I bought a TCI TH400 with a Chevy bellhousing and TCI converter..
I then purchased the trans-dapt plate to bolt it to my Olds engine.
With the plate, there was a "converter pilot bushing" that went in the back of the crank so the snout of the converter would go in it. I thoght this was a great thing to make up the thickness of the plate which is about 3/16.
When the trans was all bolted up, the converter slides out of the trans about 1/8 inch, minimum distance, then its into the pilot bushing.
my issue is, the distance between the converter mounting tabs and flex plate is about .435, almost a half inch. The plate kits gives 6 grade 8 washers to use for spacers, but thas not even close to bing enough.
This just don't seem right and I can't figure / think why when the plate is only about 3/16 the converter is so far back fron the flex plate. I couldn't take out the supplied pilot bushing because then the converter would come out too far and disengage from the trans shaft.
Any help / thoughts would be appreciated.
Thank you

 

You are correct to be asking about this. The converter needs to mate to the flexplate with zero clearance. You will need spacers that match the thickness of the adapter plate and pilot spacer (which should both be the same). There is no way around this. The pilot is what maintains concentricity, so a stack of washers under each tab will work, but a single solid spacer is better. Trying to close that gap by tightening the bolts will bend the flexplate.