# Simple DIY Adaptor Plate?



## Woodsmith (Jun 5, 2008)

That can be done.

You will need to work out the thickness of the plate that you will need.

When you remove the ICE measure the 'magic number' and keep a note of it. It is the measured distance from the back of the ICE mounting face to the face of the flywheel.

It will determine the location for the coupler based on where the clutch splines come to.
With the 'magic number', when you get your motor and start making the coupler, you can determine the thickness of the adaptor plate.
You mau need two plates, one bolted to the bell housing and one bolted to the motor DE and then you can centralise the shafts and then bolt the plates together.

I cut my adaptor from a piece of 19mm aluminium.
You could use steel plate but it will be heavier, or thinner, but it may not be completely flat or parallel. With steel, you could fabricate an adaptor but you will then need to have the faces milled flat, true and parallel.


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## TheSGC (Nov 15, 2007)

My coupler was machined locally, but I did my plates myself. 

http://civicity.blogspot.com/2009/06/adapter-plates-20.html

I first figured out the thickness I needed for the adapter, then I found the easiest way to me to do it. My setup consists of 4 sections to make a 2.5 inch travel distance. I have a small plate that bolts directly to the motor, then four cylinder spacers leading to a larger plate. Then I have another plate in between the transmission and the larger plate to act as a spacing gap for my Torque Converter. I assembled the coupling to the transmission and motor, clamped my plates together and slowly adjusted everything until the motor/transmission spun easily then I made my transmission bolt holes.

http://civicity.blogspot.com/2009/06/assembly-day-one.html

It all took about 5 hours but was extremely easy to do, assuming you have the right tools. I had to get a 15 inch drill press to drill the center holes in my plates, but it was so easy I have actually done it twice. Once for my first 6.7" motor and again for my 9" beast.


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## Woodsmith (Jun 5, 2008)

Accuracy is important.

There bell housing should have a couple of locating dowels and you should use those to locate the plate before drilling the clearance holes for the rest of the bolts.

There are a number of ways of getting the bolt holes located.
If you can drill through the holes in the bell housing then that is fine.

You could lay a large sheet of thick paper over the bell housing and, with a dirty finger, rub along the outline and the holes to leave an impression of the bell housing.
From that you can measure and plot the co-ordinates of the holes or just use it as a template to cut and drill.

To find the shaft you could have a small piece machined that is a snug fit over the spigot of the transmission shaft to extend it to the same level as the bell housing face. If the piece has a small centre point or punch mark on it then that will give you a very good centre for the template.


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## PatricioIN (Jun 13, 2008)

I made my own adapter plate as well. Simply used the spacer between the engine block and tranny as a template for outer shape and bolt holes, then cut a hole roughly centered over the tranny shaft (I went clutchless.) I bolted adapter to transmission, attached square plate to face of motor, attached coupler to motor, slid coupler and motor onto tranny shaft (all level with motor sticking up in the air). Then I gave the motor some juice from a 12volt starter batt and got motor to where it didn't vibrate at all. Etch out location of motor plate on tranny plate, remove set up and motor, replace motor plate on tranny plate and use drill press to make bolt holes through each. Worked like a charm and only cost me about $100 for all the aluminum plate and various bolts, nuts, etc.

oh yeah.... I also made a template from 1/2" particle board first to test my theory... but you really don't need to take that step.


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## DavidDymaxion (Dec 1, 2008)

The videos at http://www.grassrootsev.com are really good for making an adapter as you describe. It seems there are 2 basic ways to do an adapter:


Measure and build everything very precisely, accurate to thousandths of an inch. This is what I did, it was alot of work but my adapter works great. http://ExplodingDinosaurs.com
Clamp (not too tight) the tranny and motor plates together, and tap with a hammer until minimum vibration and noise (keep cycling the clutch if you have one). Once at a minimum drill holes and lock things together.


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## 9852 (Jan 17, 2010)

well, I made my adaptor plate in my garage from 1/4 inch steel. here is how i did it. I got a 3 foot by 3 foot square peice of steel and set it on the work table then I set the tranny bell housing down on the steel. I used a sharpi to trace the outline of the bell housing. now some of the holes on the bell housing go all the way through, so I used my sharpi to mark those holes. them i cut out the patturn and drilled out the holes that I marked and bolted the plate to the bell housing just hand tight, then I measured out the rest of the holes, and drilled them. here is a page from the DIY conversion that I got from ebay, it is a good guide to get you through.sorry cant attach this way.


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## ga2500ev (Apr 20, 2008)

Woodsmith said:


> That can be done.


That's what I'm going.



> You will need to work out the thickness of the plate that you will need.


I'm testing with a 1/2 inch (13mm or so) aluminum plate.



> When you remove the ICE measure the 'magic number' and keep a note of it. It is the measured distance from the back of the ICE mounting face to the face of the flywheel.
> 
> 
> It will determine the location for the coupler based on where the clutch splines come to.
> With the 'magic number', when you get your motor and start making the coupler, you can determine the thickness of the adaptor plate.


No need for the OP to do this as he is going clutchless. No flywheel involved.



> You mau need two plates, one bolted to the bell housing and one bolted to the motor DE and then you can centralise the shafts and then bolt the plates together.
> 
> I cut my adaptor from a piece of 19mm aluminium.
> You could use steel plate but it will be heavier, or thinner, but it may not be completely flat or parallel. With steel, you could fabricate an adaptor but you will then need to have the faces milled flat, true and parallel.


I'm using aluminum too. The metal house had a drop cut piece of 1/2 inch but no usable 5/8 pieces. At some point I may go baqck and shop for a thicker plate.

ga2500ev


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## 9852 (Jan 17, 2010)

here, read this it worked for me. the pics did not upload for some reason, but hopefully you get the idea.


