I've got my rebuilt 312 ready to go into my '57 Fairlane and I want to swap out the Ford-O-Matic.  I've got a rebuilt '64 Ford C-O-M from a 352 FE and the torque converter.  I have the correct Y-Block flex plate with ring gear to mount the converter and it looks like an easy bolt-in swap until we get to the converter pilot that goes into the back of the crank.  The FE pilot is larger and I need to have it machined to the Y-Block's 1.575-inch dimension.

Now the bad news.  The guy at the machine shop tells me he won't touch it because there isn't enough meat in the converter pilot to turn it down that far.  I've heard of others doing this without any problems and I thought the pilot was just about a solid piece.

I've tried to find a Y-Block C-O-M converter with no luck so if this isn't going to work I'm stuck without a trans.  Any ideas, or is the Machinist just wrong about the thickness of the converter pilot?

Larry D

Winnipeg, MB Canada Eh!


'57 Fairlane 500 Club Victoria

'58 Custom 300 Tudor

'56 Crown Victoria

'61 Starliner Z Code

'51 Ford Victoria

Can’t tell you off hand how thick the pilot is but if you can get access to a sonic tester, then it can be checked for thickness and then you’d know if there is enough material to machine it down.  But maybe someone knows if this can just be arbitrarily cut down without checking?

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Larry,

The FE Cover pilot diam is about 1.848", the Y is about 1.572", a difference of about .276" on the diameter, or about .138" on the radius.  The cover was stamped from a blank that is about .170" thick.  Although it takes quite a few progressive stamping operations and a lot of metal gets moved around to form the cover pilot, I don't think there would be much material left if you turned the diameter down. 

Perhaps you can find a remanufactured one.  Have you tried DACCO in TN?

Regards,

Dennis

  

Dennis,

       That's the kind of info nobody else would know, thank you. I realize it's a bit late in the game for this question, but why not open the pilot up in the crank to the FE diameter?  

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

g'day larry

i've gotta agree with franks idea theres plenty of metal in the back of the crank to open up the pilot hole could even be done with a die grinder carefully

moz. geelong victoria australia.

graduate 1980, bus, truck, car, hot rod, boat, submarine, hovercraft, hydrafoil, firetruck, mobile home, jet, helicopter, cruise ship, motorcycle, bicycle, santa's sleigh, clock, alloy bullbar, alloy fuel tank, lens, dr who's tardis, matter - anti matter warp drive buffer & y-block lover

The concentricity tolerance on the crank pilot hole is .002" TIR to the main brg journal.  This bore holds the relationship of the crank C/L, through the torque converter, to the front pump bushings.  Any misalignment here and you will be tearing up front pump seals and bushings. 

The other issue is the pilot hole depth.  If the FE cover pilot height is greater than the Y block converter (I haven't investigated it), you will also have to machine the hole deeper.

When accelerating/deaccelerating the torque converter "breathes", that is expands axially.  If the cover or impeller bottoms out or binds, you will have a problem. 

I still think finding a remanufactured torque converter or contact a reman to see if they can build you one up, is the best solution.  Many of the torque converter components are common across the board, and they usually have cores. 

Regards,

Dennis

   

Thanks Frank/Moz,  I hadn't thought about opening up the Y-Block crank to accomodate the FE pilot, but at this stage taking a die grinder to a fully balanced & blueprinted motor would seem like performing a root canal on my own tooth, so I'm going to pass on that.  I've got another 312 to build for my Crown Victoria, so I'll ask the machinist if it's doable.

Like most of us building Y-Blocks find out they're pricey.  I've spent more on this motor than building my 460 or most recently my 390 FE.  God love 'em I just don't want to screw this one up, so I'm going to side with Dennis and look for a proper converter.  At this stage a few hundred dollars isn't going to stop me.

Thanks to everyone for your input.

Larry D

Winnipeg, MB Canada Eh!


'57 Fairlane 500 Club Victoria

'58 Custom 300 Tudor

'56 Crown Victoria

'61 Starliner Z Code

'51 Ford Victoria

That's obviously the right idea. I wouldn't recommend the do it yourself approach to the pilot hole. It might be worth checking out having the crank pilot hole machining done when the crank machining is done. There has to be more FE convertors available than Y Blocks, so it might give us another way to use  more readily available parts   

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

Don't know much about CruisO, but what about mixing oil pumps and shafts and using FordO converter. I believe that with FMX it's working. In forums tech articles is Harry Huttens FMX upgrade and there is nothing that says it can't be done.

I did it for My FordO when changed oil pump from big axle/medium case FordO to little case . 

-jyrki from Finland-

www.hollowheads.net

From another site, heres what happens when you turn down a converter pilot

http://www.network54.com/Forum/260730/thread/1201795638/C4+----