I performed my first 4 liter engine overhaul recently on my sons 1991 Cherokee sport 4x4. I really tricked out the engine cosmetic wise but otherwise no other mods were done to a basically stock powerplant. The short block was bought complete from AutoZone. Now to the problem. I neglected to mark the torque converter when I removed it from the old flywheel and did not know where to align it when I reinstalled it on the new engine. I just installed it in the first bolt pattern that lined up.

Not recognizing the gravity of my error, I did not realize how critical this was until I went to install the Top Dead Center Sensor. I had assumed this was a speed sensor for tach or speedometer pickup. I did not know that it was critically associated with timing! Now the engine is already installed to the transmission along with all other components and the thing does not even want to think about firing the plugs correctly! It pops and bangs much like the distributor is mis-timed, but I was very tedious and critical about setting that up.

Question: What can I do? Must I pull the engine and set the torque converter to a specific angle? What angle? Can I pull the witness plate on the bottom of the tranny and remove the torque convertor bolts and re-align? The manuals are vague to non-existant on this subject.

Thanks for any help.

Jim Corcovelos
corcov@earthlink.net
903-880-4235