Anyone Ever build their own Engine-tranny Adapter?

Punkskalar

New Member
Joined
Apr 10, 2005
Location
Boone NC
Just curious... Im not afraid to try it, i got some 3/16" steel here, and plenty of fab skills... I know I can buy the steel adapter I would need, but why not try to make it... I mean, I got the steel, a mock up engine block, and the tranny and all is already out. I can get the machining done on the flywheel at school...\\

VW Gasser engine, from a GTI, 8 Valve, Solid Lifter head, bumped to 10:1 Compression, Polished Crank and Rods, all new bearings and such...

Mating it to a 1.6 Tracker bellhousing, which has already been adapted to a G52 Toyota Tranny, and Dual T-Cases...

I used to run a 1.3 Stock Zuk engine with a Weber, but 5G's down the highway just to keep it moving was killing them faster than I could build em... I figure i had about 45 HP max before, this new engine will have about 110HP conservatively and about 115 ft/lbs torque.

Everyone says I should go to a 16V Sidekick motor, but I wanna get more power and low end torque than they offer, and plus a VW 8 valve bottom end is nearly bullet proof... Plus I can get the Fuel Injection I want...

So, anyone ever built an adapter? Any tips?
 
Make a good solid jig.

first drill bolt pattern in steel that will bolt to the engine, and do the same on another piece of steel that will bolt to the tranny. have a center hole in each plate so you can center them on the same centerline. run a rod through both center holes and space the plates apart the correct distance (size of bellhousing). make sure the rod is perpendicular to each plate. it must be perfect. next, you must brace the jig with metal so it will stay together when you fab the housing. brace however necessary with what you have to work with so it will not interfear with fabrication.

confused yet?


Rob
 
I have a buddy that is VW nutz. I was mentioning your intentions to him and he said it should not be hard to do and would make a really good combo. He has a 2.0 with a 1.6 DOC head in an old Rabbit truck as a daily driver. It will roast the front tires. He is going to Email me a link to a guy that also makes adapters for VW engines to almost any tranny combo. He just bought one for a VR6 engine to a powerglide for a rail he races. I'll post the link when I get it.
 
On the old forum a guy made his own adapter for a auto tranny to bolt to a manual tranny. I can't remember who it was off the top of my head but someone else might remember, he could sure give you some tips. :)
 
Well, so far so good... I chopped the rear of a spare GTI block I had laying around, and then tacked some 14 guage steel to it. Then I center punched and drilled the 5 mounting holes into it... The reason for chopping the block was to only use the mating surface and get it lighter to work with... i bolted the rear seal housing up, and chopped the rear of a GTI crank I had and bolted in the rear of the crank/flywheel mating surface.... I centered and drilled a hole in the flywheel flange, and lined that up on my tranny input... Turns out one bolt lines up perfectly. I bolted the "block" and sheet steel up to the tranny, and marked and drilled the rest of teh holes... Im gonna have to use some welded in studs on my adapter, but it should work perfectly.. I'll get pics soon... I killed my Dewalt drill finally, and then a cheapy we had caught on fire, so I called it a night...

I plan to transfer the sheet steel pattern onto some 3/16" plate I have, and weld in some studs here and there... Should overall have 7 bolts on the bellhousing and 5 on the block, im also gonna make sure the plate covers the entire bellhousing, kinda like a stock dustshield... I have just enough room to squeeze in the starter, so I guess it should work... If not, ive only got a few hours in it, and a couple of old dead drills :D
 
oh, ok. I get it now. good to do this if the input to the trans is longer than the bellhousing, otherwise your screwed. sounds good, but I think i'd use more than 3/16" steel, but maybe I'm not quite understanding what you are doing again.


Rob
 
I'll get some pics up soon... The plate is basically sandwiched between the Bellhousing and the Engine Block... Ive got it finished, should work out really well... Now just to get the Sidekick Flywheel machined to fit the VW crank...

Maybe i'll post up some pics of my progress on the Rig as well, its getting a makeover....
 
Ok, its been a week or so, but I started getting the flywheel machined last night at the School Lab... Im lightening my 1.6 Sidekick flywheel, and boring it out to fit the VW Crank Hub as well as redrilling and indexing the bolt pattern...

I figured that if it can be done, then why don't I try it myself...

Lots of different ideas in the flywheel... A heavy flywheel is nice in the woods and helps to lug over stuff, but then again, a lighter flywheel spins up faster, and Ive got Dual T-cases to give me the Low end grunt...

My types of Driving style dictates a quicker revving engine, and since i already made sure to get lighter camshaft, crank and intermediate shaft pulleys, why not lighten the fairly heavy Sidekick flywheel... Its almost 2" thick at the thickest, hopefully I will be able to turn that down to 1" or less and keep it strong...

Pics soon....
 
Your driving style is setting the manual throttle to Rabbit (when you have one) and letting her rip. But thats besides the point. It will be interesting to see what happens now that you have "power." Good luck on the adapters....

Seth
 
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