Has anyone ever drilled a flywheel to accept a different pressure plate. I currently have a mercury motor in my 53 ford that has a fordo behind it. I’m swapping a 53 ford 3spd into it and I am going to be using the original merc flywheel. But I noticed that ford and mercury have a different pressure plate bolt pattern. And I’ve heard of people drilling them. I already have all the parts to do this. But I bought a ford pressure plate. But I’m not sure on how to do it or if it’s really even possible. Thanks in advance! Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Unless you know what you're doing, don't do it. You can throw it out of balance or misalign the holes. Take it to a pro. I've never done it and I never will. Sorry I couldn't be of more help but I'm sure someone on here has tapped holes in flywheels.
Send the Ford plate Back. Buy a '52-'53 Mercury Borg & Beck pressure plate, save your self a bunch of grief.
Use the Merc hat. I've had flywheels made, one with 3patterns back in the 70's. Long, B&B, & Rockford. But if it will fit in your bellhousing just use the Merc.
If you don't have the equipment to do it yourself, you will spend just as much getting it drilled as you will buying a pressure plate. So I would buy a new clutch and try to sell the one you have.
If you have a milling machine, or a friend with one, piece of cake. If not, it can be done, but like mentioned above if it is a little off you will have problems.
OK I am confused. You got a '53 Ford with an automatic and you are swapping to a Ford 3 speed. The car currently has a merc motor and you got a pressure plate for a Ford. Am I good up to now? The question is can you drill the merc flywheel to accept the Ford pressure plate. Correct? The answer is yes, if you have access to a vertical mill and a rotary table its easy. But the easiest solution is to use a merc pressure plate. The transmission has no idea the brand of the pressure plate all it will even really know is the clutch plate and as long as it is the correct spline you're golden.
Exactly. You got it. From my understand at least. So my only problem is I can’t find a pressure plate for a merc anywhere at the moment. And the pressure plate I have is non returnable. So my logic is to try and make what I got work. If there is a way I could center my pressure plate up to my flywheel i would be home free. I think I have an idea on how to do this. And I’m pretty confident.but think if I can find the center of the flywheel. And mark that. And find the center of the pressure plate and mark it. And line up the marks on on top of the other. I will be completely centered in the flywheel and should have no vibration. But now I’m just trying to find the center. And I’m sure I can do that. If anyone has any comment about my idea please tell me before I make a mistake. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
As others have said... It has to be accurate. It's a machining process... not drilling. Sent from my VS835 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Unless you have a mill and or commercial drill press AND a rotary table, don't do it. I have all 3, and it still requires perfection. I posted the procedure a few years ago. Many flywheels require a slight counterbore for the pressure plate bolts for the shoulder to set into and help keep it all centered. Rotating assemblies in engines are balanced within a few grams. Are you that accurate?
Can you do it? Yes you can. Will it be successful? Probably not completely. The degree of accuracy required is beyond what you will achieve with your method.
Just to restate the need for accuracy. Using the pressure plate as a drilling template is not adequate. Needs to be done on a mill and rotary table. If I had your exact circumstances, (non returnable part and wrong flywheel), I'd be looking to trade flywheels in the classifieds here.
My friend Tim just drilled my BlueFlame Chevrolet 6 N.O.S. Schiefer Aluminum and installed nutserts for a 39-48 Ford clutch/pressure plate It was done in his Bridgeport and rotary table. Stock- Drilled for Ford- This is what I am up to.
Watch Mart's video https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/a-bit-of-machining-re-drilling-a-flywheel.1188312/
Getting the cover centered is only half of the process. It needs to be balanced afterward. The covers are not close enough. You can get the holes dead on and in most cases it will still shake without balancing. A word about balancing: Balance the flywheel FIRST by itself. Put the cover on and balance it by drilling the spring posts. DO NOT weld anything to the cover. Punch mark the cover and flywheel for indexing. (very important) You can balance the disc on a separate arbor but is usually not required.
Take it to a machine shop and see what they will charge you. not a difficult job, but one that requires tools and skills. if your not in a rush to get it back, or catch them on a slow day they might cut you a deal just to get some money. weigh out the cost of what you got, cost to modify it once you know for sure, and cost to buy a correct one and go from there.
1958, I had my 292 Yblock stick flywheel and pressure plate balanced at Quality Machine Shop, (San Jose, CA) Total cost: $22.00 setup/labor. Hate to think what that would be today.
I do work at a machine shop. But we are strictly automotive. We don’t have any bridge port mill or and lathes besides brake lathes Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Well I do work at a machine shop. But we are strictly automotive. And we don’t have any Bridgeport mills or any lathes besides brake lathes. But there is a real deal machine shop down the road who might be able to do this task for me. I will try and give them a call tomorrow. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
If you opt to go that way (I cannot tell you not to I would) ideally you want to clock both pressure plates the same. Actually when you lay the Ford pressure plate on the flywheel you may find that instead of drilling the flywheel you can just re-drill the pressure plate. That might be your better option. The merc should be internally balanced. Which makes your flywheel neutral balance or should. That makes life a little easier for you. Meanwhile you were not a prick to me. I'll start looking for a Merc pressure plate for you. The rest of you mooks should do the same by the way. I mean hell why have all this buying power and not use it right?
You have the Mercury engine and flywheel and a ‘53 Ford three speed as I understand it. I’d suggest returning the Ford clutch (with its Long style pressure plate bolt pattern) and getting a readily available Borg & Beck diaphragm pressure plate that will bolt right up to your Merc flywheel. Diaphragms come in flat and bent finger so you need the correct length throw out bearing and I think your ‘53 Ford transmission has a 1”- 10 spline input shaft. A good clutch man or even a good auto parts man should be able to put together a package that works. No drilling, bolts right on and you will have a great clutch with less pedal pressure.
You can most likely buy the correct pressure plate as cheaply as you can get the flywheel redrilled. Then you can resell the one you have. There are other considerations besides just getting it to bolt to the flywheel. There may be an overall difference in the height of the the clutch, or the diameter of the circle where the fingers operate. Then you may need a different TO bearing. Its not always as simple as getting it mounted to the flywheel. Call Dave at Ky Clutch around noon. He was the previous owner till he retired and knows everything about clutches. He works over there at lunch time (EST). 502 955 9173
Really!? I have installed several flywheels, pressure plates and clutch disc and NEVER balanced them. Take one off, replace, drive, no problem.
So thanks for all the feedback! I’m just reading this now after I got home from work. So while I was at work I talked to my boss and he said give the machine shop down the road a call. So the guy will come over in the morning to see what I have going on and see what I need done. So I will not be doing any machining like you guys suggested I should not do. But this got me wondering. I won’t have a problem with the pressure plate anymore. But do you guys know if the actual size of the flywheels were the same throughout 49-53, ford,merc? Because now I’m wondering if the mercury flywheel will fit in my ford bellhousing. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
^^ Something to check out first. I did some flywheel/bellhousing swaps that required a re-do myself. PIT*.
I tend to go overboard with things. I would drop the cover off with my brother and have him use a CMM to come up with the hole pattern dimensions and he would give me a read-out in about 3 ways to specify the pattern. My mill is a bit of a clunker these days even with the rotary table. I'd take it over to a buddy's shop and put it up on one of his CNC mills, all it would cost me is buying breakfast for the shop.
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