5-Speed conversion from HELL!!!

[v8vinny]

So i picked up a tremec out of 93' fox the other day from a kid in my town. i already had the pedals, clutch cable, wires, sensors, everything. the trans was my finishing piece. So i started putting the trans in at work the other day, and all was going smooth. I got the original AOD out of the car and cleaned up the undercarage. I set the flywheel up and the clutch and pressure plate. this was the first time i ever put the bellhousing on first and then bolted the trans to it. So as we're putting it in it didnt really just slide into place, but was close enough to catch the four trans bolts. I had a really bad feeling about this, but my dad said you no sometimes you need to close it up with the help of the bolts, granted yea, but this was some serious space. So i let him tighten it up. so i finish it all up and got it ready to go.

It starts and then it dies. and then the motor wouldnt turn over.

So i think maybe the starter went bad, checked it, no. Did the motor blow, put a wrench on the crank, locked!

So i now rip everything back out and the trans, well it didnt want to come out.
Turns out the front bearing retainer, the aprt the throw out bearing rides on, pushed up so tight against the clutch disc that is held the motor from turning over. Needless to say i now have a cltuch disc with a bearing retainer sleeve, welded to it hanging on my wall.

I already got another bearing retainer assembly, but gota wait till monday to get a new clutch disc and hopefully all goes together well this time.
im guna take pics of the clutch disc and post them because its to amazing to not show the rest of the world.

[USMC302]

Yeap, I know exactly what you are talking about, we could not for the life of us get a tranny to flush up to the block, bout a 1/2 to a 1/4 inch away and thought, well, the bolts will pull it the rest of the way together, but we kept trying and eventually got the input shaft lined up right by tilting the motor along with the tranny and everything snugged up. Sorry to hear about the unfortunate event, sucks doing the swap in the first place, but sucks even more doing it twice..

[sykostanger]

Im wanting to do this to my 89 notch, I hope i dont run into too many problems, as it will be my first conversion from auto to standard

[USMC302]

Just take your time and pay attention to detail. Good luck.

[Coupe50h]

wow, Im having a hard time understanding how that happened.
I can never get the trans to mate all the way up either, I always use the fasteners to close the gap as well.
Bellhousing alighnment is supposed to be real important on these cars, however i just stab em in the best i can...good luck

[Dark_5.0]

I have never had any trouble but I pay attention to detail pretty well.

I will be converting my 92LX to a 6 speed in a couple months.

[stang4to8]

did you use the clutch alignment tool? alot of poeple skip that & its pretty important. not using it can cause this same issue.

[goodyear1984]

even when useing the alignment tool u should still look and make sure the clutch is centered perfectly with the pilot bearing ,u might have to loosen the pressure plate a few times but if u get it perfect by eye its eaiser

[7-UP BILL]

Even when using the clutch alignment tool, it still may be off. Whe you're trying to align clutch and trans have someone sit in car and press on clutch pedal to release pressure on disc. It should go right in.

[goodyear1984]

some a**hole companys give you an alignment tool for the 4 cyl with the smaller imput shaft i use a old imput shaft and the tranny slides in every time