[drdave]

Hey guys and gals,

I'm finally getting stuck back into the wife's Vitara, which way does the flex plate go? Either I've got the flex plate on backwards or the torque convertor isn't going into the gearbox far enough, can anyone tell me what the heck I'm doing wrong?

The Torque convertor is sitting approximately a centimetre in from the bell housing mounting face but the flex plate is sitting out about 1.5 centimetre's.

I really need to get this old girl back together so I can clear out my shed and get onto other projects.

[jdk81]

The tc probably isnt seated correctly
It can take a lot of wiggling and jiggling to seat it correctly.
If you do it up tight when its not seated it can break shit.

[henno]

^^ What he said. It needs to seat properly or the pumpy thingy won't do pumpy stuff and stuff goes bang. There's more than one spline thingy you need to mate up with the converter doo-dad.

I think Atari had some AZ tech around the place that went something line "One bang-click bad, two bang-clicks good" when seating it.

I'd find the post but I'm trying to embrace my inner noob. Do you even search.php bro?

[drdave]

The more info I get the more confused I get.... I got 2 click bangs but I reckon it could go back further, if I just knew if the flex plate was the right way around I would know for sure.

Yep I did a search but I have no idea what .php is! My tech knowledge is like my car knowledge, it leans towards the old stuff (aka I'm also building a 1958 Chrysler royal and a WB tonner).

Thanks guys, I'll go and play with the torque convertor some more, seems that may be the issue. There's still room for it to move back, I can fit my finger behind the torque convertor between the gearbox

[Scrawny]

Push the torque converter while spinning it. Can take 7-8 (or more) full rotations to get it to seat right in

[drdave]

Thanks Scrawny, seems I may have given up too early. I'll have another go at it today

[MrRocky]

Yup give it turn while pushing it.

[drdave]

Well it looks like I might have more problems than I thought, it appears there should be a spacer on both sides of the flex plate and I don't have them. Does anyone know if this is correct? I've never had this much trouble with any of the cars I've worked on

[Dmfelix]

this is the best pic of i've got of mine sorry

[drdave]

Thanks mate, looks like my flex plate is on the right way. Does yours have a spacer on the flex plate? I still cant get the convertor to seat in properly

[Gwagensteve]

I haven't had an AW-4 apart, but trimatics defintiely do have spacers. I'd be surprised if the AW-4 didn't- the flex plate is quite thin and the spacers add clamping force.

[atari4x4]

henno wrote:

^^ What he said. It needs to seat properly or the pumpy thingy won't do pumpy stuff and stuff goes bang. There's more than one spline thingy you need to mate up with the converter doo-dad.

I think Atari had some AZ tech around the place that went something line "One bang-click bad, two bang-clicks good" when seating it.

I'd find the post but I'm trying to embrace my inner noob. Do you even search.php bro?

one, two, three viewtopic.php?t=32817&p=604781

[jdk81]

Your flex plate is on correctly.

Once again your TC is not seated correctly.

Keep turning, wriggling and pushing.
If it wont go you may have broken it trying to force it up with bolts.

Here is isnt seated correctly.


Here I think it is, but I cant be bothered lifting it out onto the bench to check for you. Its heavy, and theres lots of stuff in the way.

When placing a ruler across the face of the bell housing the locating spigot is the outer most point of the whole torque converter and it is 3mm inside.
When it's right you will realise once you had it assembled incorrectly before.

It's a cubic assload easier to mount the auto and engine on a bench than in the car.

[drdave]

Thankyou for those pics, that really clears it all up for me.

Seems I better clear the work bench, it might be a little easier than working on the ground. Hopefully I haven't broken anything but there's a good chance I have.

Thankyou again for the help

[drdave]

Well it looks like I've broken something, I got the torque convertor almost all the way in and it pretty well locks up with only about an 1/8th of a turn movement.

So am I missing something or is it buggered?

[Scrawny]

It should spin freely

[drdave]

Bugger, I cant seem to pull the torque convertor off completely either. Better start hunting up another one