Drive Ring Complete
Among the many technical decisions I had to make along the road of this %##@% project was how to mate the race 1JZ auto box and torque converter (TC) I already had to the 1UZ engine (using a 1UZ bell housing). Since nothing comes easy when fabricating a unique combination, I discovered that the 1UZ bell was "thicker" than the 1JZ bell, necessitating some kind of
spacer between the ring gear (flex plate) and the TC so the torque converter splines would mesh correctly. My initial plan was to put
stands between the flex plate and the TC . . . . and then, later, to weld
gussets for strength. The more I thought about it, and the more helpful feed-back I got about it, left me uncomfortable with the reliability, at least in the long run, of such an approach. The "right way" to have done it would have been to buy a proper 1UZ race TC and build a 1UZ race auto box. But the next best, and very good way to do it is with a
drive ring.
This was the original approach. The parts are labeled.
I later properly welded gussets for "strength" - which could have actually weakened the flex plate.
The proper way: a high quality steel drive ring. The drive ring is the same thickness as the stands in the photo above, but, of course, goes all the way around. There are two ways to bolt in the drive ring: bolt the drive ring to the TC and then bolt this assembly to the flex plate. The other is to put bolts from the flex plate all the way through the drive ring into the TC. I already had bolts the right length, so I used the latter method (even though, as can be seen, the drive ring was machined for either method). The
locator knob on the front of the TC still fits into the extended
pilot bushing at the rear of the crankshaft -- for support of the trans input shaft as in the standard configuration.
By the way. I pick up the completed race truck tomorrow morning. Next Friday and Saturday I have the drag strip to myself for set-up, test and tune.
