Golf&GM

iTrader: (22)

As you can see I need to shim, a lot. That's a 1/8 drill bit in the picture. Is it normal to have that much room? If one washer won't close the gap is it ok to use two?

Golf&GM

iTrader: (22)

I've got some washers and two of them give me between 1/8" and 3/16". Would it be alright to use two washers?

GNXClone

iTrader: (7)

That's perfectly fine.

Do you have an aftermarket flexplate? I do, and have about the same amount of gap as yours. It was a cheap ~$75 SFI rated flex plate. I believe it is a CAT Power brand.

I also used two washers. It's a good idea to measure the thickness of each set of stacked washers, just to be sure they are all the same. If they aren't, you should grind them down to make them all the same thickness.

Revmax

That is fine to run two, but make sure those washers are ALL EXACTLY the same height!!

Golf&GM

iTrader: (22)

I did some more searching and saw some mixed reviews about using two washers. I ended up going to a Northwest Hardware in town and buying some thick grade 8 washers. They were all exactly 3/16 thick which was perfect. Only downside was they were $1 each, in the grande scheme of modding cars isn't much, but still hard to swallow.

Golf&GM

iTrader: (22)

GNXClone, I do have an aftermarket flexplate. Got it from Yank who I think bought out Cat Power. $80+ shipping

01ssreda4

iTrader: (96)

You aren't supposed to take out all the gap......didn't you read the sticky? Removing all the gap can cause converter bind and a forward pushing motion and say bye bye thrust bearing and hello new engine.

senicalj4579

iTrader: (41)

Yea your not suposed to take all the gap out. Dry fit a a 1/16 washer up there and see what happens when you stick your 1/8 and 3/16 bit up there.
Mine was perfect with a 1/16 washer.

GNXClone

iTrader: (7)

You're jumping to the wrong conclusion here. There is supposed to be a 1/8" to 3/16" gap between the flex-plate and converter when the converter is pushed back into the pump. But what we have here is much more than that. We have a gap approaching nearly 1/2". What would happen if you didn't put shims between the converter and flex-plate? You would have to pull the converter out of the pump nearly 1/2". Possibly nothing would happen, but also possibly you would lose a good connection between the pump and converter and that could easily destroy both.

The intention of the washers is to reduce this much larger gap to the required 1/8" to 3/16" gap.

So with the washers in-place, you still have to pull the converter forward about 3/16" to meet with the flex-plate.

Golf&GM

iTrader: (22)

GNXClone is exactly right. And I did read the stickies, multiple times.

Dry fitting a 1/16th washer, I could easily fit a 3/16th drill bit within the gap with a good bit of room to spare.

When I stepped up to the 3/16th washers I could almost fit a 1/8th drill bit between the gap, it was very close. And the 1/16th drill bit had plenty of room. This was the case for each foot.

01ssreda4

iTrader: (96)

Nope. And you don't need to explain a procedure to me that I give regular advice here about. I think I understand the process. What actually happened is the OP was vague and non-specific in his original post, and I was left to my own imaginations. I imagined he was going to stuff washers until the gap was gone. Which would be incorrect and that's what I pointed out. Maybe if the original question was posed with a little more detail, I could have given an answer that you'd have been more happy with

Golf&GM

iTrader: (22)

To help you out, I've put in bold the parts that you've apparently missed.

Before you ask someone to read the stickies, carefully read what they are posting first.

Not trying to be rude, but I'm not sure how I could make it any clearer that I was only going to use one or two washers to get between 1/8" and 3/16".

Golf&GM

iTrader: (22)

But anyways.....

GNXClone and Revmax, thank you for your help.

You too senicalj4579, your install thread is the one I followed for the isntall. Made things a LOT easier.

senicalj4579

iTrader: (41)

Yea my bad to. I somehow missed your 2nd post so I was clueless then I read 01ssreds post.
Now I realise you already had the measurment with 2 washers and its perfect.
Hey im glad my thread was of some good use for you man. My stall has been great and I just broke 11s with minor bolts only
When you go to put your bolts in thread them in to see if they will be long enough for you to feel comfortable with them. I was afraid mine would be to short but after threading them in I counted the threads and it was good enough. If I remember yank told me all I needed was 3 threads and think I got 3-4. I dont remember but it should be in the thread

Golf&GM

iTrader: (22)

Yea man, I chose to reuse the stock bolts. The ones that came from Yank were so small. I couldn't get even one thread started. I got it all together last night and already put 200 miles on it. Just got on it about ten minutes ago. WOW! Easy to drive around town left about a 100 ft of black marks down my road

01ssreda4

iTrader: (96)

How much of the thread on the stock bolt was engaged? Its preferable to have 1.5x the width fully engaged into the converter feet. Shimming, or double shimming makes bolt selection VERY crucial in my opinion. Do you know off hand if the stock converter bolts had a grade rating on them?

senicalj4579

iTrader: (41)

LMAO! You did the same thing I did. I broke it in on 1 day lol.
Did you happen to change the flexplate? You might not of had to if thats a 99. My 01 fp had cracks.
Dude its so easy to drive on the street its stupid right? No problem

Golf&GM

iTrader: (22)

To be honest, I'm not really sure. I'd say I got about 4-6 full turns on it, but I didn't pay too much attention. I tried searching to see what the stock bolts are rated but didn't come up with anything. You think the stockers will hold up?

I'll tell you, it's SO much easier than I was thinking. About 2000-2500 RPM will get it up to speed and when I flash it my 315 Nittos get demolished.

I bought a flexplate from yank, it was less than $100 shipped so I figured it'd be worth it just for peace of mind.

GNXClone

iTrader: (7)

Why do I feel like I made you angry by being very detailed, clear and concise, to have you follow up saying the original post wasn't detailed enough?

01ssreda4

iTrader: (96)

Honestly, and I have described this before when people have asked, I ditched the bolts that came with the yank and went to a custom length. I measured the flexplate thickness, shim thickness, and converter hole depth, then subtracted about 1/8 and cut this length from some longer graded bolts. It was the only way I would be able to sleep well at night.