Anyone running a Reid powerglide

I just built a Reid powerglide with a Reid bell for a big block Mopar. I can't find anyone that can tell me what flexplate I need. I even talked to the engineer at Reid, what they tell you is we don't make a flexplate call one of the companies that sell our products. TCI's flexplate won't work it is the same one that they sell with their adapter plate. When you use their plate they have a peice of machined aluminum approximatley 1/2" pinned to their plate to space the starter to the front of the motor. I have two of those flexplates and have tried them, The starter drive is in the ring gear before it is even bolted up. The TCI would probably work if you spaced the starter back but I don't really like that idea. I tried calling JW but they are closed till Jan. 3rd.
I don't have anything out of the ordinary, 8 bolt crank and a 1/4" mid-plate.
Thanks, Joe Davis

Not that difficult.

I believe that is/was the Dedenbear case.

You can call Hughes Performance..

http://www.hughesperformance.com/index.p...9&Itemid=61




Chris..

Thanks Chris, I'll give them a try tomorrow.

Reid is the Dedenbear, you might look at ATI for flex plate/adapter. they're expensive but they make nice parts. afaik all of these setups use some sort of adapter on the crank to locate the converter and give proper spacing. what type of starter setup does the Reid use?

The Reid uses a starter setup similar to JW, drivers side and bolts to the bell.

I used a JW Flexplate with my JW trans.

I am running a Reid case, mopar bellhousing, with a 1/4 in mid plate. You need to use the Jw flex plate for their bellhousing and need to order from jw, the starter nose extention 4.95 and shims I think they were 5 dollars. Pm me if you want.
I have my motor and trans out right now, doing some winter updates.
John

You have to have a JW starter extension and shims. A full 1/4" mid plate and a flywheel adapter made 1/4" thicker works well.

Ok I have a JW wheel ordered part $ 93010-c I believe. I have the crank adapter and shim kit so hopefully I can make some noise next week. Thanks for all your help guys, Joe Davis

I have the transmission installed and running.
I ended up using a JW wheel for an ultra bell with the JW crankshaft adapter. I also used .130 shim for the starter, instead of stacking shims I used a JW shim for a pattern and cut one out with a plasma cutter. I did not have to use the starter extension, the starter still fits into the register on the Reid bell.
The starter sounds great, the alignment is far superior to the adapter plate that I was using.
The only problem I had with instalation was that the bell is quite a bit wider than the stock powerglide because of the kick-out for the starter. When installing I had to roll the trans on it's side to get it up through the frame rails, this makes it a two person job.
In my opinion the Reid case and bell is a very nice piece and is a better option than the adapter plate setup. First you won't have to deal with a glide case that is at least 40 years old and prone to cracking, second no external shields to deal with, third the bell bolts to the case not the pump and the starter alignment is great.
I hope this helps someone in the future.
I Really appreciate the help from all the people that posted replys to this thread, especially John.
Joe Davis

good to know Joe, it should fit right behind my jw bell and wheel.good luck this summer, see you then.lee