[blykins]

Guys, I really need some brain storming here. I've racked mine trying to figure this out. I called David Kee to ask him about some things....I thought I could just cut the bearing retainer down, but he said he had never ever heard of that being done on a SB. He thought either the clutch disc was too thick or the flywheel was too thick. So, I went out and measured each of them and compared them to some McLeod items he had on the shelf.

1. My clutch disc was 1.025" thick. His was 1.067".
2. My flywheel was 1.060" thick. His was .930".

Even with my flywheel a little thicker (.130") the .042" thinner clutch disc takes that differential down to .092". I know that's quite a bit...it's bigger than a 1/16" of an inch....but the tranny was stuck out about a 1/4"...it was stuck out so far I could barely see the bolts on the input bearing retainer.

The input bearing retainer was one that I bought from David Kee. We even measured the lengths of those...they were the same.

We pulled the tranny out, and even slid a new pilot bearing on it to see if that was the problem...it slid on perfectly fine.

I am using a block plate with the bellhousing....and the bellhousing is a 15200 Lakewood...designed for a Toploader and a SBF.

I really have come to a halt on any ideas...I'm hoping some of you more experienced tranny'ers can help me out.