Tremac Trans Spacer?

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by 428street

Again, because this is the first time doing this and I did not take it apart it is difficult (for me) to have confidence I am doing it correctly.

You're doing it correctly ... go for it.

[SSSammy]

Street, I had the same issue as I recall. Not elegant looking, but it doesn't matter, it's covered up. The holes do not have any function if they are larger than the bolts. The only thing on that spacer that matters is the registration ring that centers it and the tranny in the bellhousing .. and of course the thickness of it. Drill on .. you need to discover the *next* problem

No, I don't know what the next problem will be, just that this car building hobby is a serial process of problem solving

Sam

[428street]

Job complete.

Per Jim's suggestion, there is an ever so slight rock to the marriage of the plate and BH. I'm talking I have to really make it "rock" I can't see this being a huge problem but as you guys can tell I need some hand holding sometime. I can't even measure it.

On a quick measurement I have about 5.5 inches from the pilot bushing (front of it, not the hole in the middle) to the face of the BH. I have to measure the shaft on the tranny...more to come.

[428street]

Jim:

I need you to expand on your comments.

I misread or misunderstood the concern here so I need to regroup.

The spacer plate mates to two surfaces. 1 - BH (I have a stock FE one) and 2 - Transmission which I have a tremac.

I have spent some time with a flat file and really made the mating of the plate to the BH as close as I can. When I put pressure on the two there is no rock at all. I probably spent the better part of an hour making it perfect.

Next thing I did was take a measurement from the pilot bushing (end) to the front of the spacer. That measurement is 6.25". I then measured the length of the input shaft (I think that is what it is called) on the tremac and it was exactly 6.25" as well.

Now here is my latest misunderstanding...

Jim mentioned the mating of the plate to the tranny (which I initially read as BH) has to be 100% flush..how do I do that if the plate is just hanging loose?

I'm going to spend some time now and see if I can figure it out but as always any insight would be great.

Thanks.

[SSSammy]

Jim was referring to the face of the tranny being flat, btw, not the spacer. I'm not sure filing the spacer was called for .. the spacer could have been a tiny bit warped. This happens when metal is machined in a constrained state, then released. But when bolted up it would have been forced to be flat if the face of the Tremec and the BH face were truly flat. It is made of soft aluminum.

Again, critical concentric alignment is controlled by the registration ring on the BH, the lip on the spacer, the registaton ring on the spacer, and the outside diameter of the bearing retainer flange (collar) on the Tremec. All of these slip fit together in a stack.

I am a little concerned about the input shaft measurements, not having any experience with the stock BH. Are you saying, according to your measurements, that if you bolt everything up, the input shaft will not penetrate the hole in the pilot bushing? Rather that it will just barely touch?

If this is indeed the case, the spacer may not be required at all with this BH, since 5/8" is about how thick the pilot bushing is.

I really would give Doug a call Mon and go over it all again with him, make sure he understands you are using the stock FE bell housing.

Sam

[428street]

I'm going to double check now the measurements. How much should the shaft go into the pilot bushing normally?

I was able to easily work on the tranny spacer plate (assuming for now I still need it) but I have run into the Jim holden problem of rocking. I filed down the characters on the top lip and some of the boss on the bottom and it is better but it still rocks back and forth.

Not sure exactly how to fix this as I am trying to mate one piece (the spacer) that is machined and very smooth and the other piece (the black plate with casting "bumps" - not smooth) together.

Thats the sticking point now - trying to figure out how to find, then smooth out the high spot causing the rocking between the spacer and the tranny.

[blykins]

The pilot of the input shaft should be fully supported in the bushing/bearing, but it shouldn't go far enough to touch the crankshaft behind the bushing/bearing. If it does, it could put a forward load on the crank, pushing it into the thrust bearing when you bolt the trans up.

[SSSammy]

The black plate is the bearing retainer. Just to be clear, you should not file the outside circumference of it at all. Check and see if it is the 4 bolt heads that hold the bearing retainer on that are interfering. The spacer has some small reliefs cut out to provide clearance for those bolts. But maybe something is out of tolerance. Those reliefs can be enlarged, but best to do it at a machine shop.

If it is just some casting irregularities on the face of the bearing retainer, it should be ok file them down.

Sam

[xlr8or]

I had to file down the casting numbers on the front of the bearing retainer to get the spacer to sit flush. There were a couple of spots that need it there and one on the spacer around the bolt I clearanced just a tad.

As Brent stated the end of the shaft needs to be supported in the bearing without bottoming out on the crank or the splines on the input shaft hitting the edge of the bearing.

[428street]

ok, back from the garage.

I definitely did not mess with the circumference of the bearing retainer, just the surface of that. Once I filed down the numbers and the bottom boss a bit the space went on like a charm with a slight wobble.

I rechecked the distances per above and I was off. I also had a buddy come over and we did a mock up of the install out of the car and everything fit nice and tight with the spacer, etc. The tail shaft fit nicely into the pilot bushing with about an 1/8 sticking out (or visible) between the pilot shaft and the spline part of the tranns.

I'm going to call doug but I think I'm ok. My buddy who came over built his ERA FIA so he has a bit more experience then me and he said it was fine.

[428street]

[blykins]

Don't forget to dial it in...

[428street]

Guys, on final assembly do I need to oil/coat anything in the chain such as the pilot shaft, splines on the tranny, etc. or keep everything dry?

[blykins]

Keep everything dry, except the input shaft bearing retainer where the throw out bearing rides (if you have a non-hydraulic TOB).

Did you dial?

[Jim Holden]

Just to clarify; we ground off the casting numbers, clearanced the spacer plate where the bolt heads of trans, bearing retainer interfered, as well as slightly knocked off the sharp edge of the cast steel bearing retainer so that the plate fitted flush to the face of the transmission. If you hold the plate to the trans. surface and look through the opening, you should see where it interferes.

...and as I indicated above, we cut off a little of the end of the shaft to be sure it didn't hit the end of the crank.

Jim

[428street]

Jim:

Thanks for the info. I stopped by ERA today and spoke to Doug. I checked the end of the shaft and it has plenty of clearence. Still working on the spacer plate to get it 100%. It is very close. It still has the slightest of wobble which I will get down. I ground down the casting number, around all the nuts, etc. Doug told me the spray paint the inner part of the spacer then put the spacer on then twist it a bit and that will show you were the high spot is.