1973 Convertible Project: Coupe Parts Swap Begins

[Steve McMahan]

Well, I’m tacking the last of the sanding and rust preventing before I begin the installation of the driveline systems. Started on the trunk area. There are quite a few, hard to reach and sand, areas back there. I can’t complain, was much easier than my coupe’s trunk. Wasn’t easy to get any mechanical stuff to help on the upper surfaces, but after two whole days, it was ready for the rust treatment.

Application wasn’t bad, took longer to mask the surfaces than apply the rust converter. Getting better at planning the application so I don’t end up with this stuff all over me. So, took about 24 hours to dry. Here’s the results:



The last area is the interior side of the firewall; the sanding started on Saturday, hope to have that done by Monday. Using Master Silver on the interior surfaces. Will be my first time using. Wish me luck.

 

[Bill Perkins]

Nice Work

 

[Steve McMahan]

I have a quick question. When I pulled apart the 5.0 engine/AOD trans, I noticed I had witness marks on the torque converter, from the flywheel bolts. I put about 125 miles on the car in the last year, with zero trans problems. The marks are not deep, and the engine/trans/flywheel/torque converter are OEM stock parts, out of a running and driving one owner 87 TBird. Everything about the initial reassembly of the system went as planned, three engagements of the torque converter, bolts aligned, drain plug in right plate, < 1/4” movement of the torque converter to to the flex plate. Anything to worry about?

 

[giantpune]

Are you saying there are marks on the center of the torque converter from the heads of the bolts that hold the flexplate to the engine?

If so, are there multiple marks, or just 1?
Do they look fresh or are they dirty?
Are you using stock flexplate bolts? If the thing has ever been off the engine, you're not supposed to reuse the bolts. Could be that somebody used bolts with a fatter head on them. I seem to recall the ARP flexplate bolts had slim little heads on them. The stock ones ive seen on fords usually have kinda thin heads, too.

 

[Steve McMahan]

I bought the car from the original owner, she still had the original paperwork from the dealer. I was the first person to pull the engine out of the car. I was the first to pull the engine and trans apart. I know all the parts are original and came with the original car.

I don’t know if they’re new for sure, because for some reason, I don’t have a pic in my file of the face of the torque converter the first time I pulled it apart. It looks like every bolt left a mark, with the hex head leaving a mark:



This is what it looks like now. When I reinstalled it last year, the assembly went fine, etc, no issues. It might have looked like this when I originally disassembled it, but ?? Unfortunately, I’m back in Ca and the car is in Az, so I can’t show more.

 

[Sheriff41]

No, you have something not right going on there. The flex plate bolt heads should only be about a 1/4" thick. Can you post a picture of those? Did the torque converter studs poke through the flex plate adequately, or were the just barely through? Maybe the TC wasn't fully seated.
Maybe @transmissionguy will chime in on this.