djsy934
Active member
I was asked to make a Custom TH-400 adapter just like our 4l80E adapter. The only differences we found was the locating diameter to the Transmission and that it needed to be 1/2 inch longer. I decided that I would take pics as it was being made and would share them here so you can see what it takes to make one.
First you start with a large piece of aluminum:
Square up material to hold in vise:
Machine side 1:
Side 1 done:
Machine side 2:
It now goes to the lathe for precision locating diameter and mating surface machining.
This gets a little scary, we can only hold onto .125 and the part is 3 1/2 inches long and OFF balance, and we spin it at 710 RPM:
Now back to the mill for the M10x1.5 transmission mount holes:
There's some hand de-burring and such, but here is the finished part next to a 4L80E adapter:
Bolted to a dummy TH400 case:
First you start with a large piece of aluminum:
Square up material to hold in vise:
Machine side 1:
Side 1 done:
Machine side 2:
It now goes to the lathe for precision locating diameter and mating surface machining.
This gets a little scary, we can only hold onto .125 and the part is 3 1/2 inches long and OFF balance, and we spin it at 710 RPM:
Now back to the mill for the M10x1.5 transmission mount holes:
There's some hand de-burring and such, but here is the finished part next to a 4L80E adapter:
Bolted to a dummy TH400 case:
! Heh, one of my coworkers is taking adult classes on machining and he brought in a keychain sized Ford logo that he engraved. He said that they have this cool program at school that you can a take picture off the internet and make it on the mill. Took him all of something like 10-15 minutes to do. I told him that it was a nice 10 foot piece since it looked kinda crappy up close. He was a little bummed and even the plant manager got a chuckle. Tough crowd working in a shop that makes molds... Even the best raster to vector programs make things look like they were made of Legos. I have a few of my test pieces in my toolbox and he was surprised how long it took to clean it up into a "clean" file to machine. Very few have any idea how much work is involved to make something from absolute scratch.