Any chance your converter isn't seated in all the way?

 

, I think he knows better then to do this...

 

your approach angle is probably a hair off...try tilting the tail shaft up or down a bit as you go toward the engine, doesn't take much to screw you...next, and it may seem stupid but it can be easy to miss, especially if you get flustered or distracted, but make sure there's nothing getting in your way up at the top of the bell housing where you can't always see...my cousin fought with his mustang tranny for a while once until i crawled under the car and moved an O2 sensor plug that had fallen down from where he'd tucked it just enough to get in the way...good luck!

 

I pulled it back apart before I called it a night last night to be sure, because after the first half hour I started wondering myself, it appears to be all the way in there.

He does. I wish it was that easy though.

 

double check and make sure the converter is in all the way. you shouldnt be able to fit your fingers behind it in the bellhousing, if you can, wiggle it and push it in more. unless you have super tiny hands.

I like my tranny to be able to wobble and rock a little bit on the jack, but still be somewhat stable. this allows you to change angles easy without having to try too hard.

what I tend to do is put a jack under the engine oil pan. this way you can change tranny angles and engine angles for fine tuning.

I also go up high with the tranny, then lower it down into the dowels. get the tips of the dowels to hook the edge of the hole, then wiggle a bit to try and put in place.

I support the engine with a jack under the oil pan, but do not change the elevation when removing the tranny. this is one less thing to worry about when its going back in.

 

As embarrassing as it is to say... you two win cookies.

In case anyone searches this in the future, if your converter is seated correctly, and you kinda know what you're doing, the transmission will basically fall into place, kinda how I was expecting it to go in the first place. On a good note.. figured that out, and got my tru-cool installed, was nervous about the fit with the oil cooler and everything else in the front, but I got about 3/8th of an inch of room.

 

LOL well thats good to hear. I was going to say that but was like, that might be a insult..

 

I don't know what happened... I guess it came out when I was fiddle fuking around with it on the jack.... oh well. That's the past, store that in stuff to know for the future, tomorrow I'll tighten all the studs down, get the cooler lines all hooked up, and the dipstick tube. hopefully get the transfer case bolted up. And finish everything else up on Friday assuming Justin comes through with my PCM, should be pulling it back out of the shop on Friday night.

 

a long bolt and a nut on each side to get it started. get the trans "close enough" and run a long bolt through the motor and trans on each side (bolt needs to be slightly smaller than bolt hole. put a nut on the other side and start tightening the nut. help it along with the jack. eventually the bolts will align everything where it belongs and you can run a few of the right bolts in and remove your longer bolts with nuts. if anything feels like it gets in a bind STOP. most times all you need to do is adjust the jack and wiggle it.

youll go crazy trying to line up the dowel pins and stab a transmission without a good tranny jack (which you wont get for 40 at harbor freight lol.

 

Glad you got it figured out! We make a great team, don't we? Haha.