Im pretty sure i screwed up. Advice needed

For whatever reason i was in the garage and got my new pan on....decided to go ahead and mate the engine and trans.

Like a d bag i bolted the comverter to the flywheel and tried to force the trans on the converter..........i didnt use an impact or anything but went around twice trying to suck in the slack.

Well regained my senses too late and now of course with the converter off the flywheel it wont seat in the trans all the way.

My limited knowledge leads me to believe i screwed up the front pump.......guess my question is what needs replaced and what woukd ut run me at a shop?
Is this like a 30 minute job at a shop or drop it off for a week?
Ive spun, wiggled, begged, cussed, tapped and nothing it absolutely wont click in the second time.

At all possible i will get it fixed tomorrow so i can install it saturday. This whole swap has been a nightmare for me...... so

 

Is the pump shaft fully engaged in the pump? If yes can you turn it by hand? Check inside the converter on the pump splines to see if they are damaged, you may have to drain some fluid to see it. If the pump is bad it shouldn't take long to swap it out provided the shop hasn't allocated all of their time for other jobs.

 

Pull the front seal out of the housing...Shine a light in the hole and see if the 2 dogs on the pump gear (They engage the two slots on the converter) are still there. If so and they dont look bent/broken...Try to insert the converter again. Check the snout and the two slots on it and see if any of it is bent/chewed up. If it all looks good but the converter still wont go in...The pump gear is bent/damaged. If it all goes together and the converter spins without crunching/binding on the pump. You may be ok. But...At this stage its simple insurance to pull the pump and replace it. Its also possible that the converter you have is incorrect for the app. Two different spline counts on the input shafts. I am not certain but I believe that pre 70s' or early 60s' C-4s' Had 26 spline as opposed to later ones with 28 splines on the input shaft...Something to keep in mind...Good luck!

 

Was hoping someone would chime in that knew what they were talking about, thx Mavman.

 

Being as everything in the transmission and converter are hardened I would have thought you would break the bell housing before hurting the trans but I have been wrong more times than I care to admit! Let us know what you find out.

 

Pretty common mistake that people make, never seen it bust a bell housing yet. Fix is easy, lesson learned is priceless. Always mate the converter to the transmission 3 clicks then mate to motor and make sure drain plug is in correct position to go through hole in flexplate

I had a problem once with a converter with the stacked height of the components inside were too high had to send converter in to shop and they cut it apart and corrected the problem, took a long time to figure that one out.

 

also make sure the converter will seat in the crank snout...flexplate on correct...block plate installed.

 

Converter was in the trans and trans was working before. Guessing im screwed up the two dogs. Trying to see if i can find a trans shop to take pitty on me and fix it today......i know that probably wont happen so looks like im postponing the install yet another weekend.

Thanks guys.

 

Unsure of the condition of the pump but i did see a slight inward dent on the converter. Im guessing that happened when i was trying to mate the two.......and why it wont seat. Ill post a pic of it this evening.
Guessing that isnt fixable and im out 300 bucks

 

Case puckered around snout??? (Your inward dent)...Yeah, converter is done...Sorry.

 

need the pic...

 

Trying to get a pic uploaded with no luck....i looked everything over really good and turns out its fine just a royal pain to seat.

Converter snout looks weird because of the outside but it was smooth and round with no damage.....dogs inside pump drive looked clean and no damage.

Gave it one last hoorah and it just popped in there like butter......no idea what changed but its in.

Converter spins free and nothing is sounding weird or feeling weird.

Bolted everything up and engine spins over with normal drag etc.
Oh my what a lesson i learned lmao

 

Don't feel bad, my first experience with a transmission was similar. My dad (a carpenter) was putting a replacement trans in my brothers Plymouth and he left the converter on the engine. He then tried for several days to force the whole mess together under the car! A friend and I removed the converter and worked out what needed to happen and put it in while dad was working. He was so mad while trying to fit it all together, beat the tar out of the floor just to get it close to the engine and reached a point he was going to scrap the car.

 

You are very lucky, I did something similar and cracked the front pump gear. Cost me 50 bucks and a well learned lesson...

 

I did it as a clueless 16 year old back in the 70's with a C6. Now onto the story of how I installed my first distributor......