Engine mid plate questions

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d55dave

d55dave

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OK, mocking up my car to make front mounts and I have the mid plate installed (The car had been set up years ago, but when I bought it as a basketcase all I got was the mid plate). I understand that a spacer needs to go between the crank and flex plate the same thickness as the mid plate (mine is 3/8"), to position the converter properly in the transmission but I have a few questions. What happens with the torque converter pilot area - does the converter just have less engagement in the back of the crank? What happens with starter engagement - the starter will now not sit into the pilot bore in the bellhousing all the way, and I am guessing may not properly engage in the ring gear on the converter?

Any thoughts or advice?
 
i wasw thinking of installing a mid plate to this year as i might go with a powerglide,like to hear more on this too
 
3/8th is pretty meaty for a mid plate. I have a CE one for my small block that had spacers included with it , but at .125" I don't thing pilot engagement would be as much of an issue.
I'd suspect with a thicker plate / spacer , the spacer would register in the crank and be machined to locate the converter precisely , but I don't recall ever seeing this done.
Not much different that a conversion kit I think.
 
For the convertor, if you don't use an off the shelf unit, the issues can be "accounted for" when it is built.....
 
On another note, what thickness are people using for front plates? I have made up my front mounts - to the typical water pump area, out of 5/16 aircraft grade 6061 t6 aluminum. Any thoughts?
 
The mid plate on the friend's car doesn't account for the starter depth at all. His Tilton starter doesn't have a nose to register anyways. The flexplate bolts on top of a crank spacer that will capture the converter nose and take care of that.
 
d55dave said:
On another note, what thickness are people using for front plates? I have made up my front mounts - to the typical water pump area, out of 5/16 aircraft grade 6061 t6 aluminum. Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
5/!6 " should work fine.....most are 1/4 " and I do see some 3/8 " out there too , so you are at the proverbial happy medium.
I have 1/4 front plate and am not going to use the mid plate at this point.
Just a good poly trans mount and the front plate should be enough for what I am doing.
 
My front motorplate is 1/4 & midplate is only 1/8. As to converter "issues" when I order my converter I just tell them my midplate thickness & they add the appropriate length to the snout. I never really had any starter issues as my current & previous cars never had a problem.
 
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