[TR] Have I ruined the flywheel on my TR3A?

Mo and Dave MacKay m.d.mackay at sympatico.ca
Fri Aug 19 02:26:55 MDT 2011


Hello:

Im replacing the gearbox in my TR3A with a Toyota W58 transmission, using
the HVDA conversion kit. The HVDA kit requires that one use a TR6 (Borg &
Beck) pressure plate instead of the usual TR3A pressure plate. The TR6
pressure plate doesnt fit into the holes used by the TR3A pressure plate;
new mounting and dowel holes must be drilled.

I took my old flywheel along with the new pressure plate etc. down to a
machinist to have him:
   1) true the flywheel
   2) drill new holes and mount the new pressure plate to the flywheel
   3) balance the resulting unit
Everything went well until step #3.

The centre hole in the flywheel (the one that the gearboxs input shaft goes
through) was too small to fit on the machinists balancing equipment. So he
made it bigger by about a half an inch so that it would fit on his machine.
He then balanced the unit and gave it back to me.

I worry (but dont know) that the flywheels centre hole was originally
sized to:
   - keep the pilot bearing from sliding out of the crankshaft
   - support the transmissions input shaft
   - provide more material to rest against the clutch plate (the bigger hole
means theres less flywheel surface for the clutch plate to press against)

Has enlarging the centre hole ruined the flywheel? Or is it no big deal (as
the machinist claims)? If it is a problem, and since the flywheels are NLA,
how could I fix this?

I appreciate your advice and suggestions.

Dave MacKay
1960 TR3A s/n 68639L
near Toronto, Canada
 


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