Matt Week 4

This week I worked on preparing the Zetec Engine, the VW transaxle and the torque converter for mating it all together. I cleaned the transaxle with varsal and degreaser to make it easier to work with. Below is the transaxle all clean.

Next, I fitted the VW torque converter with the new flexplate from Bostig. I accomplished this by removing material from the centre hole on the flexplate. To do this I used a cylindrical sanding bit mounted onto a pneumatic die grinder to shave away material from the flexplate. I sanded until the flexplate fit perfectly unto the nub of the torque converter. I checked my progress every so often to ensure that I didn't overshoot it and make the flexplate too loose. I wanted just a little bit of rotation between the two.

The last thing I did this week was finally bolt the flexplate on to the engine for good. I had it on before but had to remove for the fitting. I had to be careful to put red thread-locker on to the thread and lubricant on to the underside of the head of the bolt before screwing them in. This was important to do so that the bolts could be properly torqued instead of seizing up and torquing prematurely. Pictured above is the flexplate bolted onto the engine, ready for mating with the torque converter.