When the engine is fresh it takes very little load to kill the thrust. Almost none. I lost a threat because I was in the army and let the builder assemble the short block so I could finish the rest up on leave. He didn't tell me he swapped out dampers and timing covers (1982 so I no longer remember why he did it) and the damper barely touched the timing cover and ate the thrust.
Of course, the prick said I couldn't adjust a clutch and that's what ate it. When I got back home and took it apart, I showed him the marks on the timing cover and the fact that the thrust was gone on the DAMPER side and not the flywheel side. He was fired.
You need to double check all that stuff around the converter. That's why I asked if you had the converter all the way into the pump and I should have mentioned as PBR did to check the fit of the hub to the crank. I've seen OE cranks that were undersized and the finish was horrible. Had to stick the in the lathe and fix it. Most aftermarket cranks should be better than that, but poo poo occurs.
