I am swapping a 350 SB for a 454 BB into my 72 chevelle. Problem is i left the th350 transmission in the car and i cannot get the 454 with torque converter bolted on, to line up. we get the bell housing and engine block about 1 inch away from each other, and thats it. what is the best way to get the engine in without pulling the transmission out? My car is sitting in an alley with no engine and i will not be able to sleep tonight much. thanks for any info.

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Did I misunderstand, or do you have the TC already bolted to the flexplate? If so, try taking it off and putting it on the trans before you install the engine. I'd run a search about TC installation too, just to make sure you have it on all the way.

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This is completely opposite from stabbing an engine into a manual tranny. You have to install the torque converter in the transmission. And there is a trick to doing that. You have two splined shafts and the front pump drive and they all have to be aligned, or you will destroy the transmission. So here's the way it has to be done. First, set the torque converter in place over the input shaft. Rotate it back and forth and give a little up and down wiggling and it should engage the input shaft splines. Next, continue rotating the converter and shaking it up and down until it engages the stator splines. Then, and this is the one that people miss most often, rotate the converter back and forth until the pump drive engages, and you'll probably have to give it some up and down shaking action as well. You'll feel three definite metallic clunks each time the converter slides in place over the respective splines and pump drive. It helps to locate the postition of the pump drive tabs or tangs by looking into the front pump and noting their clock position. Then align the corresponding flat spots (or slots, I can't remember which) on the machined shaft of the torque converter as closely as possible before you engage the first set of splines. This will save you a little time by putting the converter close to where it needs to be to line up the pump drive.