Well, I finally managed to get a little bit of work done on Vandejo today. I installed the replacement flex plate and torqued it down. Crank it up a notch on the torque wrench for this one. Bentley calls for 65 foot pounds of torque on the 5 triple square bolts holding it to the crank shaft. This is for a ‘74 automatic transmission with a ‘78 2.0 FI engine.
After doing that, I thought about the loc tite. Now, I already knew from the start that I was going to put some loc tite on the bolts going from the flex plate to the torque converter. These were the ones that backed out on us on our trip to the Sand Dunes, even though I triple checked that they were torqued to spec. But there more I thought about it, the more I wondered if I should put loc tite on those 5 bolts holding the flex plate to the crank shaft. I could see where putting too much on could be negative in the long wrong, but what about just a dab? So I posted to the type2.com mailing list to get some opinions, and tucked the engine back in under the bus for the night until I get some responses.
Author Archive for Troy
Uploaded some pics of the damaged flex plate that came off Vandejo’s engine, and the new (but used) replacement that I’ll be installing this weekend hopefully. For those not in the loop, the flex plate was damaged when the three bolts hold it to the torque converter backed out while camping at the Great Sand Dunes National Park down in Alamosa, CO. Click the image below to check out the album.
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