i did a 87 5.0 efi to carb swap on my 73 comet and im not getting it to turn over. list of parts used: 87 302 5.0 (all stock) c4 transmission 50 oz. 157 tooth flexplate #302831 '85 5 speed distributor w/ adapter and cap/rotor msd 6a ignition standard rotation waterpump mechanical fuel pump '73 timing cover / front sump / oilpan b&m mega shifter so the motor is all wired up and when i start the ignition, it makes half a crank and stops, i tried to turn the motor over manually w/ a ratchet and its stuck. what could the problem be? torque converter, starter, transmission? everything seems to be hooked up the way its supposed to. im not sure if the motor was on TDC when they put the distributor on.
It's binding check torque converter and starter, may be torque converter installed improperly, need to make sure it's aligned up correctly.
Sounds like torque converter improperly installed, back off the 6 bolts that hold bellhousing on untill they are loose (may or may not give you enough relief on converter) then try to crank over by hand.
wow, thanks for the quick respose guys. ill double check, cause that was my first guess, too. i thought i had it istalled properly. so just loosen the tranny and motor bolts, and try to crank it by hand?
Heres one you dont want to hear but happened to us recently. Pull a spark plug and hope that water dosnt run out of the hole. A poorly sealed intake manifold gasket could cause th ewater to leak into the intake runners and fill the cylinder. Or in our case an overly ambitious machinist drilled too deep for the rocker studs and cracked the head between a water port and the intake runner. Filled the cylinder with water and the motor locked up when trying to crank it. When you put the torque convertor in did you notice it slide into 2 slots or grooves? Once you put the convertor on the input shaft you feel it line up with the splines and then you have to spin it a little to get the notches at the end of the convertor to match up with the pump inside the transmission. Sometimes while messing with getting the engine in the convertor can be bumped out of the pump and be kind of jammed once you bolt the motor to the trans. You should notice this because the motor will leave a gap between it and the transmission and youd have to use the bolts to squeeze the two togethor.
when you try to turn it over, does it go clunk and stop, or just get tight? can you trun it backwards almost a full turn and feel it get tight again? if you know the trans was good when you put it in, you may have not got the torque converter all the way into the pump, and when you tightened things up you broke the oil pump gear. that would cause the problem. and if that what it is, more that likley you have distorted the converter snout.
What I'm wondering is how you rotated the motor to tighten the torque convertor to flexplate bolts? Did it move free when you were doing that and just lock up after you tried to crank it with the starter?
the crank was turning fine when i installed the torque converter and the converter was sitting all the way in, i felt it go back about 3 or 4 notches, and the c4 transmission was rebuilt w/ a stage 2 kit. does the transmission have to be in Nuetral when cranking it? the radiator and isnt hooked up yet, so there isnt any coolant or water, just oil.
also, when the motor was on TDC and i when installing the distributor, i couldnt get the rotor to point to cylinder 1 and sit properly on the motor.
this is usually the oil pump shaft being in just the wrong position for the distributor to let it slide into it while matching up to the cam teeeth. Take a oil pump prime tool and rotate the oil pump shaft a little and try the distributor again. Id start takings thing off the motor until it frees up since it spun free at some point. If you have the dist jammed in there and not seating all the way then take it out. then I'd take out the starter and try turning the motor with a ratchet. If that dosnt free it then undo the motor to trans bolts a little and try it again. Keep working backwards until you find the problem.
when I did that swap. I didn't realize there was a bearing in the end of the crank that lined up the manual transmission with the crank. I used my C4. After removing the bearinig, all was as it should be
i agree with ryan. the first thing i would do is take out all the spark plugs. if no coolant or gas comes out try turning the crank again. if it still is bound up, then remove the distributor and try again. if still locked up pull the trans and check to see that there is no pilot bearing in the back of the crank as mentioned befor.
i removed the pilot bearing prior to installing the tranny, lol. the first time i attached them together, it wouldnt bolt up right and spent an hour scratching my head. then, i remembered the motor was a 5 speed. im getting it towed back to my place today and ill get on it. hopefully its just the distributor. cause prior to that, everything was turning fine.
