Bell housing

[Bart]

This weekend I discovered yet another anomaly with my TCS. When I got the car, the engine was in but the gearbox and bell housing were on the passenger seat, it (the transmission) was claimed to be the original, the tranny is tagged as a 365 and is correct, however now I am putting it all back in I discovered yesterday that the starter motor that was supplied by Banks will not fit, it has mounting holes at 5" centers and the bell housing has mounting holes at 4.5" centers, I would think its a problem of the new starter but I also discovered that the lower closing plate does not align either.  Richard at Banks confirms that the TCS should be 5" centers which leads me to believe that the bell housing is not the original/correct, it fits in all other respects the clutch is aligned and the gearbox bolts up correctly.

Does anyone know if there was an alternate bell housing or know of a replacement that may have been used as appears the case with mine?

I am trying to decide if I fab a new mount for the starter motor and fab a closing plate or if I should source an new/recon bell housing.

Thanks for any info on this enigmatic problem.

[BDA]

A picture would be helpful. This is should be your bell housing (http://www.lotus-europa.com/manuals/tcparts/f/tcff.pdf). There is no alternate.

If you don't have the closing plate, I wonder if a Zetec or similar set set would either work or at least be a good beginning.

[Bart]

Here is an end on view and side view.

I will take some additional photo's tonight.

[Bart]

Here is a photo of the closing plate, this one came from RD, Ray was adamant that its the correct one and as you can see it does not match up either. The bolt holes in the bell housing are +/- 6.5" centers, the plate has nothing that is even close.

[BDA]

How many bell housings for Ford motors will have a timing window in it to see timing marks on the flywheel? Further, how many would also have a mount for the alternator? I'd guess zero, so I'm sure that's the one. The only other possibility I can think of is that it is a reproduction. I don't know of anybody else who makes them other than Richard (and a Ford bell housing isn't listed currently - I thought I had seen it in the past) so that's no help.

I'm not sure what to say about the starter motor mounting. Some of the gear driven starters are adjustable. The picture of it on the website isn't determinative and I figure you'd pick up on that if yours was.

As for the bottom closing plate, mine is held with only one bolt. I think Certified was not content with a single bolt (and the slide into the main cover piece that goes between the engine and the bell housing) and he did something that satisfied him. You can look it up on his build thread. I think he mentions it here (http://www.lotuseuropa.org/LotusForum/index.php?topic=1704.msg31966;topicseen#msg31966). I think there are other holes for other applications. IIRC, the drain "bump out" is directly at the bottom but I don't think there's any other way of mounting it.

Good luck! Let us know how you get past this.

[cwtech]

According to the link (see page 2) which BDA posted, there were two different bell housings used on TC engines. 

One bell housing was for 336 transaxle.  ...The other bell housing was for the 352 & 365 transaxles.

Is it possible you have the bell housing for a 336 instead of what you need?

[andy harwood]

I just measured the spacing for the starter bolts in the bell housing and starter, and were 4.5"  The starter bolt holes are a bit larger diameter than the bell housing. the bell housing uses 2 dust plates, upper and lower. only one bolt secures the lower plate, as the upper plate has two slots to hold the lower plate in place. (sorry, didn't take a pic of the starter, but will if you need)

[BDA]

Good catch, cwtech! I actually missed that, but Bart says he has a TCS for which there actually is only one option.

I think it is curious that the bell housing would change between the TC and TCS. The motor is the same and only the tranny is different. Given the similarity in the trannies, I would have assumed the bolt pattern of the 336 and 352 to be the same. negating the need for a separate bell housing, but I'm apparently wrong. I learn something new every day!

[Bart]

Hi Andy,

Thanks so much for the photos. So you have the same as I have with the centers at 4.5" That's very encouraging, just to be clear your bell housing is for a TCS with a 365 box?

I am going to talk to Banks again and see whats up. As I said Richard says it should be at 5" centers and that's what he supplied , but evidence suggests otherwise.

[andy harwood]

I've got 2 TC bell housings, one original with a 352 transaxle, and one original with a 365 transaxle. the bell housings are the same. I used the 352 transaxle car's starter on my  car, so know the starters are interchangeable. the dust covers from either car are indentical.

[Bart]

again thanks all. The starter supplied by Banks is a WOSP unit, I am calling them in the morning to see what up. As far as I can tell it is indeed an issue with the starter motor mounting plate being incorrectly sized. I will let you all know how this particular wild goose chase ends.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's just a mistake at Banks/WOSP.

[BDA]

I've bought a lot of stuff from Richard and if there was ever a problem, he always made it right. If there is some problem on his end, you should be able to get the correct starter from Dave Bean (where I got mine) or r.d. enterprises.

[Bart]

Banks has been great, I have no doubts at all we will get to the bottom of it. I guess its what you get with 45 year old cars with who knows what having been done over their life.

I took a bunch of photos tonight and will post the results tomorrow.

On a happier note, I got the rear disk brakes dry fitted tonight and they look great.

I sent the instruments off to D&M restorations to get them back to like new and have the tach modified to work with the MSD 6AL ignition, and finally sent the headers to Jet-Hot for coating. I was persuaded by the post that said they are the first thing you see when you open the engine bay.

going in the right direction.

[andy harwood]

Got to ask - what is a "WOSP" starter unit? I'm drawing a blank.
Jet Hot does great work. Many Buell riders sent their headers there for coatings. You'll be happy. They are about 25 miles from me.

Would like to see some pics of your rear disk brake setup. (hint hint)

[BDA]

I'm looking forward to your pictures, Bart. Your build sounds really interesting! I'm glad you're implementing rear discs. There are lots of methods to that end - I used Richard's kit too - and some are happy with their drums, but I'm really happy with mine. If you're going to be able to go fast, you should make sure you can stop.