[Va68goat]

NeighborsComplaint,

I used the same flex plate bolts that were used when it was on the 400 motor. I'm going to have to check that out though. Good idea..thank you!

torqhead,
Now you're making me want to put the car up on jack stands right now and see if thats the issue. As I said before, I'm inexperienced with these old cars but I'm sure learning a lot. Thats solid advice you gave me. Hopefully I can get a chance this week to check that out. This knocking noise has killed me all summer long..if thats the issue, I'll be sending you a bottle of something..hahaha.

ponchjoe,
The knocking noise is present in gear and in neutral/park. The torque converter is not used. I ordered it from Cliff. I'm not sure about the front pump.

TedRamAirII,
Yeah, Paul inspected the flexplate and balanced it. Yes, we did pull the converter back and the knocking noise was still present. The flex plate wasn't on the motor when it was shipped. It was torqued to specs on the day we installed the motor. We did inspect the flexplate when the motor was pulled and it seemed fine. I'm really hoping this will fix the problem. We're hopefully going to change the flexplate this week or this weekend. I will post updates.

Since I'm changing the flexplate, do you guys think it would be a good idea to change out the flexplate bolts as well.
https://butlerperformance.com/i-2445...-200-2904.html