Two firsts
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Race Director
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 17,700
Likes: 1,667
From: moraga ca
Two firsts
Sunday afternoon was a day of two firsts for me. I was under the car installing my freshened up 4l60e with new converter at 4:01 afternoon and an earthquake hit in the Bay Area. Fortunately it was only a 3.8 quake and just a quick jolt, but I was under the car supported by jackstands with the tranny on a jack. I was ready to roll out of there if it got worse. I have spent a half lifetime under the car and have never been under one during an earthquake.
The second first happened when I had the tranny bolted and torqued to the block and tried to spin the converter to bolt it onto the flexplate. It wouldn't budge. It had spun freely when I seated it on the pump. I had no choice but to drop the tranny and remove the converter. I measured the distance between the hub and the three mounting bolt holes with calipers. They seemed spot on as well as the hub diameter. This was a new Precision Industries converter with a new coat of paint. The only thing I could think of doing was sanding the paint off the center hub where it mates inside the flexplate. The couple thousanths of paint thickness is all it took because after remounting the tranny the converter spun freely.
The second first happened when I had the tranny bolted and torqued to the block and tried to spin the converter to bolt it onto the flexplate. It wouldn't budge. It had spun freely when I seated it on the pump. I had no choice but to drop the tranny and remove the converter. I measured the distance between the hub and the three mounting bolt holes with calipers. They seemed spot on as well as the hub diameter. This was a new Precision Industries converter with a new coat of paint. The only thing I could think of doing was sanding the paint off the center hub where it mates inside the flexplate. The couple thousanths of paint thickness is all it took because after remounting the tranny the converter spun freely.
Safety Car
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 3,501
Likes: 879
From: Saratoga Springs NY
2024 C4 of the Year Finalist - Modified
2022 C4 of the Year Finalist - Modified
How about this....when I built the engine and ran it on the stand, I started it probably 20 times...no issue...inspected everything.....get engine and tranny in, and starter would grind every 3rd start....one little frigging tooth had an issue I missed. Was pissed...new flexplate prob solved but still....and then last fall had the tranny issue (bad valve body from TCI) so had to pull it all apart again..my fin luck
