I am in the process of putting my new engine in my '57 T-bird and discovered a major mistake on my part. I married the engine to the tranny (Ford-O-Matic) on the floor in the garage and then installed both of them as a unit. I am about 60% through the re-connection of everything and went underneath to do the flex plate to converter bolts and found the flex plate needs to be initially clocked a certain way or there are bolts/nuts that stop the flex plate from rotating into the correct position. Clearly I should have done this before installing the unit.

That being said, can I loosen the bell housing bolts enough to get clearance to rotate the flex plate or do I need to completely demate the 2 to get enough clearance to clear the other Torque converter bolts. The second question is, could I have bent the flex plate so I really need to pull the engine anyway to inspect the flex plate?

TIA for any help. 

I answered my own question and they need to be separated to do the realignment. I was trying to avoid having to realign things by myself, but will be doing that tomm and will pay closer attention including making sure the torque converter drain screws are properly aligned. 

Don't even ask how the replay landed here ...

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I pulled the engine forward this morning, aligned the torque converter bolt in one place, and then made sure the drain screw was lined up with the slot. I put it back together and still have a problem. At this point, I think the guy that rebuilt the transmission reassembled the converter incorrectly. One of the flex plate/torque converter mounting holes now sits on top of one of the torque converter bolts, and the adjacent hole on the converter is empty. Pics are below, but I am looking for conformation from the brain trust on an assembly error or insight into what is going on.  Are the outer mounting holes asymmetric?
Also, in looking for info on line I found my type of flex plate is supposed to be installed with reinforcing rings. I did not have one (that I remember) so do I need to find one to add strength to the flex plate mounting flange. 


Pic showing the torque converter hole that is clear.


Pic of drain screw in the slot.


Pic of converter hole on top of the bolt.


Converter hole adjacent to the above hole.

Your converter looks different than the one in my July-57 produced 'bird. Mine is a solid welded unit. Yours appears to have the earlier multi-piece with removable hub. If you can't get the flex plate to line up, it may require pulling everything back out, unbolting the converter halves and rotating to the correct orientation. If it does come down to this, pay close attention to the large 'O' ring and be sure it was replaced by the rebuilder.
Good Luck!

Kent — Round Rock, TX
'56 F-100  | '56 Crown Vic  |  '57 Fairlaine 500  |  '57 Thunderbird

he didnt space the bolts properly.you should be able to fix that without pulling the engine.

Darrell's right. Disregard my previous post. Wasn't thinking clearly... been a few years since we did the same thing.



Kent — Round Rock, TX
'56 F-100  | '56 Crown Vic  |  '57 Fairlaine 500  |  '57 Thunderbird

I wish I would have seen this earlier as it is great insight, but I had already pulled the engine and checked the bolt positioning. Two bolts were out of position so I moved them, checked  alignment with the flex plate and now everything is back in and that part of the reassembly is looking good. Hopefully I'm past the major issues, and it will go smoothly from here.  

The only problem is that since the reinforcement plate wasn’t installed the only way to put one in is to pull the motor. At some point you’ll likely have to pull the motor to either put it on or to replace the flex plate due to cracking. I would do it now in order to prevent future damage to the tranny. My 57 Premier developed a warped flex plate and the wobble it created took out the front pump. Between rebuilding the tranny and the cost of a replacement flex plate it cost me about $1500.

Something to think about. They do repro those rings and flex plates from Macs, Dennis Carpenter, Concourse. Tranny hard parts are much more difficult to find.

Thanks for this and I forgot to mention the machine shop that did the work had a spare ring so I grabbed it from them and installed it when I had the engine out the last time. Hopefully all is good now. I installed the exhaust manifolds today and time permitting, should be firing it up on Tues.