Ford Forum - Enthusiast Forums for Ford Owners - 1978 Ranchero nightmare, C4 issues now

So my friend bought this boat (1978 Ranchero, 351W, C4) from the typical used car lot. First thing right off the bat was the excessively loose steering to which the steering doughnut no longer existed. Of course I confronted the lost 3 days after he purchased it and inquired to why they would sell such a vehicle in such unsafe condition, to get... "our techs are rack and pinion certified"... Here starts the problems, I just wanted them to foot the $10 to get the replacement part. After making both the 2 techs and salesman look like idiots in front of 2 potential customers (requested to speak to them in private), had to pull the Lemon Law and lawyer routine... over $10 dollars and apology.
Fast forward 7 years, rebuilt O'reilly's 351 engine swap (after begging to spend extra $500 to get Jasper Engine) to have the oil pressure relief valve fail 3 days outside of warranty. Seized distributor dizzy and pulled magic trick on disappearing camshaft bearings (no crank or main journal bearing damage???). After MANY issues of gaskets dissapearing/reappearing, block coolant plug mysteriously vanishing along with all allen wrenches remotely close to the size; than the soda (dark in color) dried inside of starter motor, Ground wire unbolted from block after re-installation... List actually goes on.

Heres the issue now;
Engine mated to bellhousing fairly smoothly (for such a ridiculously long front end), torque converter spun freely while lining up to install nuts, and engine started right up after fuel got to carb. Had to start vehicle with ignition switch manually as interior leak had rusted ignition lock cylinder and switch rod solid (so shifter was never messed with), several seconds after beginning to idle the land yacht auto reveresed itself. Although it was as if the parking pawl was still engaged (glad I had rear tires chocked), disengaged the shift cable at the firewall side of column and tried for neutral where it acted like it was still trying to go into reverse or drive. Let it stall out under load and visually/manually checked cable and linkage, park did not lock into place anymore, Reverse/Neutral/Drive/2nd/1st all felt normal. Pulled torque converter nuts and rechecked play to find about 1/8" play and free spin as initially found.
The C4 has roughly 600 miles on rebuild (Jim Greens couldnt tell the difference between Clevland and Windsor Flexplate thickness), since pump was punctured. Next to the stalls when hot after swapping the Dura-Spark ignition back in after finding dizzy seized, it ran and drove as usual.
Is it still possible that somehow the torque converter was mis-aligned and is causing this issue?
If so than what kind of possible damage can I expect even though the pan has no signs of metal or contaminants?