Everyone

Finishing up a BW35 install on my '70 145s and we have hit some issues. We finally got it mounted up and in the car last weekend. We first installed the torque converter (filled partially with fluid) onto the transmission, then attached the transmission to the engine. We then rotated then engine to line up the holes and bolted the torque converter to the flexplate. Everything lined up great and seemed to fit correctly...in many ways easier than a manual tranny where you have to line up the splines on the clutch.

Here is where my first question comes in...after attaching the torque converter to the flexplate, we now feel some additional resistance when spinning the engine with a wrench. It occurs only once per engine rotation and there are some corresponding clunks/scraping noises coming from the tranny...we assumed this was something internal to the tranny (i.e. fluid pump) being activated by the spinning engine/torque converter...is this additional resistance normal? The flex plate bolts look to be clearing everything fine, so I don't believe that is the source of the noise.

We then dropped the engine in, bolted everything up, and filled the engine and tranny with oil / ATF. The tranny I filled to the top of the "cold" markings with ATF type F. I then proceed to run the starter motor to start pushing fluid throughout the transmission and fluid lines, expecting to have to add fluid as I went. However, I was surprised to hear a loud "clunk" seemingly coming from the transmission while running the starter. The starter seems to be rotating everything freely (also verified but rotating the engine with a wrench) so I am not sure where this is coming from...I am hoping this is just because the transmission hasn't moved the fluid around completely? Anyone ever heard this kind of noise before? Do I need to overfill the tranny a bit since it was totally dry? I stopped after hearing the noise and wanted to do some more investigation before going further.

A couple notes on the tranny...it is an unknown unit, claimed to run before it was removed by another 140 guy. It has the lines for an external tranny cooler in the radiator, which we have routed and connected. We previously dropped the pan and cleaned out the old fluid, replacing the filters at the time, and everything look OK internally. Everything is connected EXCEPT the kickdown cable, which I haven't drilled for yet.

Thanks!
Brian