I had my BIL come over one weekend to help me get the engine situated in the chassis. The first order of business was to mate the transmission with the engine. To make that happen, I had to put in the torque converter.... 2... hours... later (as the internet likes to say).... I discovered the rebuilder gave me the wrong spine torque converter. I was being very careful to make sure I got it properly mated to the pump (2 or 3 clunks) that I was sure that was the problem until I counted the splines. So we were dead in the water for that Saturday.
I ordered the correct converter and it is amazing how easily it installs when the spline counts match. During the week I also ordered the from pulleys and alternator so we could get a little more done the following weekend. My BIL came over again and the engine and trans went together and into the chassis easily but I did notice the converter was flush to the flexplate... more on that later.
With them in the chassis, we worked on getting the front pulleys and brackets installed. I ordered the brackets and pulleys from Alan Grove for the short water pump. The alternator bracket fit but the power steering pump bracket had to be modified extensively. It did not align with the water pump and crank pulley and I discovered those two didn't align as well. So I had to order a spacer for the crank pulley and after a cutting up the power steering bracket, they all aligned.
The engine & trans was in so I wanted to put on the radiator so I could see what clearance I had for an electric fan. I have a little over 4” clearance which I think I can work with. Like I said earlier, I noticed the converter was basically flush to the flexplate and you really need to pull it out about 1/8” to allow for thermal expansion and such.... so I did some research on how to handle it. The following week I backed the 700r4 back out of the chassis and double-checked some dimensions and made sure (again) that I had the converter engaged in the ump tangs. I measured everything and came to the conclusion that the converter was a little thicker than normal so I ordered a 1/8”spacer to go between the engine and bellhousing to bring it into spec.
This weekend I put the trans back in and installed the starter, carb, air cleaner, distributor, header and temp routed the spark plug wires. I also measured for the belts and ordered them. I had also discovered another issue with the power steering bracket. The lower run of the belt as it goes from the alternator pulley to crank pulley clipped one of the fastener heads...so I had to pull it off and modify it to clear.
I started working on the fan shroud and that will be one of the next jobs and I need to buy the AC compressor and get that bracket dialed in.... then pull them all off and paint them. It is coming along but everything seems to be fighting me in one way or another. I'm sure more “Easter Eggs” are out there to be discovered.
1949 Chevy Panel Truck A Project Journal I'm old but I make up for it by being immature.
