SDPC Tech Tips: Torque Converter Spacing

hello everybody nick here at scott dickey we appreciate you stopping by for another one of our weekly tech videos this week's video we're going to be talking about automatic transmission specifically the do's and don'ts of installing one of these now we know that for some of y'all you might be looking at this going this is pretty simple i don't see what the big deal is we've actually had a lot of customers that have ran into some real issues because they really messed up on installing one of these just because they didn't know any better we all had to learn sometime right now luckily i have never had to deal with a catastrophic transmission failure due to misinstallation but i've known a lot of people that have so let's cover some of the basics here some of the things that you need to look out for and why you need to look out for it and of course some things you definitely don't need to do now as you can see here this is a six-speed automatic that you would find in a you know ls3 6 led connecting cruise we're actually using this in a future projects please stay tuned for that but for today's purposes we're going to be using it for educational instruction now when you get a new transmission from chevrolet or chevrolet performance they do come with one of these retainer plates here you see in the front you can see the blue torque converter but you see this retainer plate it keeps it while in shipping from that torque converter falling out also they're pre-stabbed from the factory and that's a really good thing because that's where a lot of these problems come up with i have an old 4l60e torque converter here i'm going to be using for a little bit of just demo purposes uh believe me this thing is no longer roadworthy it's pretty old and junk i'm saving it for a core but when you're installing a torque converter these things can be really heavy if you didn't get one from us that is pre-installed and you're trying to stab the snout of this thing on the input shaft of the transmission these things are heavy i'm a big boy but i mean that could be really hard to do you can actually damage a few things and if you don't get it stabbed properly you can actually damage the transmission it'll mount and run but you're not turning the pump inside and you'll burn it up what i mean by that is these little tangs right here do you see these little grooves cutting the snout here these are what actually engage on the pump on the inside there's two matching tangs that slide into this there's not a lot of window for misalignment here you kind of have to get this right so when installing one of these please make sure to constantly turn the torque converter as you're installing it and you'll hear different clicks and clunks as you get it seated one thing to keep in mind is if you think you got it right you're installing it on the car and you notice that this bumps up to this long before the transmission bell housing here touches the engine you didn't get the torque converter stabbed right pull it back out and try again i actually think personally that's where most people have more problems this stuff is heavy i have crawled underneath a car on jack stands and tried to hold one of these on my belly and chest and try to stab it into a car all while trying to make sure this torque converter falls out all while that stinky transmission fluid is running down my leg i feel your pain if you're watching this going i hate messing with this stuff i get it but you do have to do it right or all you're going to do is pull it back out and it'll cost you thousands to replace remember warranties don't cover misinstallation so it doesn't matter if it's chevrolet performance or an aftermarket warranty nobody covers that so you got to do it right the first time one of the things i would like to say as a don't a big don't is when you are installing a transmission to an engine do not ever use the transmission bell housing bolts to pull the transmission to the engine these will mount by hand and this surface will seat against the back of the block by hand very easily when done properly you can actually crack the block you can actually crack one of the ears off this transmission and that that's not a day ruiner that that'll ruin your month so don't make that mistake because i've seen that happen as well if you've gotten to this point you're like okay you told me what not to do you told me how to stab this stuff you told me i had to take it apart if i did it wrong the first time nick what am i looking for when i finally put this thing together that is a good question what i have here regardless if it's an aftermarket flex plate or the stock flex plate specifically this is actually for one of the gen 5lt engines that we're working on out here what you're looking for is engagement of the boss here on the flex plate and the mounting boss here on the torque inverter this is a big deal when this transmission is nice and hand snugged up against the engine block the gap in between these two surfaces needs to be about an eighth of an inch and it can give and take just a little bit but it's like that for a reason it's enough to where it won't pull out of the torque converter pump but it's enough to balloon and expand with heat remember these things generate a lot of heat when you're first firing up in the morning it's kind of snugged off when you're hot and you're romping on it and you're at the racetrack enjoying yourself they can actually kind of expand a little bit you need a little bit of wiggle room or you can get situations where it balloons so much it pushes against the crankshaft thrust bearing ruins that we've seen that before too we've also seen it where it balloons so hard the torque converter pushes against the pump in the transmission and actually breaks it that's not a training rebuild that's a replacement that trashes everything inside of these so you have to be careful about that if you're wondering how to measure that it's an old school trick a drill bit you can take an eighth inch thick drill bit and you can actually put it in between that surface and your surface here on the torque converter and see if it needs to be adjusted sometimes when mismatching aftermarket parts it can be a little bit difficult and you have to shim something or shim something the other direction to get it right please make sure to do this properly and measure it properly so you don't run into all these training troubles i taught you about like i said please learn from some of our customers and us who have seen this stuff happen and if you spend thousands of dollars this is a very expensive transmission that's well worth purchasing believe me but could you imagine having to buy it twice just because you hated crawling underneath the car for a second time i know i would so we want to keep you from making those same mistakes we appreciate you stopping by for another one of our weekly tech videos we do this every week we do technical videos and product videos so please give us a like subscribe and share on you know youtube and of course all your social media platforms like facebook and instagram and whatnot so we can spread this information to help out hot rodders like you and me and i will see you guys next week for another tech video you

Channel: Scoggin-Dickey Parts Center

Views: 15,037

Keywords: Scoggin dickey parts center, transmission, automatic, torque converter, TC, stall, verter, spacing, thrust bearing, pump

Id: VCs5H0wTctY

Length: 6min 51sec (411 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 03 2021