*Installing the new drive system*


Now that the car is striped of everything ICE related it is time to get started on the drive system.


First step, building the adaptor plate. This can be done several ways, first is to take the motor and tranny to a machine shop and have them make it for you, you will get a great look and light weight, but it will cost a fortune. So here is how to do it yourself in the garage. First get a piece of ¼” steel plate about 3’ squared. At a metal supply house it should cost about 35 bucks. Now that you have the plate, put it on a table or some flat surface, and set the tranny on it with the bell housing down so that you can trace out the bell housing on the sheet of steel using a sharpie. After tracing out the bell housing pattern use the sharpie to mark the bolt holes by putting it through the hole and leaving a mark on the plate. Then go ahead and drill those, now there will be some holes that you can’t mark that way, but look at the placement of those and mark the plate accordingly. With the bolt holes marked and drilled you can remove the tranny and set it on the table then measure from the table to the center of the splined shaft on the tranny. Now for the tricky part, using the same spot that is outlined on the plate, measure and mark the center. So if you measure from the table to the center of the shaft and got 4 inches then find the same spot that you measured from on the tranny, on the plate and measure from there 4 inches and make a mark. Now you can drill out that hole with a 3 inch hole saw, then cut out the pattern that you traced with a chop saw or whatever you like to use, and finish drilling the holes.


Next, set the motor on the table and measure how wide it is, it should be around 8 inches wide. If it is 8 inches wide then cut a square piece of the steel out at 10 inches so that you have 1 inch all the way around. Now, find the center of the 10 inch plate, by measuring 5 inches from all sides. After you do that you can drill the center of that plate out at 3 inches the same as the one for the tranny. Now, center that 10 inch plate on the motor and mark the bolt holes from the other side, when they are all marked, drill them out and check fitment by bolting it to the motor. 


*Welding the 2 plates together*


Now you have 2 plates of metal and you need to weld them together to make one plate.


How do you do that?


Well first you have to use a love joy coupling to attach the motor to the tranny. 


What is a love joy? Look at the picture 


Basically it is an industrial pipe coupling that comes in 2 pieces with a plastic spline in the middle. 


Depending on the shaft of the electric motor that you have, you will use one half of the coupling to attach the motor shaft and tighten the set screws. Let me elaborate, if the shaft of the motor is 1 inch thick then get half of the love joy with a 1 inch inside diameter hole to slip over the shaft. Grainger will have the love joy coupling and will sell you different sizes. Now if the motor is an inner spline shaft, then you will need to get the shaft to go in it from Grainger too. that shaft only needs to be 4 inches long, then attach your half love joy to it. The motor adaptor is done.


Next you have to attach the other half of the love joy to the tranny shaft.


That is a bit trickier, in that you need to weld the center piece of the clutch disc to the love joy.


First you need to cut out that center piece. Look at the picture of what to cut out.​


This is the clutch disc, you need to remove the center spline from the disc by cutting it out anyway that you can. 


Then, once you have that center spline piece free of the clutch disk, you will want to grind down the ears until the piece is circular. Now it can be welded to the love joy. That can be done by you, or you can take both pieces to a muffler shop and have them welded together for about 30 bucks. 


Once the love joy is welded it should slip right on to the tranny shaft.


It should look something like this​


Now that the love joy coupling is attached to both the motor and tranny, bolt the plates to each, 10 inch motor plate to the motor, and tranny plate to the tranny. Now slide them both together and attach the love joy coupling, don’t worry if the plates don’t touch together. With the motor and tranny attached with the love joy, measure the distance between the 2 plates. If the plates are 2 inches apart then cut 8 two inch squares from what you have left of the ¼ inch plate scrap. Now unbolt both plates from motor and tranny and get ready to weld.


Take the 10 inch plate and place one 2 inch square in the corner on each side, place them on top of the 10 inch plate. Weld them on the plate.


Once that is done, take the 10 inch plate, with the 2 inch spacers and align the 2 three inch wholes then weld it in place. It should look something like this, ​

The square aluminum shown in the pictures is a good way to align and bolt the two plates together for welding, and can be left in, or removed after welding of the spacers is complete.




Here we see the adaptor plate with the spacers welded together. It can then be painted with whatever color metal paint that you like, in this case, its aluminum.
Once the adaptor plate is complete, you can attach one end of the love joy coupling to the shaft, but before tightening the set screws you need to use thread locker on the set screw threads then tighten the coupling down. Now you can begin bolting the motor back to its side of the adaptor plate.
With the motor bolted to the adaptor plate, slide the splined end of the love joy coupling on the transmission shaft, and slide the two coupling ends together but don’t forget the plastic spacer that came with the coupling. Once the coupling is attached, bolt the adaptor plate to the tranny.


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## 9852 (Jan 17, 2010)

here are some pics of the one I build in my garage.


sorry I did not think about taking a picture untill after i put it in the car


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## DavidDymaxion (Dec 1, 2008)

I see square posts with bolts through them, and then thinner flat pieces welded next to them. Did you find you need more strength then the square posts provided, or what was the motivation for the welded pieces? Thanks.


billhac said:


> here are some pics of the one I build in my garage.
> 
> 
> sorry I did not think about taking a picture untill after i put it in the car


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## 9852 (Jan 17, 2010)

no, the square posts were to help keep the 2 plates lined up for welding the sides in place and should have been taken out after the weld, but i forgot that step, and now unless i need to repair the motor, thay are not comming out. the welded side pieces were to join the 2 plates together to make the adapter plate. It is plenty strong for the motor that im using.


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