Why are my torque converter bolts so short?
08-14-2005, 10:41 AM
#1
TECH Veteran
Thread Starter
iTrader: (53)
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Monticello, Kentucky
Posts: 4,433
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Why are my torque converter bolts so short? When I got my transmission, they sent these little short *** bolts with the wrong threads. I went to Advance today and looked through the fasteners section and found torque converter bolts. I got the right thread but the length is the same. My dad is about to **** me off cuz he says they're not the right bolts but they say "TC bolts" on the package??????????
08-14-2005, 10:52 AM
#2
I hope all the converter companies who come to this site read this and do something about it, there have been many posts on this subject.
Some use metric bolts and some use SAE.
About the length...you don't want it bottoming out, that might be worse than it being too short and breaking off or stripping the threads.
You should stick the bolt through the flexplate and measure whats sticking out, it should be 1/8" or so longer than the diameter of the bolt.
As a second check you should hand thread the bolt into the tc all the way, if it does not go all the way the space left over must be smaller than the thickness of the flexplate.
This should all be done right after the old stuff is out and the parts to be reused are cleaned up.
You should also lift the converter up to the flexplate and be sure all the holes line up.
FWIW I built a th350 for a guy at work, the last thing he did was go to bolt the tc up. He found out the tc was a large bolt pattern and the flexplate was a 153 tooth (old small block). So he had to remove everything and get a new flexplate and starter.
Why do I hold the tc up to the flexplate first? Because I've done the same thing before and it sucks.
Some use metric bolts and some use SAE.
About the length...you don't want it bottoming out, that might be worse than it being too short and breaking off or stripping the threads.
You should stick the bolt through the flexplate and measure whats sticking out, it should be 1/8" or so longer than the diameter of the bolt.
As a second check you should hand thread the bolt into the tc all the way, if it does not go all the way the space left over must be smaller than the thickness of the flexplate.
This should all be done right after the old stuff is out and the parts to be reused are cleaned up.
You should also lift the converter up to the flexplate and be sure all the holes line up.
FWIW I built a th350 for a guy at work, the last thing he did was go to bolt the tc up. He found out the tc was a large bolt pattern and the flexplate was a 153 tooth (old small block). So he had to remove everything and get a new flexplate and starter.
Why do I hold the tc up to the flexplate first? Because I've done the same thing before and it sucks.
