fbekholden.com

I did a bunch of Googling, and 18-25 thou was recommended for magneto ignitions. It lines up to the 18 thou that Repco recommended too. Joe Hunt recommend 18-25 on a Vertex, with the smaller end used for higher rpm.

Could be very wrong though, as they were 30-odd though out of the NGK boxes.

Cheers,
Harv

No joy trying to get the converter and box in despite several efforts. Could be a converter pad depth issue, me not putting the converter home, flexplate needing to be dished not flat, or crank sticks out too far… or a mix of the above. Have a plan of attack, and correct reference distances, but have run out of time. Off to work to pay for all this.

FED all tidied up and stored at Kennards for the shed build. SUs and side plate in place temporarily to keep the dust out. I can work on it there (within reason) but it will be a little disjointed. Got lucky and the local Kennards has a loooooong car garage that fits the FED and trailer… by inches.


Cheers,
Harv

Finally managed to get home from work, sorted some life stuff then on to the FED.

The original Repco pushrods are needle thin. The new rockers are made for sturdy 5/16" ball end ones. The lifters needed to have the cups machined out to suit the bigger 5/16" pushrod ends. I had sent them off before going to work. They were waiting for me when I got home with a warning - several of the lifters were not real good, and two of the cups too. I had not looked at them very hard when I pulled them out of the speedway motor... it was running, so assumed OK. Stupid me. Sure enough they were pretty hairy... the scratches I can live with, but the chips and circumferential grooves not so much. Managed to source some cups, and sent off a set of lifters that to get them machined for the cups. These are good lifters that Clive refaced for me years ago.

While the lifters get done, on to the pushrods. I have enough good lifters to dummy up. Need the cam on the base circle, so try to turn motor over. Remembered that engine and box had locked each other. Arm wrestle the box back a bit, and finally get it to turn again.

Sideplate off, rocker cover off and fit the Comp Cams pushrod checker to the inlet side. This is where having the FED at Kennards is not great... forgot the allan keys to adjust the rockers, so home again (lets see how many times I forget something and have to go home). Rockers off, adjustable pushrod down the hole, rockers back on. 14 thou feeler under the roller tip to simulate lash.


Expand the pushrod checker by screwing it out. Just enough that it won't spin, not so far that it starts to lift the valve.


Then use some masking tape to hold the checker so it doesn't wind in/out while I remove it.

Masking tape. Crap. Forgot that too. Thats twice.

Tape found, remove rockers, pull out taped checker. All good so far.

Repeat process for exhaust side (this time I have allan keys and tape!). Find out that the pushrod checker I bought is too long. So, so close, but too long. They come in 1" increments. Order another checker, but one size down.

While waiting for the new checker, I can at least measure up that taped inlet checker. Trend pushrods measures their length in an unusual way. Because the pushrod tip is affected by the oil hole, they do not measure overall length. Instead, they measure their pushrods by placing a washer over each end. The washer has a 0.140" hole in it, that overcomes any oil hole shennanigans. Measure between the washers, subtract washer thickness, and you have the "0.140" gauge length" that Trend uses.

I got cute and ordered some 0.140" ID washers before going to work. Come home, and no washers. Check eBay, emails, Amazon etc... no idea where I ordered them. Figured I was getting CRAFT, so start again. Went through the big tin of washers, found two that were close, reamed them to 0.140". The kids then dropped off parcels they had forgot to bring over... including the washers I had bought. Sigh.

Measure the pushrod, and get 6.3505".


Measure the two washers, and get 0.03". So the inlet pushrod I need is (6.3505-0.03=) 6.3205". Trend does 6.3 or 6.35, so will go with 6.35".

More waiting... time to start thinking about why that 'Glide wont mate up properly.

Cheers,
Harv

I was right about that pushrod checker being very, very close. The new one arrived, and the overall length I measured was 7.784". The first checker I was using only goes down to 7.78".

Pushrods ordered - six at 6.35" and six at 7.75". These are Trend pushrods, 5/16" ball/ball end, 0.080" thick walls.

Onto the gearbox shenanigans. Got the box almost off, but need Number One Son to balance it on the jack before I slide it off and jam it sideways in the chassis. Just enough room to measure the "how far does the fancy new crank flange stick out the back?". Good news there - it sticks out almost identical to a standard grey motor crank.

Onwards and upwards.

Cheers,
Harv

Well, that explains why the 'Glide didn't want to mate up right.

Step one: forget to take the battery for the digital vernier to Kennards. That's the third thing I've forgotten.

First check was the crank, to make sure the fancy billet one didn't stick back too much. Nope, factory grey pokes out of the block about 0.609", and the billet one sticks out 0.607". I'm no machinist, so anything more than two decimal places is silly. Crank is fine.

Second check was to make sure the convertor was home in the pump. Measure from the transmission pump face (past the drive tangs) out to the bellhousing lip gives 5.87". Measure the convertor between the drive nose and the pads and it is 5.37". So when the convertor is home in the box there should be (5.87-5.37 =) 0.5" between the convertor pads and the bellhousing lip. Check with the convertor in place, and yep, 0.5". Pretty sure I had the convertor home. Bugger... had hoped that would be the problem as it is easy to solve.

