Plan to pull auto tranny; some questions

[Stretch]

Hey, I am preparing to try and drop the auto from my 87 turbo. How can I test my torque converter to see if it is still good? Does it only spin one way? When the car is on, no gears work and a whizzing noise can be heard, softly at first but it gets a bit louder as I increase the throttle. I know something is broken for sure as the previous owner said he heard a "boom". Any advice would be great. I'm going to drain the fluid and drop the pan so check for large metal chunks before dropping the whole thing. It's happening in my apt. underground space! Any advice is appreciated. Wish me luck.
eric

 

[Stretch]

One more question, thanks for all of the help so far! :icon_bigg
For an auto tranny removal, do you have to remove the starter or is it only for manual transmissions?
eric

 

[PROJECT N00b]

starter has to be removed, and then all those bolts that go the the block, and then the harlines and the downpipe needs to come off too....and the DS.