Hi Guys, first time posting here. I've been searching for an answer and haven't found much info.
I recently did a motor swap, I just dropped the new motor in and while doing so the engine-transmission spacer plate fell out of place. It's got those slots around the alignment pins so it wouldn't stay in place while putting it in so I figured it would be easy to push it back up in place once the motor is in. However it's not going back up now, something seems in the way. Is there something i'm missing here? How would you get it in place correctly??
2002 4.0 SOHC

 

Welcome to the forum

The "slot" part has me confused, the block plate is there to align starter motor with ring gear, so there should be no "slots", it should line up with bolt holes and alignment pins so its at correct place to hold start motor in correct position

Do you think some one modified it, cut the holes to make them "slots"?

Picture here of the 4.0l SOHC block plate: https://www.ebay.com/itm/4-0-Ford-SO...-/254535280908

Also called separator or spacer plate

 

Good news i figured it out.
my spacer plate looks different from that, ill try to find a pic.
Turns out i had a leftover bolt still in the bell housing, preventing it from going up. And then from me pushing it got it bent out of shape. So i pulled it out and flattened it, and put it back. It still had some hangup, so my friend pushed in the clutch and that gave a little more space and allowed it to move all the way up into place.

 

Good work