Post by healeyneil on Feb 18, 2020 20:23:12 GMT
ive just done this again, and thought I'd record my thoughts on the process. I bought the bellhousing from Dellow in Australia. I only bought the bellhousing and clutch release components. I'll fabricate the gearbox mount later. The price was very good, and the delivery time perfectly reasonable too.
i spent some time with the bellhousing on its own before connecting to the gearbox.
firstly, I had to take away quite a lot of material on the inside to clear the flywheel- the bellhousing has raised areas inside where the gearbox/engine bolts go. Plenty of material so not difficult.
I wanted to check the clutch operation without the gearbox in place too so I assembled the lever onto the adjustable ball pivot. Fortunately, my clutch centring tool had been made by a wood turning enthusiast pal, so was long enough to support the release bearing. The lever is operated by a standard clutch slave cylinder via a supplied adjustable push rod. To get this lot to align, the ball privet had to be screwed all the way in - indeed I ended up cutting the locknut down in height. With the pivot ball where I wanted it, the threads on it protruded through the bellhousing by about 15mm - where the bellhousing bolts to the gearbox, so that had to be trimmed.
with all that satisfactory I wanted to operate the clutch, so I rigged up a spare master cylinder with its own reservoir and a G clamp so that I could "press" the clutch in but have both hands free to check that the driven plate was free ( remember the engine in on the bench still ) All well, and a working clutch it would seem.
I had noticed that, where the clutch slave cylinder now fits, there really wasn't enough space left for the top starter motor bolt to pass through. I cut a " cheese wedge" off the head of the bolt, so it didn't foul the clutch slave. It also means that the top bolt can spin ,so it should be easy when it comes to fit the starter.
with that all done, it was time to fit the gearbox to the bellhousing. My gearbox came from a mk4 Supra, which means some differences. The remote change mechanism is quite different to early ones. I have no idea at this stage where it will pop up in the car. I THINK it should be easier to alter if needs be. The speedo drive is electronic, which is fine for me. The original bellhousing was fastened to the gearbox with nine bolts, approx 50mm long. The original bellhousing has four of the boltholes coming through much thicker areas of casting. This meant that when I tried to bolt up the new bellhousing ( which only takes 8 bolts) that some of them bottomed out, so I used thick washers, about 10mm worth, to bolt the pair together.
This may sound like a lot of work and fuss to fit the new gearbox, but it was probably an afternoons work. I've hopefully dodged problems later on
Oh and I took the time to make a remote bleeder 😀
i spent some time with the bellhousing on its own before connecting to the gearbox.
firstly, I had to take away quite a lot of material on the inside to clear the flywheel- the bellhousing has raised areas inside where the gearbox/engine bolts go. Plenty of material so not difficult.
I wanted to check the clutch operation without the gearbox in place too so I assembled the lever onto the adjustable ball pivot. Fortunately, my clutch centring tool had been made by a wood turning enthusiast pal, so was long enough to support the release bearing. The lever is operated by a standard clutch slave cylinder via a supplied adjustable push rod. To get this lot to align, the ball privet had to be screwed all the way in - indeed I ended up cutting the locknut down in height. With the pivot ball where I wanted it, the threads on it protruded through the bellhousing by about 15mm - where the bellhousing bolts to the gearbox, so that had to be trimmed.
with all that satisfactory I wanted to operate the clutch, so I rigged up a spare master cylinder with its own reservoir and a G clamp so that I could "press" the clutch in but have both hands free to check that the driven plate was free ( remember the engine in on the bench still ) All well, and a working clutch it would seem.
I had noticed that, where the clutch slave cylinder now fits, there really wasn't enough space left for the top starter motor bolt to pass through. I cut a " cheese wedge" off the head of the bolt, so it didn't foul the clutch slave. It also means that the top bolt can spin ,so it should be easy when it comes to fit the starter.
with that all done, it was time to fit the gearbox to the bellhousing. My gearbox came from a mk4 Supra, which means some differences. The remote change mechanism is quite different to early ones. I have no idea at this stage where it will pop up in the car. I THINK it should be easier to alter if needs be. The speedo drive is electronic, which is fine for me. The original bellhousing was fastened to the gearbox with nine bolts, approx 50mm long. The original bellhousing has four of the boltholes coming through much thicker areas of casting. This meant that when I tried to bolt up the new bellhousing ( which only takes 8 bolts) that some of them bottomed out, so I used thick washers, about 10mm worth, to bolt the pair together.
This may sound like a lot of work and fuss to fit the new gearbox, but it was probably an afternoons work. I've hopefully dodged problems later on
Oh and I took the time to make a remote bleeder 😀
