Build Thread 1978 Mercury Cyclone. The pig is in the pen.

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.


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.?

a91what said:

.... 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...

Click to expand...

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.

a91what said:

YES......

Click to expand...

So then...as per my above comments.

I cannot just lay the flexplate on the converter and drill and tap it.

90sickfox said:

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.

Click to expand...

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.

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)



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......

I'm in for a hell of a ride.

The a2w is here.

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.