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I had a 2002 duramax powered roll back. That thing use to crack converters at the bolt pads or crack the flywheel often. After several replacements I had a ring welded to the flex plate and the issue stopped. My old machine shop came up with the idea and it worked. Too bad GM didn't. The flex plate would flex under the load causing the cracks. I would run that truck basically 24/7 with all night trips back and forth from Manheim PA auction to various places around Baltimore pulling two cars at a time. That truck went the last 8 months before selling without issue....other than blowing injectors...and a water pump. At the end it was sold. That truck was a POS.

I guess a flex plate is designed to flex....hence the name. Just something for that lil demon to talk mess with you about.:stir:
 
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I guess I measured correctly....it fits.
Pictured upside down for dramatic effect.
 
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The bolt holes needed opening up..I didn't have the bolts, so the machinist used a 3/8" bolt for a Guinea pig.
No worky.
NBD,..I have a straight cut carbide burr, and a router. Put the thing in the vise, and made a few passes inside each of the bolt holes.
Fixt.
The next hurdle is the how to adapt the converter to to the flex plate. I thought I was gonna be able to bolt a bracket thing to at least one of the bolt holes,.....but no.

That means I gotta weld on the converter.
A process wrought with potentail peril. The heat from welding could cause case distortion. ( I guess there are clutches somewhere close to the feet of the converter). The potential distortion could cause clutch failure.
There is residual trans fluid in the converter...
let me see......
what do I think will happen if I smear trans fluid on one side of a piece of steel, and put 6000 degrees of heat to it????

Hmmmmm:thinking:



At the very least,..I got a fire. ( that I can't blow out) I may have some other catastrophic reaction as a result of expanding gasses that can't get out....maybe I make a bomb of sorts?

The correct way to do this is to send the converter away, have it cut open. Then remove all of the stuff that is in harms way, clean it out, then have them send the part that needs welding to me. After I weld it, I gotta send that piece back, have them fix what needs to be fixed, and put it back together.

I'd have a rebuilt converter possibly altered for the new combo, and not blow myself up at the same time.

Who's taking bets on whether or not I'm gonna do that this way?

The welding is concentrated at the existing foot pads on the converter. ( hopefully from the bad stuff inside) I'm hoping that I can quench the heat immediately after welding with a wet rag to try and control the heat soak.....what that does to the integrity of the weld,..I got no clue..I know that this is the only way I can move forward.....

If I don't send it away before, I still plan to send it away after. ( if I'm not dead)

PTC converters is in Muscle Shoals. It's a two hour drive. They can cut my cut my converter open while I wait. I can bring the piece back the same day. Once welded, I can ship the thing back, and they can reassemble the converter fix what needs fixin, and tweak it to work with the 2jz.

( why does this look like I just talked myself into this)
 
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Oh To be the little dude that lives inside my head. The stubborn little phck that cannot come to terms with " giving in".

It frustrates me to no end to have to have to give up on this, and send the converter away..it has me considering.....
Alternatives.

I'm surprised that nobody here has asked ( Well, Steve did..I take that back) I guess it's just too complicated to consider the alternative..

Well Mike,....What is the alternative then?

Well then, since you've asked...
There are two different bellhousing configurations to work with. Two starters, two flexplates,....
I thought itd be easier to use the 2j starter/ flexplate combo because it's the smaller of the two, and the flexplate bolts directly to the crank.
But....I'm gonna have to modify a $500+ converter to make it fit..Potentially damaging it on one hand, additionally altering it to where it wont fit anything else.

So,....if I fck it up to where it cant be fixt, I've created a $500 piece of sht. ( to go with the $6000 piece of sht currently sitting on the floor)
To add to that, I called PTC this morning..turns out that cutting the converter open can be done by a competent machinist with a full size lathe.
I just happen to have a friend that has a full size lathe. Even if he cant do it, their charge to cut it open is 25.00 bucks.
I just have to make time to get there and back.
If, on the other hand my friend can cut my converter open........I can weld it up, then either drive up there and pay 200 bucks to get the converter refreshed, and welded back together.

OR..
I abandon that path. ( pay attention now, cause this all boils down to a matter of time, stuff I can control, and money)

Here's the problem with using the 4R starter mounting location, and the Ford flexplate.

F0465492-73A9-49BB-BCBF-23396DC9F09B_zpsgmcrtm2i.jpg

See that freakin extended pan rail? It's about right where the ford starter will be.
That forces me to either relocate the starter down, or....twist the whole transmission. As in: cut the starter recess off of the bellhousing, move it down, then weld that thing using a spool gun. Then, patch the hole that I created to add back the integrity that I cut away.
I'm also gonna have to do something with the ford flexplate to adapt it over to the 2j crank bolt pattern.

