Just installed the new Circle D converter and SFI flex plate. Distance from the flex plate to converter lugs is right around 0.230". Seems a bit excessive...has anybody needed to use crank spacers with SFI flex plates?

 

Give Chris a call.. no doubt he'll give you some good advice. That does not appear to be excessive to me. I like to see 3/16" in most applications.

g

 

I think I had to shim mine slightly with my PI 80e converter and TCI flexplate...

 

Well, I was able to space the converter off of the flex plate with some .070 washers, bringing the clearance down to within tolerance. But, I get an odd click sound at startup now. Seems to go away after about 10 seconds of running. Tried to get a video of it, but the audio is horrible. Its supposed to be a Hughes SFI flex plate. Not entirely sure what the sound is coming from... Pulled starter, converter bolts look fine, had a mirror behind the flex plate and rotated it, no signs of scraping or any other damage.

 

from pic it looks like the converter isnt going far enough into the crank socket.. what does all the way back look like?

btw good looking flexplate

 

Did you break the factory 4l80e flexplate or are you using a 3 bolt converter?

 

That is all the way back. I could have pushed the converter all the way up to the flex plate, but I didn't want to pull the converter too far out of the pump.

3 bolt converter. No broken flex plates so far, but after seeing a flood of them here on the forum I decided to get one for insurance.

I noticed in other pics with engines that have SFI plates, the SFI cert sticker is facing the trans. The stock plate and the SFI one looked identical save for a small height difference---installing it the same way the stock one was installed put the SFI sticker on the engine side. Is this sticker always supposed to be on the trans side?

 

The are usually marked on which side should go out or towards the engine

 

There were no markings. Flipping it to the other side would move the converter-plate clearance from 0.230 to like a full inch. Not to mention it would probably smash up against the block So it has to be on the right way.

But the sound does go away after like 5-10 seconds, sometimes sooner. Maybe the starter isn't disengaging the plate soon enough. Over on LS1tech a few guys have used shims to fix various starter issues. Wondering if that might be my solution..

 

I thought I read somewhere that 1/4" was normal