I have looked through everything I can find, and I can find nothing to help me with this question. I have a 77 440 with a forged crank, internally balanced. I am mating this to a 77 727, ID PK3681056 4017 8246. I had received a torque converter but more than likely just something thrown at the parts package. no numbers on it. I had the trans and TC rebuilt. The engine is about 8.5 compression, with a HP replacement cam. Stealth heads, Tri-Y's, performer intake, TQ "super-quad".
The torque converter is fully set back and gives very minimum measurements of 1.25 inch to ring gear and 1/2 inch to pad. My flex plate is an OEM cheapie and measures 3/8 from back of block. Is 1/8" enough "flex"? Is there a different TC/Flex plate combination for a forged crank? I have found in my "travels" that there is a thin or thick mounting pad on different 440 TC's. I have filled out a tech data sheet and submitted to Hughes just this morning, I will probably buy a new converter and flex plate, If I can determine the eng/trans are not a total mismatch.
I figure a medium stall is probably best, as the cam runs out of power around 5500.
My main question is the clearance of what I have, I put it together and did not have to use the bolts to pull the trans in, but when I went to put in the TC bolts the plate was contacting the pads enough to inhibit the rotation of the TC, but only barely so. I could rotate the crank 360° if I locked the converter. I pulled the trans back out of the car and visually verified the pump still has it's lugs intact. I did several placements of the TC in the trans and can never get any better set back than what I have measured. I just think its not quite enough.
Has anybody else seen this? I will post this diagram showing the measurements I did with the trans out.
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