Flex Plate Trouble

[The Horvaths]

Long story short two of my vehicles, the PW and Rush, were labeled as "junked public nusiances" by the city (Did I mention how much I love my neighbors????? They called the city because the cars are under covers!) and will be towed away and destroyed this week if they are not running. My dad, buddy, and I worked out as*es off on dropping a 383 into Rush and finally got it in yesterday.
Here's the problem:
The flex plate on it is from an RV 440. We mistakenly assumed it would be the same as the other (correct) one. The bolt holes are not even close to being large enough to fit the torque converter.
Here's my question:
Is it "safe" to tap these holes or do I need to replace it with the correct one? I'd rather not pull the engine and trans apart to do this. Is it possible to do while they are still together?
Thanks for any help.

-"I would rather not become a Volvo"

 

[traintech55]

To answer your question NO. You are going to have to pull the trans, (easier than the engine). the bolts holes that hold the flex plate to the converter have one offset hole. This is done to keep the converter in balance with the engine. If your flex plate and converter are the same diameter, then try moving it around to see if they line up.

 

[The Horvaths]

To answer your question NO. You are going to have to pull the trans, (easier than the engine). the bolts holes that hold the flex plate to the converter have one offset hole. This is done to keep the converter in balance with the engine. If your flex plate and converter are the same diameter, then try moving it around to see if they line up.

The flex plate's holes are too small in diameter to match up to the torque converter, but the pattern does match.

 

[traintech55]

The flex plate's holes are too small in diameter to match up to the torque converter, but the pattern does match.

The holes should be for 5/16' bolts. If the ones in your converter are for 3/8' you should be able to drill the ones in the flex plate larger.

 

[Dobalovr]

I hate neighbors...

 

[Mopars & Missiles]

Drill 'em and get the thing running so the city back's off. Then replace the flex plate with the proper one later.

 

[traintech55]

I hate neighbors...

This is a proven fact about neighbors, "They are always so nice when you first move in, then they turn to crap". Before I moved last year, my old ones were 80% of the reason I got out of the house. And yes they gave me all kinds of crap about the cars I had. I had to keep them behind a fence to keep the police from giving me tickets so I feel for you.

 

[The Horvaths]

Some neighbors are downright awesome to live near. The lady on the other side of my house is letting me park cars in her drive way.

 

[Mr C]

Dang! Sorry for the thrash you're going through due to the neighbors. One of the reasons I want to retire on 2-5 acres of my own land in the country.

I can't imagine what I'd do if the city tried to take one of my cars from me...what happened to freedom?

Don't answer...I already know. Just bemoaning the situation.

 

[78Brougham]

Are they registered? If not go put a tag on them... gotta be cheaper and quicker than repairing for now.

 

[Knebel]

Wait, even if the cars are on your property??? Damn, how do you Americans handle all that freedom? I mean, I live in an apartment and my fury is in decent condition. Before I moved in, I told them that I won't drive it very much during bad weather. The lease says that it needs to move every 3 days. Well, I went apeshit on the topic before I even moved in and while cars parked around me got a "72hour sticker" mine didn't. Weird huh? I just told them that it's unconstitutional to tell me when to use my property and the 3 days or its considered stored won't hold up in court because they can't just make up their own definition of "stored".

 

[Big_John]

To get the job done, I would drill the holes out for now and change it later.

IIRC, the flex plates with the larger holes were used in Hemi car and are a different stamping with more "meat". No cutouts.

Note the 8 bolt flange for the Hemi crank on this one.

BTW, they use the same bolts to bolt the plate to the convertor as ones that bolt the plate to the crank.

I've used these B&M flexplates in the past when I wasn't sure what convertor combo I would end up with.

 

[The Horvaths]

The car is registered. So is the truck. We couldn't get Rush done in time so now it is in a storage unit. What a PITA. Some government lady is coming to my house today to see the truck move forward and backward one foot (in the DRIVEWAY)! This means my dad loses the rest of his vacation time for the year. Yay!
I'll just be pulling the tranny back and swapping the flex plate. I also have to shave the pistons as they don't have enough valve clearance. We got some in head piston cutters, so I can make a thread on how they work. Thanks for the replies everyone.

 

[saylor]

i have a backyard in garland that can hold a car or two for a week or so if you need it. LMK.

 

[70bigblockdodge]

I can put the blue moose up for you in PA and you can swing through and a quick 3 hour ride to Carlisle.

 

[78Brougham]

Sounds like a lot of bull **** to me.... as long as you're not running a junkyard out of your house and you pay your taxes tell them to eff off. Your cars are registered, the state gets their money, tell them to go blow!

 

[thrashingcows]

OMG I can't believe the grief your getting.....friggin state/city and neighbours! So glad I moved out of suburbia to the 4 acres up north....we are outside city limits as well, in the regional district, so even looser laws pertaining to my property. ;)

 

[commando1]

OMG I can't believe the grief your getting.....friggin state/city and neighbours! So glad I moved out of suburbia to the 4 acres up north....we are outside city limits as well, in the regional district, so even looser laws pertaining to my property. ;)

You still driving, Brian?

 

[Knebel]

Some city ordinances require unrigestered cars to be in an enclosed structure. However, why not just say they are being repaired? If they are registered I wouldn't play their game. I have actually talked to a lawyer today for the parking crap with my apartment. I bet you would have no issues telling them you are repairing or restoring them. They can't just tow a registered car from your property to scrap it, that would justify a 20ga.

 

[jct]

reminds me too much of this

Dolly Man - Audi Booted By APS

VWVortex.com - So my Audi got booted, and this is what I'm going to do about it....discuss