# I want to build an adaptor plate myself. Looking for some tips and suggestions.



## Gibby (Dec 2, 2010)

Well I was thinking of ways I could build my own adaptor plate. I have pretty good fabricating skills, I can weld and I have decent drill press. Any help or suggestions would be great. Thank you!


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## Guest (Dec 12, 2010)

It's a loaded question. First off what car are you adapting? Clutch or no clutch? Motor? There are plenty of search results which will give you plenty to chew on while you decide on the particulars. Many here have done their own. Myself, I decided to just buy a ready made one as the cost to fabricate one myself would have resulted in higher costs than the one I purchased. I have no tools nor do I have the skills nor do I wish to take that time to even try. I'll put my efforts elsewhere. 

Do your homework and search. Then come back. We don't like to spoon feed but we love to help and give ideas. We need more particular information before we can truly help. 

Pete


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## dtbaker (Jan 5, 2008)

Gibby said:


> Well I was thinking of ways I could build my own adaptor plate. I have pretty good fabricating skills, I can weld and I have decent drill press. Any help or suggestions would be great. Thank you!


alignment (accuracy) is critical at 5000 plus rpm. unless you have a full metal shop with mill and lathe and precision measuring equipment, you are asking for trouble to do it yourself.


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## PatricioIN (Jun 13, 2008)

On the other end of the spectrum, I am one of those who made their own adapters. You can look through my build thread or website for more info. It wasn't that difficult, just time consuming. It saved me hundreds of dollars and worked out just fine, even at several thousand rpms. My car had a spacer between motor and transmission with all the necessary holes to serve as the adapter plate template. Then I cut out a hole big enough in the (close to) center for the coupler to pass through. Turned tranny upward and level, sat motor with coupler over tranny input shaft (I went clutchless) and spun it up with a 12v battery. I tapped it around until there was no vibration at all and scribed my location for through holes to mate motor and tranny plates together.

I used a handheld jigsaw and metal blades to (slowly!) cut out the tranny profile on the adapter and a simple drill press to make all the bolt holes. About $90 in aluminum, a few bucks in various nuts and bolts and it was done. I used most of the original tranny mounting bolts again. I did however pay a professional machinist to make my one piece coupler. Money well spent!

edit: Oh, I used 1/2" particle board first just as a test for the template alignment.


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## vpoppv (Jul 27, 2009)

The adapter plate is pretty straightforward. Someone had sent me a paper template which I used to make a solid template out of 1/16" steel. I transferred the measurements to a piece of 1/4" steel plate and good to go! I won't lie, it IS very time consuming to get it all lined up right, but all you need is a drill press, a hand drill, good bits, cutting oil, and some patience. In this case, you don't want to measure twice and cut once, but measure 10 times and drill once!! "Close enough" won't work here because the alignment needs to be perfect, but given enough time you will get it right.


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## helluvaengineer96 (Oct 8, 2010)

Think I might be joining you.. I ordered one over 2 months ago, sent them the transmission had to repeatedly give them the same measurements. Now I can't even get a response out of them anymore. Very disappointing. Could have easily built my own in this amount of time.

Please keep us posted on your progress.



Gibby said:


> Well I was thinking of ways I could build my own adaptor plate. I have pretty good fabricating skills, I can weld and I have decent drill press. Any help or suggestions would be great. Thank you!


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## dtbaker (Jan 5, 2008)

helluvaengineer96 said:


> ... Now I can't even get a response out of them anymore. Very disappointing.


who is 'them'? not good news! I had great luck with CanEV.com now twice. The plate is not the hard part other than good centering, the motor hub really needs a good machinist to do right....


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## DIYguy (Sep 18, 2008)

C'mon, Gibby! lol I sent you all the info u need to get started. Same template as u need... http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52563 
Just get a piece of 1/2 to 5/8" thick Al plate and go for it!


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## Gibby (Dec 2, 2010)

Which supplier are you working with? I really think I can do it myself because I'm pretty good at things like that. Just need to make damn sure it is centered! I've read some other builders threads about how they built their plates. Removing the tranny certainly helps so Ill do that as well. Ill probably make a template out of thin plywood first. Just need to find some 1/2" Alum plate.


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## PatricioIN (Jun 13, 2008)

www.speedymetals.com I got all my aluminum from them. Was cheaper than buying local. Call them for a special sized plate.


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## Gibby (Dec 2, 2010)

Yeah, I know. I'm just going to go for it and get started. Need to pull the tranny out first though. BTW thanks for the help and the pics!


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## helluvaengineer96 (Oct 8, 2010)

baker,
I'd hate to drag anyone's name through the mud. I used one of the one stop EV venders who outsource the custom parts. I'll contact the primary EV vender tomorrow and ask for a refund, the primary EV vender does respond... It's the outsource party that won't respond. 

