I've been debating about swapping a 5.9 MPI Magnum into my Duster, but one of the things holding me back is the flywheel. I would want to stick with my 4 speed OD, so the flywheel is a must. I was hoping that the stock 5.9 flywheel had some kind of bolt on tone ring, but I finally found a picture that shows it machined into the flywheel. I'm betting there is some extra steel there so they have something to machine, which is part of the reason that the magnum flywheel is so heavy, beside the extra weight from the additional diameter.
I got to thinking about trying to find a way to either sandwich the stock magnum flexplate between the crank and a 130 tooth flywheel, or maybe stitch welding just the tone ring from the flexplate to the back of the flywheel. I suspect that the flexplate would need some clearancing to get it to sit flat against the flywheel, and maybe stitch welding it would be the only option. If it could be made to sandwich between the crank and flywheel, it would only push the flywheel out a bit, and if that was too much then I could add a spacer between the bell and block to match.
In theory, this would get me a 130 tooth flywheel with the tone ring so I could run the mpi, but without a 38# flywheel hanging off the end of my crank plus saving me from having to find a bell housing that would fit both the 143 tooth flywheel and my A833 OD. I know what I need to fit the 143 tooth flywheel, I just don't want to have to track it down.
I know that the balance still needs to be correct, but hopefully the flexplate weights could be retained so that would be a non-issue.
Has anybody else thought about this, or tried something like it? Anyone see a reason it wouldn't work?
I know people buy the 143 tooth flywheels and machine them to fit, but that sounds expensive and you would still have a heavy flywheel due to the extra material for the notches to make the tone ring.
Any thoughts? Am I nuts?
I got to thinking about trying to find a way to either sandwich the stock magnum flexplate between the crank and a 130 tooth flywheel, or maybe stitch welding just the tone ring from the flexplate to the back of the flywheel. I suspect that the flexplate would need some clearancing to get it to sit flat against the flywheel, and maybe stitch welding it would be the only option. If it could be made to sandwich between the crank and flywheel, it would only push the flywheel out a bit, and if that was too much then I could add a spacer between the bell and block to match.
In theory, this would get me a 130 tooth flywheel with the tone ring so I could run the mpi, but without a 38# flywheel hanging off the end of my crank plus saving me from having to find a bell housing that would fit both the 143 tooth flywheel and my A833 OD. I know what I need to fit the 143 tooth flywheel, I just don't want to have to track it down.
I know that the balance still needs to be correct, but hopefully the flexplate weights could be retained so that would be a non-issue.
Has anybody else thought about this, or tried something like it? Anyone see a reason it wouldn't work?
I know people buy the 143 tooth flywheels and machine them to fit, but that sounds expensive and you would still have a heavy flywheel due to the extra material for the notches to make the tone ring.
Any thoughts? Am I nuts?
