[trularin]

Whatever you do with all this information, I can tell you without question that if you pull the pilot bearing out from its intended shoulder, you will have a vibration you will not want to live with.

Some Toploaders for FEs are about .375 " shorter at the input and the bellhousing reflects it in the distance between the face of the transmission and the back of the engine than a something like a 351W.

It looks like the spacer you have there is throwing this all in the opposite direction. If the plate is removed, I would venture to say, about a quarter of an inch of space may be between the trans and the bellhousing.

May I suggest you contact Jimi Guthrie. He has a thread in the transmission section of this forum and tell him what you are trying to do. He may have a fast and easy solution.

Just my $0.02

PS. I am removing a Short Shaft Toploader and am installing a TKO right now, I have already been through this in a convoluted way.