With the suspension finished, the next step is to install the engine and transmission. The engine and transmission were pulled out and rebuilt in (checks receipts and winces at price) 2017. The engine has been sitting on an engine stand under cover for the last three years.
Since the engine and transmission came out together they will go back together. With all of the sheet metal off the front end this should be really easy. Yep, I actually said the magic words that are sure to jinx the project…
Wrestling roughly 800 pounds of iron and aluminum is not a one person job, so time to place a call to the friend who helped me pull it out in the first place. While getting ready I searched for all of the needed parts. Somewhat to my surprise, all of the bagged and tagged parts were where they were supposed to be! They were laid out on the work bench, ready for assembly. I was even able to find where I had left the LocTite!
When the big day arrived we hooked up the engine to the hoist and unbolted it from the engine stand. The flex plate is dished, so we studied it for a minute to make sure that it was oriented correctly and bolted it to the crankshaft. Remember this sentence – we will come back to it…
The torque converter had been removed from the transmission to avoid damaging the seals, so it had to be reinstalled. Fortunately Don Verity had showed me how to reinstall it. Unfortunately this was three years ago so I had forgotten the details.
The challenge is that the torque converter slides into place easily and seems to be ready to go. At this point it needs to go in another 1-1/2″. Knowing this, you just keep fiddling with it until “klunk” and the 30 lb. chunk of iron slides the rest of the way into the bowl of the bellhousing. Hopefully your fingers are not carefully positioned between the torque converter and bellhousing when this happens. Since I was expecting it my fingers were spared.
It is now time to introduce the engine and transmission. The engine weighs ~600 pounds and is dangling from an engine hoist. The transmission weighs ~200 pounds and is balanced on a movers dolly. There are two alignment pins in the block that fit into precision holes in the transmission and then six bolts that hold everything together. Everything has to be lined up exactly to fit them together.
The usual approach is for 3-4 healthy guys to wrestle the engine and transmission into submission. We had two older guys with weak backs and weaker minds. Various pieces of wood were used to shim the transmission on the movers dolly so that it was oriented close to what was needed. We had a load leveler on the engine hoist which allowed us to set the angle of the engine. We then tugged and prodded until the alignment pins slipped into place and snugged up the six mounting bolts.
The last step was to bolt the torque converter to the flex plate so that the engine would actually drive the transmission. This is done through a small access hatch in the bottom of the transmission. One person turns the engine, using the 3/4″ drive sockets and 3′ breaker bar on the crankshaft main bolt, until one of the flex plate bolts is accessible. You then rotate the torque converter until the bolt holes line up, install the bolt, and rotate the engine until the next bolt is accessible.
Recall where I earlier mentioned that the flex plate was dished and could be installed two ways? There was a 1/8″ gap between the flex plate and the torque converter. Clearly we had installed the flex plate backward, and now had to take everything apart, flip it, and put it back together.
While removing the transmission bolts I continued to contemplate the series of events. I was positive I had installed the flex plate the right way, so what could be going on? Just a minute! The torque converter wasn’t fixed on the transmission main shaft – it had some room to float. And it probably didn’t need to be resting directly on the bell housing. Maybe I could slide it forward just a bit?
Time to reinstall the transmission bolts that had been removed and then get under the transmission with a small pry bar. Gently pry on the torque converter and watch it slide forward into place against the flex plate. And there was much rejoicing! Turns out that the flex plate was installed the right way after all. Run this first bolt into the torque converter, turn the engine, and repeat for the other three bolts. Then go through the whole process four more times with the torque wrench to properly tighten the bolts.
At this point the only things left were to install the cover plate on the transmission and re-introduce the engine to the car.
Actually installing the engine was almost anti-climatic. The hugely oversized and expensive motor mounts had already been installed on the engine and the mounting studs installed in the car. All that was needed was to raise the engine over the cross member, slide it back, lower it to go into the transmission hump under the car. and drop it onto the mounting studs.
With the engine high enough to clear the cross member it was hitting the brake master cylinder and heater box. Lowered enough to clear these caused the oil pan to hit the cross member. And the transmission still had to go over the rear cross member. The answer was to carefully slide the engine and transmission back a little, down a little, back a little more, down a little more, and carefully ease it into place.
The engine finally dropped over the mounting studs. The only thing left was to bolt the transmission to its mount. Which would have been easy except that we couldn’t get the bolts started…
We ended up using the floor jack under the transmission tail housing to raise it slightly and slide it sideways a bit. There was a bit of a “klunk” as everything settled into place. After this the transmission bolts went in easily.
With the engine and transmission in place and bolted in all that was left was to clean up from this job and get ready to reinstall everything on the engine. The goal of getting the Imperial back on the road this summer is one giant step closer!
Next: Transmissioning