Thanks for the input on CanEV.

regards



dtbaker said:


> who is 'them'? not good news! I had great luck with CanEV.com now twice. The plate is not the hard part other than good centering, the motor hub really needs a good machinist to do right....


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## nimblemotors (Oct 1, 2010)

I'm one that does 99.9% of everything myself.
It is often cheaper, faster, and better, sometimes only 2 of 3.

I've made two Motor->Transmission plates and couplers.
It is time consuming, and you have to get it right.
There are two pins that center the engine to the transmission, those
are the only ones that matter, the other bolts just hold it together.

A simple way is to just paint the trans facing and then carefully set it on down on the aluminum, and you have a direct copy on the aluminum.
"Carefully" would probably best be done using some mechanical method, not just human hands, like a rope and pulley or jack or something.

You can do it, just take your time and be prepared to do it twice.


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## jehan12413 (Feb 4, 2010)

I did mine a little differently, with the transmission in the car. First I drilled a hole in the center and used an adjustable hand reamer to get a tight slip fit onto the transmission input shaft. Then I slid it onto the transmission, used C clamps to hold in place while I center punched the mounting bolt holes. Next removed the plate drilled holes on drill press. Then removed faceplate from motor machined adaptor to locate faceplate through center hole of transmission adaptor plate and simply center punched holes through motor faceplate. Seems like a lot but it only took a few hours and the only machine work was the small adaptor to locate motor faceplate onto transmission plate.


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## PatricioIN (Jun 13, 2008)

jehan12413 said:


> I did mine a little differently, with the transmission in the car. First I drilled a hole in the center and used an adjustable hand reamer to get a tight slip fit onto the transmission input shaft. Then I slid it onto the transmission, used C clamps to hold in place while I center punched the mounting bolt holes. Next removed the plate drilled holes on drill press. Then removed faceplate from motor machined adaptor to locate faceplate through center hole of transmission adaptor plate and simply center punched holes through motor faceplate. Seems like a lot but it only took a few hours and the only machine work was the small adaptor to locate motor faceplate onto transmission plate.


That sounds like a good way - to find the center first... But, uh... I have no idea what a hand reamer is.


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## nimblemotors (Oct 1, 2010)

The input shaft of the transmissions I've done is not solid, it moves around, the crankshaft pilot bearing is what centers it, so I'm not sure this method would work to find the center. I measured carefully from the engine side to the crankpilot and xferred that to the plate.



jehan12413 said:


> I did mine a little differently, with the transmission in the car. First I drilled a hole in the center and used an adjustable hand reamer to get a tight slip fit onto the transmission input shaft. Then I slid it onto the transmission, used C clamps to hold in place while I center punched the mounting bolt holes. Next removed the plate drilled holes on drill press. Then removed faceplate from motor machined adaptor to locate faceplate through center hole of transmission adaptor plate and simply center punched holes through motor faceplate. Seems like a lot but it only took a few hours and the only machine work was the small adaptor to locate motor faceplate onto transmission plate.


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## FB Performance Trans (Dec 14, 2010)

Gibby said:


> Well I was thinking of ways I could build my own adaptor plate. I have pretty good fabricating skills, I can weld and I have decent drill press. Any help or suggestions would be great. Thank you!





dtbaker said:


> alignment (accuracy) is critical at 5000 plus rpm. unless you have a full metal shop with mill and lathe and precision measuring equipment, you are asking for trouble to do it yourself.


 Having accomplished this ourselves for many different automotive applications, I believe dtbaker’s comment is right on the mark.

Sure the typical adapter plate looks simple enough to build, but don’t be fooled by appearances. Concentricity between the motor’s output shaft that the transmission input shaft is absolutely critical. The best way that we’ve found to achieve the accuracy that’s demanded is to purchase a pre-engineered jig plate that locates the transmission dowel pins in relation to the centerline of the input shaft. Once the centerline is located, the orientation for mounting the transmission is governed by the location of the dowel pins. 

Once again using the predetermined shaft centerline, the electric motor mounting bolts must be properly located and orientated so that the electrical connections are in the desired location. If the electric motor faceplate has small circular protrusion surrounding its output shaft, its diameter should be accurately measured. A hole or countersink (with sufficient depth) using this diameter plus a .005 should be machined at the centerline into the adapter plate. The motor can then be slip fit and orientated to locate its mounting holes. 

