[powerrodsmike]

A customer brought me a BPO turbo 400 transmission,(BPO,BOP, you know the buick,olds, pontiac bell housing bolt pattern), an adapter plate to fit it to a sb chevy 350(70's vintage). a torque converter, a flex plate with 168 teeth and a balance weight welded to it. Customer says that the trans,tc and flex plate came out of a 72 Poncho station wagon. I'll assume it was a 400 cause it needed to be externally balanced with that weighted flexplate. My question is : can i find a starter to engage this flexplate when I bolt it to the 350. I would think that a 400 starter for a chev would work. Also, is it worth grinding the welds off of the weight to remove it to attain the neutral balance that the 350 requires. The weight is edge welded as opposed to rosette welded so I don't think I'd weaken the flexplate by grinding. (I'm very good with my grinder) My concern is that it will not be properly balanced after I cut the weight off. I know that all things need at least one trip on the balancer after any change like that. Should we just spend the money for a new flexplate that belongs on a 350. That is what I would rather do. I just want to make sure that all of the above assumptions are correct before I tell the guy he needs a new flexplate. Some of his friends are "very knowledgeable mechanics" who will waste no opportunity to second guess me. And I will not put this together without it being the right way. It just isn't worth it. Oh ,and I'll use spacers between the flexplate and TC to compensate for the trans adapter. thanks for reading this, mike S.

[tresi]

New 350 chevy flexplates can be found for around $20.00 if you don't need an sfi spec flexplate. I just can't see where guessing about getting the balance right and still ending up ring gear teeth that have some wear on them is worth it.

[Hippie]

Are you saying it is a Pontiac 400 flexplate? I'm not sure a Pontiac flexplate will even bolt on to the Chevy crank. Regardless, spend 20-30 bucks and get the correct Chevy flexplate it's not worth it to try to make that one work.