Why? Because we can!!

[cobrakiwi]

Upon further inspection of this bell I noticed the gearbox locating hole just did not look right.
Sure enough it had been taken to with a grinder or some other type of hand tool.

Looks like the hole had been opened up to take the large toploader/tko size bearing retainer from the t10 size..

Not good, now how to fix?
After sleeping on it and coffee in the morning I came up with an idea, why not machine the hole out to take a modern quicktime bellhousing insert?

First make a jig up to locate the bell were it should be for machining. To do this I made a fixture up using my good ford bellhousing.

Center the ford bell in the bridgeport then swap out the damaged bell.

[cobrakiwi]

Next, cut the center to fit the quicktime insert, this went great but I noticed the cutter hitting the 12 o'clock area first and taking a bit to cut the entire 360 degrees.
After cutting the center, I checked the gearbox side surface and sure enough it was low at the 6 o'clock.

The fix, lock it down in the bridgeport and cut the gearbox side surface. Took a .040 cut to get it to where I am happy with it.
You can see by the blue paint it is still a little low at the 6 o'clock, but good enough.

This problem was not disclosed too me when I purchased the thing, but am very happy to be able to fix and save it.

This was a fun sunday afternoon project.

[1795]

Man, it sure is nice to have a workshop that has all the tools that you need. I would have had to send things out to multiple people for machining and welding. Nice work saving that bell housing Craig.

[xb-60]

Originally Posted by cobrakiwi

....Not good, now how to fix?
After sleeping on it and coffee in the morning I came up with an idea....

Nice job Craig.

So many times the solution to a problem isn't immediately obvious. Sleeping on it and with your subconscious working on it, it's quite amazing how often we can come up with novel and satisfying solutions when we had thought that the problems were insurmountable.

Cheers!

Glen

[cobrakiwi]

Jim
Thanks, yes it does help to have the tools available to tackle these types of jobs.

Glen
It's funny I find myself thinking way to much about this stuff late at night / early mornings.

[my427cobra]

Great job on restoring those SW240A fuel pumps Craig. Love the look of those old pumps.

Why. Because we can! As you may know from some old posts of mine, I took two old SW240A pumps, gutted them, bored them out, and put two modern in-line electric fuel pumps inside.

Restored them to look period correct.



Had fun doing it and they work just fine.

Cheers
Greg

[cobrakiwi]

Originally Posted by my427cobra

Great job on restoring those SW240A fuel pumps Craig. Love the look of those old pumps.

Why. Because we can! As you may know from some old posts of mine, I took two old SW240A pumps, gutted them, bored them out, and put two modern in-line electric fuel pumps inside.

Restored them to look period correct.



Had fun doing it and they work just fine.

Cheers
Greg

Thanks Greg.
I do remember your post about your fuel pumps.
As you know it takes a lot to refurbish these things.
I just got a few more in to do as well.

[cobrakiwi]

Now back to the lower cover, cut out some more shapes with the plasma cutter, lots of grinding then some bending, then some welding and we came up with this.

Looks like it might just work.

I will set the bellhousing up on an engine and check everything and if it passes the test it will go to the powder coaters.

Anybody out there have a 5 bolt block plate they can part with?

[MAStuart]

Looks like it came out real good. Narrow bolt pattern T10's had a smaller front bearing retainer pre 65. 65 and later T10 had a bigger front bearing retainer and the 2 bolt patterns. At one time I had a scattershield for a 5 bolt engine that had both wide and narrow trans bolt patterns also had a ring so both bearing retainers would work.