New crate motor.....crank will not turn by wrench

I bought a GM performance crate 350 and I cannot rotate the crank at all.  We installed it in the truck, but my question is how to bolt up the torque converter to the flex plate?  Does this sound right that the crank will not rotate freely?  I am not a gearhead and have not messed with an engine swap in about 10 years so my memory is unclear about the install process last time.  Any help is greatly appreciated  

you can't stick a bar in the teeth of the flex plate and turn the engine at all?  Do you have the plugs in it?  If you take them out, it should help since you be fighting the compression.  

I have assembled quite a few motors and even the ones with 900+ lb. open valve springs would turn with a torque wrench. These were BB 600" motors with 14-1 comp and it took about 80 foot lbs. of torque to turn the motor over with the valve springs in place. Without the springs it was about 15-20 lbs. I would put the torque wrench on the dampner bolt to check this.
If you do this and your motor does not turn something is wrong and the motor needs to come apart and be checked. My motors were all out race motors too. A mild motor with mild valve springs should turn with a lot less effort.  

thanks, I will check it tomorrow with a torque wrench....but I know that I had a socket and a half inch wrench on it and couldn't turn it at all with all but putting my body weight on the dampner bolt. Also there are no plugs in the motor but the springs are installed.  This is a 290/350 from summit racing  

soounds like you may have an issue.  

sssooonnnddss like another foreign country built Summit product, get your money back now!!!  

how did you get the torque converter bolts to line up???

and what  size flex plate did you install.. is it possible that you have a 168 tooth flex plate... and its hitting the inside of the bell housing..  

Check the flexplate bolts. If someone installed flywheel bolts they will thread all the way thru the crank and into the block. This will lockdown an engine.  

Hi G/L 01,
     How right you are and how frustrating it can be especially when you
     are trying EVERYTHING   ELSE!! Until later;;; Skyeking  

Nova, if it's a true "GM Performance" branded product, which is what I took away from the initial post, Summit has nothing to do with it.  If the motor is truly defective, he will need to see a local Chevy dealer in most cases for any warranty issues.  Not taking any sides here, it's just the reality of the situation and Summit will tell him so.  

+2 on the flexplate bolts.

Jake  

'65 you're right! ,,, I got a little carried away, the long bolt thru the crank into the block is an really good thing to check,,,,,,,,,  

What really sucks about the long bolt theory (if that's the case) is that it didn't get caught until everything was back up under the truck.  The good thing is... like most automotive mistakes, you only make 'em once. (and it didn't get into his wallet).  

Its a cheap fix but does require some time to fix. Lucky the only time I done it it was on the test stand so it was a 5min fix. Thats why it pays to check everything when building an engine or swapping an engine out. NEVER ASSUME ANYTHING IS RIGHT  

Thanks everyone for the replies,  pulled the motor checked the bolts on the flexplate and everything looked fine so replaced the motor and now I can turn the crank WTF.....!  I used the same bolts that were used the first time didn't  do anything else while it was out.