Hi everyone. Today was the day to install the motor. My friends showed up at 8:30AM, and after a little b.s., we got started. Got the motor into the engine compartment and was able to get it under the power brake booster, but not before scratching that and the valve cover. If that's all that ever gets scratched, I can live with it. I don't have an engine leveler and the back was sitting too low to bring it down onto the frame motor mount. We used a bottle jack to raise the rear which allowed us to secure the bolts through the motor mounts. Also took off the starter which made it easier. The motor was temporarily secured in the frame and the car was then raised. When we got it to the proper height, I put a tall jack stand under it and removed the chain from the frame rails. Next was the trans. I had previously put on the linkage/shifter and we were good to go. This sucker is heavy. It has a partial aluminum case and the rest is cast iron. One of my friends and I grabbed the trans. and tried the install. Past the clutch disc and stopped. Wouldn't go any further no matter how we shaked it. Continued trying until our arms got tired. I put a few of these in and never had a problem before. The face of the trans. was about 3/8" away from the bell housing. I have a trans. jack so we decided to give that a try. Still a no go no matter what. I even put 2 bolts in the trans. ears trying to draw it up tight, but stopped when I met with resistance. I bet for the better part of 2 hours, we struggled with this thing. Should have quit way before that, but we didn't. Something definitely not right. Same bell housing, fly wheel and trans. from the other motor. New clutch, pressure plate, throw out bearing and pilot bearing in the crank. So, it was mentioned to pull the motor and take the back end apart. I knew it had to be done and I immediately developed a new low level of disgust. We pulled the motor and took the back pieces off exposing the crankshaft. The plastic alignment tool that came with the disc and pp, fit into the pilot busing quite well. It also appeared to be the same size as the input shaft of the trans., if that's what its called. The only thing left to do was to try the trans. which we did. It went into the bearing maybe 1/8" and stopped. The inside of the bearing was too small for the shaft. Are you kidding me!! We aren't machinist but I do have a micrometer. Measured as best possible and there appears to be 3-4 100"s of an inch difference. We tried the trans. again and with a lot of shaking, moving, twisting and force behind it, the trans. went in a little further but not all the way. Had to use a pry bar to remove it. Much too tight. I recalled getting a new pilot bushing with the kit and I tried this on the end of the shaft. Fit perfect. I didn't know this existed so I had the machine shop install one for me. I then called the machine shop and explained the problem to them. They said that the bushing did go in very tight and it could have collapsed a little. They offered a few ideas one of which was to use a die grinder and make the hole just a hair bigger. I'm going to stop by their shop tomorrow and further discuss this. Well, there you have it. I'm sure I left something out. So, the motor was in and out.
I don't know about everyone else, but I hate doing the same job twice. It irritates me to no end. It seems like everything I do, its a guarantee I'll be back. Sometimes more then twice. Ridiculous. Now I'm back to thinking about installing the trans. on the motor so I don't have to go through this nonsense again. Maybe I'll take my chances with the weight. I know it could have been worse, but I don't find any comfort in that either.
I did take some pics which I'll still post later. Might as well, nothing is going to change, Carmine.
I don't know about everyone else, but I hate doing the same job twice. It irritates me to no end. It seems like everything I do, its a guarantee I'll be back. Sometimes more then twice. Ridiculous. Now I'm back to thinking about installing the trans. on the motor so I don't have to go through this nonsense again. Maybe I'll take my chances with the weight. I know it could have been worse, but I don't find any comfort in that either.
I did take some pics which I'll still post later. Might as well, nothing is going to change, Carmine.