Next check is to make sure the convertor slides into the crank spigot. Slides in OK, but there is a gap between the convertor pads and flexplate. Hard to measure as the convertor wants to rock (and I run out of hands), but about 0.06". Measure a different way and the convertor pads stick out 0.25" from the face of the convertor, and the spigot sticks out 0.29" from the flexplate. When bolted home, there would be a (0.29-0.25=) 0.04" gap. Close enough to my wobbly 0.06" measurement. So there is one issue: even if there is enough float to mate the 'Glide and grey, the convertor would have been seated on the spigot rather than the pads. Spigot needs to be machined.

Last check: if i get the spigot machined flush with the flexplate, is there enough float to mate the 'Glide and grey? With the convertor home it is 5.36" from the pump. There is 0.15" of flexplate thickness, and 0.607" of crank sticky-outness, less the 0.25" of motorplate. Adding that up gives 5.87" from the transmission pump to the transmission bellhousing lip. That number is oddly familiar... sure enough in the second check there is only 5.87" from the pump to the lip. There is the second issue - even with the spigot behaving itself there would be ZERO float between the 'Glide and grey.

All up when I was bolting the two together, I had -0.04" float. Dominator reckon +3-5mm (0.12-0.20") minimum.


Now how to fix this mess?
a) The convertor pads are 0.25" tall (relative to the face that hits the spigot) and need to have 0.12-0.20" machined off them.
b) The spigot has to come out. The mushroom shaped end that sticks out of the flexplate is 0.29" thick and needs to have AT LEAST 0.04 + (0.12-0.20)" removed from it. That would be 0.16-0.32". Aim for the "lets have good clearance because my measurements ain't real good" side of those two numbers and it means the spigot needs to be flush with the flexplate.

If I do a) and b) then I should have no spigot clash and should have about 5mm of float. Will need to check that the convertor would not clash with the flexplate bolts.

Cheers,
Harv

Dumb question - can you get some packers machined to fit betwwen the converter feet and the flexplate seeing as you have 0.500" clearance there or do I have this bass ackward ????

All those numbers making me dizzy but sounds like you’re on to it


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Blacky wrote: Thu Jul 10, 2025 1:27 pm Dumb question - can you get some packers machined to fit betwwen the converter feet and the flexplate seeing as you have 0.500" clearance there or do I have this bass ackward ????

I've got too much steel between the pump and the flexplate.

I could put some washers under the convertor pads so the spigot doesn't bottom out. I even measured up some leftover ARP washers, and they are ideal. They only drama is that the washers add even more depth of steel between the pump and flexplate.

I think the root cause is:
a) The flexplate. I can't use the factory flexplate as it clashes with the engine plate. The one I am using is flat, whilst the factory one is dimpled - both for the crank (gives more float) and for the pad feet (gives less float). When you measure the innies and the outies and allow for plate thickness the difference between the two plates is 0.6mm.
b) the convertor. If I was listening to Dominator correctly then it should be 5.25", and this is 5.36". Thats 2.8mm.
Add those two together and you get 3.4mm (rough)... about the amount of float I am chasing.

In better news, the pushrods showed up today. So tomorrow is pushrods in, and "is there enough spigot wall thickness for grease pressure to bear on as I try and drive out the spigot" day.

Cheers,
Harv

Harv,

Read this real quick, can you put spacers on the convertor pads then increase the sandwich plate thickness between the glide and block ?

Regards
Greg

EK283 wrote: Fri Jul 11, 2025 9:38 am Read this real quick, can you put spacers on the convertor pads then increase the sandwich plate thickness between the glide and block ?

Yep, that would fix it too.

Cheers,
Harv

Harv,
I just realised what I wrote, I hope it didn’t come across as a smart ass, I meant it as I read your post quickly.
I did however have a similar issue many years ago with A Chev into Nissan patrol auto. I had the exact same issue and that’s what I ended up doing.
I also had the same sort of caper with diff gears for a Dana 44, same thing I made a spacer behind the crown wheel to get the clearance.
Hats off to you for this wonderful creation, I look forward to it sprinting down the track.
Greg

All good. This thing is fighting me each step, but teaching me a lot. I thought I knew how things worked, as I could bolt most stuff together. The amount of mix-and-match in this thing means I need to really understand how parts work together, not just buy-and-bolt-on.

Torque convertor packed up, and on its way back to Dominator to be machined again. Hats off to them for being patient with my shenanigans.

Cheers,
Harv

Top Fuel spigot bush now decidedly less spigotty and more bushy.


Cheers,
Harv

definitely less spigotty if that's a word .....

Converter-er came back from Dominator. They have shortened the pads up - the measurement in my EtchaSketch above that shows "5.36 actual" is now 5.21" (3.8mm more float). With the shortened spigot bush in place, time to see if it all has enough float to bolt up.

Off to Kennards, and fight the floor jack. Strap around the case as it wants to fall off the jack, and brace the strap to the chassis. A masterpiece of cribbing from milk crates, pavers demolished from the shed and leftover timber offcuts (and one more trip home to fetch more cribbing stuff). Really missing the lifting point from the (now demolished) carport.

Fought the jack, box, cribbing and chassis... like this:


Box finally home, and the convertor still spins! Happy days.

Cold and no lights, so darkness delays play. Onwards tomorrow to slide the convertor forwards and bolt the convertor to the flexplate, and start reassembling some stuff that had to come out to allow the box out.

Cheers,
Harv