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I agree, I may be overthinking it about the torque converter but I need to make sure as I do not know as much about them.

I know the TV cable has to be set correctly or I'll lose this trans real quick but I still have plenty of time before my 400 is road worthy.

Howard
I'll take a look at your info tomorrow. Thank you.

I got the 700r4 complete and finally off my work table. Its taken up the whole thing for 5 weeks. I have it taped off and ready for paint.

The engine is going together. All the stuff in the pics below are just set in place. Nothing is torqued down right now. I need to paint the back of the water pump and the underside of the intake first. I already have the paint from Bill Hirsch here and almost ready to go.

I had an addition built onto my shop recently so I can put my kubota tractor in there. That frees up a lot of space in the main part of the shop so I can move things around again.

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I have spent the past 2 weeks with my wife and a small crew of minions harvesting our 900 lavender plants. Tonight was my first real shop time lately.

Tonight is also my time ever using an hvlp paint gun.

I've been waiting 3 years to post these pictures and I am feeling proud of myself. I think I will post these on Facebook and I never post on FB. You guys get to see them 5 minutes before may 43 adoring FB friends.

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I'm working most night guys I really am. Just doing lots of body work and not much to post.

Will post a few pics this weekend of the body work I am doing. Although it may be to hot to do much in the shop this weekend.

I need some input. I am torquing down all the steering components so I can place the engine on the chassis.

Can you tell me the ft lbs for the 2 nut that hold on the pitman arm under the steering gear. I can't find it in the manual.

Thanks

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Here are manual steering specs for 46-50 and I expect they would probably be similar for 55 if the bolt sizes are the same. The power steering training manual says 45-50 on the power cylinder and the ball stud connection to pitman arm.

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I have been having problems with the touch pad on my laptop lately. I could browse the web but impossible to process pictures. Now I have a mouse to do the dirty work for me.

Been working on the right rear tail light area. After using a wire wheel and drimmel bit to remove the rust and there was not a lot of metal left and I still had not done much on the inside of it. So, I was feeling brave and cut it all out as you can see below.

I fabricated a new piece and its tacked in place. Will do a little more welding around the outside of it and enlarge the holes some more. Fortunately for me this will never been since once the tail light in is place.

The last image in this post is the underside of the body. There are 2 rusted holes on either side but in the same locations directly under the rear seats. This is my next body related project. Both holes are in a place where they have to be worked from the underside. There is no access from the top.

Also I had a whiskey barrel top made with a Packard emblem on it. Barrel top art is popular around here along the bourbon trail.

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I put my other project into a second post to keep them straight.

I placed the engine on the frame late last week. The body mounts are bolted in and I have the oil pan supported with some 2x6's. You can see all the 700R4 conversion hardware attached below.

Sunday morning I attempted to drop the transmission in place but ran in to a little problem. The conversion plates were fine. The problem was the transmission cross member.

Bendtsen's websites says that they no longer sales the cross member with the conversion kit. I thought that may mean that it is sold separately so I emailed Bob to inquire about it. He said that he no longer makes them at all but, he had a few left that "were flawed" and I could have one of those for the cost of shipping. He said I "might have to elongate some holes" to make it work. When it arrived all the holes for the frame mounting and the trans body mount matched up fine.

So Sunday morning when I dropped it in behind the engine everything up front went into place perfectly but the transmission oil pan was about 1/4" over the top of the cross member. They had welded this one about 1/2" to close. You might be able to see it in the close up below.

I have already dropped it off with a friend that is going to grind off the ends and move it up for me. Hopefully in a week or two I'll have it all in place.

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Not a lot happening in my shop lately. Farming is eating into my Packard time.

I did get the transmission cross member cut apart and corrected. Well I didn't do it but a friend did. He got it tacked into place and I have tested the fit. Now I am just waiting for the final weld to be finished. My welder won't get that thick plate done right.

So, the 700R4 continues to sit in the floor and the engine is still supported under the oil pan for now. I did pick up a dust cover and a yoke for it on ebay and the flywheel cover got painted this week.

I also pulled out the exhaust headers so I can get started cleaning those up and of course I found that broken bolt that I had forgotten about.

Anyone have a recommendation for paint to use on the headers. All the manufacturers say theirs is best but I'd prefer some first hand experience from you folks.

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I fell off the main page.
Been on vacation for the past week and lots of farming before that.

Will be back in the shop soon.
I need the therapy time.

I have the engine and trans in place on the chassis now. A couple pics below.

I took one shot of the original and new cross member side by side. You can see height difference between the two.

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