Figured it out - thanks! My answer is written below...

This car will kill me. I've got a 200-4R in my '71 and it blew the front seal. I pulled the trans tonight, then pulled the front pump. Many sites offer instructions on how to enlarge the drain back hole on the front cover of the pump to help prevent front seal blow out. After doing that, I installed the new front seal and new retainer clip, and the pump went back together without a hitch.

Forward to now. I have been trying for the past hour to get the front pump set back into place in the case. It gets to within about 3/8" of where it should be, and there's a hard stop. No amount of wiggling or tapping with a mallet will get it past this point. Even a hard smack with a mallet and block of wood will not budge this thing any further along. I tried to set the bolts and slowly work it into place, but that didn't work. I cannot find ANY obstruction of any kind, but SOMETHING is keeping it from seating. I know for sure that the center shaft is exactly where it should be. I know the pump turns freely. The center shaft turns freely. I can put the pump on the torque converter and it spins fine. I can slide the pump onto the center shaft backwards and there is no binding. But when I flip it around to drop it into place - it stops short. I am completely at the end of my ideas. I'm hoping someone here has had the same issue and can relate their fix. I'm stumped.

EDIT:

Good Lord, I figured it out. When reassembling the pump, the case didn't go back together quite right. One side hung over the edge and one side was indented. I wrapped a large hose clamp around the place where the two pieces met and tightened it up, then reinstalled the case bolts. The pump dropped right into place with no problem.

Sometimes it's good to just take a break, have a beer and just sit.

 

Glad to hear you figured it out. Those seem to be the ones you never forget

 

I now consider myself a minor expert in the trans pump rebuild process

 

That sounds like the th350 I just rebuilt. They said you can use a hose clamp to align the two pump halves or flip the assembly over, put it in the case and then tighten the bolts that hold the two halves together. The case acts like the hose clamp.

 

So was the seal blown out?

 

Yep! Just sitting there as if I'd never installed it. I pulled it off with my fingers. Got the new one on, Loctite around the edge, the retainer clip installed as well as enlarging the drain back hole on the pump cover. It starts and runs without leaking (both the motor and the trans - this has been a project, I tell you) but I didn't do more than drive back and forth in the garage to get it parked. Just to not see fluid pouring out from anywhere is a major victory Now I need to adjust the rockers and get the TV cable set - but I think I'll wait another day or so. I'm pooped!

 

EDIT:

Good Lord, I figured it out. When reassembling the pump, the case didn't go back together quite right. One side hung over the edge and one side was indented. I wrapped a large hose clamp around the place where the two pieces met and tightened it up, then reinstalled the case bolts. The pump dropped right into place with no problem.

Sometimes it's good to just take a break, have a beer and just sit.[/QUOTE]

This is exactly what I was about to mention ) it does not take much,, opening the oil passages is good insurance and easy to do..

 

Michel - and your avatar quote seems to fit this project