The CNC machined aluminum adapter plate that we designed for use with an automatic transmission can be viewed of the following post: (We wanted to make it a bit thicker in order to accommodate the use of counter-sunk mounting hardware and a larger billet steel coupler.)
http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/showthread.php/automatic-solution-ev-conversions-53052.html 

Our recommendation for the “do-it-yourselfer” is to let your local machine shop get involved in making the adapter plate for you.


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## PatricioIN (Jun 13, 2008)

yes, ultimately that would be the absolute best way... having said that, MANY MANY people have made their own and driven their vehicles for thousands (I know of one guy for almost 200K) miles with no problems. It isn't that difficult.


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## DIYguy (Sep 18, 2008)

Don't let them scare you off. Yes, it's important to have some basic measurement tools and ability to blue, scribe, punch, drill. If you pay attention to details you won't have too much trouble. BTW, there is no need for an adaptor plate that is 2"+ thick Aluminum.


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## jackbauer (Jan 12, 2008)

Here's two videos of my design. still running fine no problem. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLpKyxSMSKc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDV0hMxfGwQ


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## etischer (Jun 16, 2008)

Here's how mine was built. Measurements were made with a CNC, and everything went together with a slight tap with a rubber mallot. Every alignment critical interface had 3 dowel pins for locating.


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## TigerNut (Dec 18, 2009)

nimblemotors said:


> The input shaft of the transmissions I've done is not solid, it moves around, the crankshaft pilot bearing is what centers it, so I'm not sure this method would work to find the center. I measured carefully from the engine side to the crankpilot and xferred that to the plate.


Correct! On many (most?) rear-wheel-drive transmissions, the input shaft ends right behind the input gear which is located directly behind the input bearing on the front face of the transmission; there will be a roller or needle bearing interface between it and the output shaft, but these (and the input bearing, which might be a ballbearing or a tapered roller bearing) are not enough to locate the input shaft with any accuracy; the pilot bearing in the end of the crankshaft is what keeps the shaft running true. On these transmissions, you have to determine the center by measuring where the center of the original engine's crankshaft is, and make your adapter plate from those measurements.

On the other hand, many front wheel drive transverse gearboxes have an input shaft that is located by bearings spaced apart on each end of the transmission case, and this is enough that you can (with great care) determine the proper center from the location of the input shaft, although you have to make sure there is no runout on the shaft before you start, and determine if there is any bearing slop at all so you can compensate for that.


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## helluvaengineer96 (Oct 8, 2010)

Well it never fails. 

I just Rxed my plates and all two days ago.

Very happy! Looks like everything fits....



helluvaengineer96 said:


> baker,
> I'd hate to drag anyone's name through the mud. I used one of the one stop EV venders who outsource the custom parts. I'll contact the primary EV vender tomorrow and ask for a refund, the primary EV vender does respond... It's the outsource party that won't respond.
> 
> Thanks for the input on CanEV.
> ...


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## DavidDymaxion (Dec 1, 2008)

It seems there are two ways to do this. One is to measure and fabricate very accurately. The other is to leave the motor and tranny plates unconnected, and tap with a mallet until minimum vibration (keep cycling the clutch if you have one), then lock it down.

Something http://www.grassrootsev.com does that's really neat is to put the taperlock coupler on the motor, and then put the motor on the lathe. He then spins the taperlock using the motor, and cuts it. This guarantees the taperlock is square so the flywheel is on center and doesn't wobble.

Jack Bauer thanks for the videos -- great stuff.

Etischer: I think those are pictures of a mchine shop in the afterlife -- that's awesome you have access to tools like that!

Here are some pics of my adapter fabrication (I bought the taperlock coupler from ElectroAuto):

http://explodingdinosaurs.com/9electric/adapter/
http://explodingdinosaurs.com/9electric/adapter2/


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## azdeltawye (Dec 30, 2008)

Complete DIY instructions with 27 8X10 color glossy photographs in my coupler/adapter plate thread:
http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/showthread.php/2001-vw-jetta-homemade-coupler-and-38895.html


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## FB Performance Trans (Dec 14, 2010)

PatricioIN said:


> yes, ultimately that would be the absolute best way... having said that, MANY MANY people have made their own and driven their vehicles for thousands (I know of one guy for almost 200K) miles with no problems. It isn't that difficult.


 This may be true, but not everyone wanting to fabricate the adapter plate has the necessary capabilities and resources. They should definitely seek help. 





DIYguy said:


> Don't let them scare you off. Yes, it's important to have some basic measurement tools and ability to blue, scribe, punch, drill. If you pay attention to details you won't have too much trouble. BTW, there is no need for an adaptor plate that is 2"+ thick Aluminum.


