[DeTomaso] Fidanza flywheel/ARP bolts warning

[Will Kooiman]

Hi Mike,

I have Fidanza flywheels and Centerforce clutches in my Pantera and my
Cobra.  They¹re the same PN for both the flywheel and clutch/pressure
plate.

If I recall correctly, the Centerforce PP lined up to 3/8² bolt holes,
which are stock Chevy.  I used Manley PP bolts for a Chevy, and it has
worked fine.

The long style PP that was in my Pantera lined up to the 5/16² bolt holes,
so maybe that¹s what you¹re having a problem with.

I have the 428 apart right now, so I¹ll confirm tomorrow.  I¹m replacing
the 428 with a 427/482 - BBM block, Pond heads.

Will.

On 5/27/18, 6:06 PM, "DeTomaso on behalf of Mike Drew via DeTomaso"
<detomaso-bounces at server.detomasolist.com on behalf of
detomaso at server.detomasolist.com> wrote:

>All,
>
>I recently installed a new Fidanza aluminum flywheel and McLeod clutch.
>The Fidanza flywheel was about $200 less than a McLeod flywheel. Along
>the way I learned some stuff from Dennis Quella.
>
>1). ARP males great bolts but their Ford pressure plate bolts don¹t cut
>it‹they are too short!  I had found this out myself previously. I had a
>different aluminum flywheel and McLeod clutch and when I went to torque
>the bolts, they stripped!  It turns out the hole in the aluminum flywheel
>is countersunk and the ARP bolts were only engaging about two threads. I
>chose to have the flywheel machined for larger/longer Chevy bolts and
>enlarged the holes in the pressure plate instead of using helicoils.
>
>Then under-head length of the McLeod pressure plate bolts is about 1/4
>inch longer than ARP bolts plus included washers:
>
>
>
>That makes all the difference on an aluminum flywheel.
>
>2). He also told me that Fidanza doesn¹t countersink the holes deep
>enough in their flywheels.  Here is the Fidanza flywheel (which has holes
>for both 10.5 and 11-inch clutches)
>
>
>
>
>Notice there is only a small chamfer. Here is the McLeod flywheel:
>
>
>
>
>It looks like it is threaded for two different sized bolts, but it is
>not. The marks on the larger diameter are machining marks, while the
>threads are below in the smaller diameter. You will need to copy this
>model and enlarge the top of the holes in the Fidanza flywheel to make
>sure the the chamfer of the bolts doesn¹t bottom out against the chamfer
>of the holes before they are securely clamping the pressure plate against
>the flywheel.
>
>A friend recently assembled a motor and after a few months two of his
>pressure plate bolts had ejected and the others were loose. He had
>torqued the pressure plate bolts to the proper spec, but they weren¹t
>tight against the face of the pressure plate.  The tapered shank of the
>bolts had bottomed out against the inside of the flywheel holes  before
>the clamping surface was tight against the pressure plate, and after
>awhile they worked loose.
>
>Leaning this, before I installed my setup, I put the flywheel in a drill
>press and increased the diameter of the top 1/8 of an inch or so of my
>Fidanza flywheel, and all was good.
>
>Of course after I installed everything and went for a test drive my
>clutch master cylinder failed, but that¹s a different story.....
>
>Mike (coming up on 30 years of Pantera ownership and still learning
>things every day!)
>
>Mike
>
>Sent from my iPad_______________________________________________
>
>
>Detomaso Email List is not managed by POCA
>Posted emails must not exceed 1.5 Megabytes
>DeTomaso mailing list
>DeTomaso at server.detomasolist.com
>http://server.detomasolist.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso
>
>To manage your subscription (change email address, unsubscribe, etc.) use
>the links above.
>
>Members who post to this list grant license to the list to forward any
>message posted here to all past, current, or future members of the list.
>They also grant the list owner permission to maintain an archive or
>approve the archiving of list messages.