Engine will not slide on the last inch or so.

1966 4cyl fhead

just did an engine swap, old f-head for older fhead in better shape. had it all bolted up, but for the life of my could not get the clutch fork in so i decided to just pull the engine again, seperate the bell houseing and put the fork and throw out bearing on, then the engine like i should have. anyways, get the clutch fork and linkage all in and such get the engine on the input shaft, and push and push and push, get it all the way on but it doesn't want to go the last inch, i just had it on a couple days ago and now i cant get it to go the last little bit........ any ideas? i tried for hours........... pics in a little bit, it doesn't have to go but less than an inch more.

 

the buick does this with the bellhousing and transmission every time.

sometimes if you tilt the transmission up or down it will slide in or side to side. Be careful, it sounds like you don't have engine bolted to frame yet? only the transmission?

make sure nothing is blocking it either or in the way, on the dads YJ he couldn't figure out why his wouldn't go in well he caught the crankshaft sensor..knocked it off then it went it.

 

yup, only trans is bolted in, trying to slide this all the way back, then plop it down on the engine mounts. there's nothing i can see in the way, last time it did this too and i about lost my mind and in my angry state i stood in the engine compartment, grabbed the engine and shook it like crazy and pushed, and it magically went on, but i cant seem to replicate that this time..

 

Are you sure that the clutch disk is centered around the pilot bearing? If the clutch is not centered, the input shaft won't hit the pilot bearing, but rather hit the end of the crankshaft. Also, I usually replace a couple of the housing bolts with longer bolts with the heads cut off to aid in alignment of the bell housing to the engine block. With the longer headless studs installed, you can examie the gap between the engine block and bell housing to make sure that the two are going together straight, instead of angled.

 

Just went through this with my 231 V6 swap. After a couple of hours of frustration, I Bolted up longer bolts to the bell housing and then pushed the clutch in to make the shaft line up with the pilot bearing. Wiggle, wiggle and presto, it went in. Keep trying. It's a bitch doing it yourself but doable.

 

spinning the crank or tranny input shaft may facilitate the engagement.

 

i'll see if i can get my little brother to push the clutch pedal while i hold and push the engine, i thought about greasing the shaft before trying to line it up, that might have helped, not much though.

 

If you don't have the driveshafts hooked up, then stick the tranny in 3rd and then spin the output shaft at the brake drum slowly to get the teeth to mesh between the input shaft and the clutch.

 

it is the pilot bearing.
if you are planning on "plop it down" then the angle is not right.

transmission install 4 times this spring and summer (need to fire the mechanic), first time lined up perfect, the other 3 not so much fun. every time it was the tilt angle that was bad. I had the long bolts for alignment. Had to tilt the angle more than the alignment showed to get it to fit.
have fun, I did.

 

i have little to no angle on it and it still wolnt go, i'll post pics in a second and you'll see

 

i tried to wedge a portapower inbetween the engine and the front cross member but it wouldn't fit

 

do you have a jack on the bell housings . it looks like it too low . to mate with engine

 

no, but i'll try one on it tomorrow

 

What Ron said. Looks like the gap is greater at the bottom than it is at the top. Maybe loosen the tranny bolts, or the the x-member bolts so you can raise the nose of the transmission a bit.

 

Thanks for the ideas! i'll try tomorrow, maybe i can beat the rain!

 

It appears that the front of the transmission has to come up just a little, but the engine also seems to be out of horizontal alignment with the transmission. The gap is wider on the passenger side than on the driver's side.

Did you remove the motor mounts? Removing the motor mounts will allow the engine to go a little deeper into the jeep. But as mentioned by others, you should put a jack with a block of wood under the front of the transmission to give it a little uptilt. As the engine is dropped into the frame, the jeep will sink because of the added weight.

 

Getting the engine & trans stabbed together on a manual trans vehicle can be frustrating....BTDT
Sometimes it helps to just walk away for a bit and let your temper cool down.
Did you use a clutch alignment tool to make sure the disc is lined up properly?
I agree with the others who said your engine looks crooked in the pics...