 My intent was certainly not to scare or discourage anyone from attempting to do this on their own. However, implying an over simplistic methodology is not in anyone’s best interest. BTW I'm not sure how you arrived at determining the thickness of our adaptor plate, but actually it's only 1 ½” thick. It was specifically designed that way to compensate for the O.A. height of the steel coupler and the positioning of the torque converter. As it turned out it also offers an extremely rigid mounting assembly which can independently support the weight of both the motor and transmission together. 





etischer said:


> Here's how mine was built. Measurements were made with a CNC, and everything went together with a slight tap with a rubber mallot. Every alignment critical interface had 3 dowel pins for locating.


 It’s obvious that that you recognized just how important the alignment of the motor and transmission is. Nice job! 





DavidDymaxion said:


> It seems there are two ways to do this. One is to measure and fabricate very accurately. The other is to leave the motor and tranny plates unconnected, and tap with a mallet until minimum vibration (keep cycling the clutch if you have one), then lock it down.


 Obviously there’s also a big difference when you’re fabricating something like this for yourself versus being contracted to do it for someone else. An individual inclined to do this on their own can more or less tolerate his own mistakes and the time (and money) involved to get it done right. However, a customer will not share similar tolerance if they’re paying for an engineered product if it doesn’t work properly. As most in business realize you won’t often get a second order if your original equipment doesn’t perform as quoted. We also believe that there’s an intrinsic value in achieving a solid reputation for providing quality equipment. It’s something that we hold in high regard.


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## DIYguy (Sep 18, 2008)

FB Performance Trans said:


> This may be true, but not everyone wanting to fabricate the adapter plate has the necessary capabilities and resources. They should definitely seek help.


 Thats true.



FB Performance Trans said:


> My intent was certainly not to scare or discourage anyone from attempting to do this on their own. However, implying an over simplistic methodology is not in anyone’s best interest. BTW I'm not sure how you arrived at determining the thickness of our adaptor plate, but actually it's only 1 ½” thick. It was specifically designed that way to compensate for the O.A. height of the steel coupler and the positioning of the torque converter. As it turned out it also offers an extremely rigid mounting assembly which can independently support the weight of both the motor and transmission together.


 Implying an overly complicated methodology on a DIY forum is not in anyone's best interest...except maybe those looking to sell a service. Re; the thickness ... I guessed. There is no need for a 1.5" thick adaptor plate. 




FB Performance Trans said:


> Obviously there’s also a big difference when you’re fabricating something like this for yourself versus being contracted to do it for someone else. An individual inclined to do this on their own can more or less tolerate his own mistakes and the time (and money) involved to get it done right. However, a customer will not share similar tolerance if they’re paying for an engineered product if it doesn’t work properly. As most in business realize you won’t often get a second order if your original equipment doesn’t perform as quoted. We also believe that there’s an intrinsic value in achieving a solid reputation for providing quality equipment. It’s something that we hold in high regard.


Absolutely true. I know I look for that when purchasing. There is a vendor section also.


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## FB Performance Trans (Dec 14, 2010)

DIYguy said:


> Thats true.





DIYguy said:


> Implying an overly complicated methodology on a DIY forum is not in anyone's best interest...except maybe those looking to sell a service. Re; the thickness ... I guessed. There is no need for a 1.5" thick adaptor plate. .


As you might have noticed from some of the other posts on this thread, there are some like us who realize that it’s in their best interest to achieve maximum accuracy when fabricating an adapter plate. If someone interprets this as being a complicated process then perhaps it’s a bit over their head and they should seek assistance. My suggestions are certainly not intended to drive people to us to build adapter plates. We’re in the transmission business, and sometimes it becomes necessary to adapt them for different applications. 



DIYguy said:


> Absolutely true. I know I look for that when purchasing. There is a vendor section also.


 Perhaps you didn’t realize that when you were viewing the assembly photos of our adapter plate that they had been posted on a thread in the Vendor forum.


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## DIYguy (Sep 18, 2008)

And we're glad to have you here! I'm sure you have a lot to offer on this site as automatics have been done...but not nearly as many. People are starting to move to higher performance also and some of these applications may need torque multiplying.

I did see your blurb in the vendor section also.


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## FB Performance Trans (Dec 14, 2010)

DIYguy said:


> And we're glad to have you here! I'm sure you have a lot to offer on this site as automatics have been done...but not nearly as many. People are starting to move to higher performance also and some of these applications may need torque multiplying.
> 
> I did see your blurb in the vendor section also.


Thanks! I hope that we can be of some assistance to those who are interested in perhaps using an automatic. We realize since getting involved in the EV market that individuals building EVs for their own purposes might not be aware of the availability of an automatic designed specifically for this purpose. We haven’t seen much activity in the high performance area, but that’s right up our alley. We would welcome any opportunities to get involved with those types of applications. 

Happy New Year!


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