The upside of all of this insanity is that it doesnt cost dick.

And....I dont have to have the converter cut open, cut the existing feet off of it, and weld new ones on, then pay $200 to have it freshened up, and welded back together.

So....do I step back,...resign myself to butchering a converter to make it fit an application it wasnt intended to, forever limiting myself to that one converter, or..

Do I plunge forward, and modify the starter location, so I can leave the converter as is...which gives me the opportunity to change/upgrade that converter with another thatll only need to be bolted up to the flywheel that it fits up against.?
 
.... why cant you line the flexplate and the converter up and then drill and tap what you need?

Or can you lay the flexplate on the converter and take a picture so we can all see what you see...
Which flexplate? The 2 jz flexplate is the same dianeter as the converter. The converter's mount pads ( feet) hang out past the ring gear on the flexplate.
 
So....the order will go crank, spacer, ford flexplate, converter ?

How are you planning to handle the balance of the flex plates ?

Does the starter bolt to the transmission bell housing ? I would guess it does.

This seems beyond my technical skill....but what do ya expect from a guy that cut open an engine to reconfigure stuff. Im site you've just about got this figured out.
 
So....the order will go crank, spacer, ford flexplate, converter ?

How are you planning to handle the balance of the flex plates ?

Does the starter bolt to the transmission bell housing ? I would guess it does.

This seems beyond my technical skill....but what do ya expect from a guy that cut open an engine to reconfigure stuff. Im site you've just about got this figured out.

First point...I can't comment.
Second point..the flex plate is zero balance.
The 2j starter bolts to the block, the ford starter.....if I have to tell you, you shouldn't be working on cars.
 
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In between agonizing over whether or not to cut the feet off of my torque converter, the rest of the stuff I've bought for this conversion keeps pouring in.
Of positive note is the mystery of the Chinee cloned Wastegate. It appears to be an actual TurboSmart piece. ( at least that's what it says on top)
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A really, really big actual TurboSmart piece. Pictured next to my old 38 mm that was on the monster, it makes you wonder if this engine needs that much of a Wastegate, ( because that's what size the flange was on the exhaust manifold) if you weren't choking the potential of the old monster's engine, and if not......
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I'm in for a hell of a ride.

The a2w is here.
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Exactly the same as the one that was in Monster gen 1, I'll put it in the exact same spot that the old one was. This time around I'm gonna see if I can make the radiators fit somewhere up in the front instead of putting them all the way back in the trunk, but they may end up there just the same..even though they are small,...they're still too big to fit up front. But I'm gonna try anyway.

Every freakin thing that I need to do this swap is now here. ( well, 99% is anyway) The LQ9 coils came in along with their weatherpack DIY connectors, my coil wires are here, the new water pump, idler pulley, tensioner, and belt for the cams. The oil pump has been here, and I've since opened the thing up, and YouTube modified the sharp turns out of the inlet, and outlet. The head gasket and studs are here. The 340 lph pump and -8 braided hose is here. ( that leaves a 200 lph for sale.) The ford IAC valve is here,...something that I'll have to "Mikeguyver" to make it work with the new intake..
( I like the Mikeguyver thing,....I believe I'd change my name over if I was still madmike)

There are so many boxes in the man cave I don't even know what's in some of them. I decided to buy all of this stuff on PayPal credit, and pay it back at $500 chunks each month instead of dragging the thing out for a year.. ( the other reason for not buying an S 550 Mustang, is you have that money to set aside for fixing the hobby car, instead of it taking years to build) excepting the first $1000.00, of course (I used my BMW spiff monies there, and that bought the intake, and exhaust manifolds)) One of these days, I'll add it all up, but I'll bet you right now,....if there ain't 6k sitting down there in the garage in Japanese engine, and related parts,........ there isn't a dead monster engine down there either.

And there's definitely a dead monster engine down there.

Now, there's fabrication...I gotta get the engine and trans thing worked out. When I get that done, I have to swing the engine and get it mounted, the engine has to sit lower than the old monster did, so I can get to the freakin trans bolts. I believe the pan will let me do that. The engine is significantly shorter than the old one was, but I'm probably gonna have to move it forward to accomodate the spacing between the engine and trans. If I don't, and push it the other way, I'll have the same issues I did before with an impossible to get to transmission bolt situation. Then I'd have to shorten the driveshaft, it was already too close to the tail shaft as it was.

Now it's just a matter of me waiting till its late enough to start beating and banging on sht, then it's on.
 
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