Floyd Brothers 70 Challenger

[Stu]

Not a great start to the day. Came to do the Convertor bolts and just cannot get the last one to seat properly, not no way, not no how.

Revisited the destructions to see if I was missing something and I have a horrible feeling I may have… I’m hoping this doesn’t mean box out again to drill the flex plate, as I’m out of time for a while after today.

[Pete]

Flex plates and convertors are HANDED on a Mopar = The trick is to offer it up to the Convertor BEFORE you install the Convertor and mark one hole and the convertor as your index point.

Then put one bolt in but do NOT tighten it fully up, rotate 90 degrees, bolt in but do NOT tighten it fully up, rotate 90 degrees, bolt in but do NOT tighten it fully up, rotate 90 degrees.

Once they are all in (but not tight - you need the "wriggle room" to get them all in, you can start Loctiting and tightening up to either the correct Torque or "FT" - I torque then as you can easily over-tighten them.

The trick is putting the bolts in deep enough that they won't foul on the back of the motor when you turn, but are loose enough to jiggle the next ones in...

Hope this helps - good luck....

[Pete]

PS - sorry if you know this and that is not your issue.

You could VERY CAREFULLY drill one Flex plate hole over-size in Situ if possible.... check with Blue first...

[Stu]

Cheers Pete, but yes done it as described and Blue kindly marked one hole for me, so I thought job done, however I’ve done exactly as described below and the tolerance is so tight I just can’t get it to align.

I’m having a breather and pulling the front end out again to do some other stuff and will have another go.

[Pete]

Fingers crossed and good luck - DON'T cross thread the last one in a hurry, take your time and come back to it later if necessary....

[Pete]

I have had to countersink a Flex plate in the past due to the shoulder that some ARP bolts have - they will not sit flush otherwise....

[Stu]

It was 100% crossing, so I’ve not carried on until I can get another run at it.

[Blue]

Apart from getting the pattern right there’s a bit of a trick to getting flexplate bolts in. Get the first one in and tighten it fully, then back it off just enough so that you can move the convertor side to side. Turn the engine and do the next one the same and the rest until you get to the last one. You usually need to turn the convertor a bit one way or the other until the bolt goes in. The tolerance is very tight but I’ve never not had one go in. Once that is in, take it out again and use blue medium strength locktite and fully tighten it. I normally pull on the ring spanner until it turns the flexplate and jams against the engine block, then you can fully tighten it. Locktite and tighten the other bolts in the same manner. It all takes a while the first time you do it but it will work.

[Stu]

Righto, got it. I’m going back in…

[Blue]

I bolted the flexplate to the convertor when I marked it so I know it fits, that’s something you don’t need to discover once it’s in the car!

[Stu]

Well, every day's an ejoocashun….

Turns out I was just being a bit Bananarama! at it.

Started again using that method and all done, just need to torque up, but my inch/lb wrench only goes to 212 and I need 270.

I guess as tight as I can get them using a ring and my feeble guns?

[Blue]

A ring/ open end spanner with another one hooked on the end and a good pull is my usual approach.

[Stu]

Found a torque wrench that went down to 22ft lbs, which is allegedly correct, so had a go with that and I’d already tightened them more than that by hand, so think I’m done. Been on the front end for a while now, just getting it back together for the fourth time. Paint not looking quite so good now…

I really wanted to get the rear springs done today so I could measure for the prop, but think time has got the better of me.

In the meantime, my good lady has been doing a cracking job of the boot seal for me.

[Stu]

First go at tinting the inner beams. Not an easy job, but reasonably happy for the first attempt. Will have a few more practice goes before I do the final install, but I really like the look.

[Dave-R]

Don't want to be picky but you should have left the leading edge of the grille and the area around the mesh unpainted. Unless it's damaged?