad, its nothing a longer bolt and locking nut cant fix

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And finally, my garage manager is exhausted. She gets tired just watching us work

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I think I see your starting issue......put the plug wires closer to the distributor and plugs......

Looks good. Amazing how those supervisors get so tired so fast.
 
Hey guys i need a little help. Got it running and everything, so thats fine. Just the timing is throwing me off. its vacuum advance. so i pull the hose off of the dist, plug the vacuum port on the carb, and time it at idle to 9-10 degrees. Then i put the vacuum hose back on and start it up again but now the timing light is reading 30 degrees? Its idling at 1000 rpm, i dont understand how the timing advances so much just by putting the vacuum hose back on the dist. Any help?
 
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