gerg

What is their reason for not running rollers in a Clevo? That sounds like a bit of bullshit to me, only thing I can possibly think of is the cam bore oil galleries not lining up with the lifters properly.

Oh forgot to mention: your sandwich plate might be usable if you cut the starter motor bit off inboard of the bolt holes and have that bit separate from the rest. Those things aren't cheap. I think they're about A$140

That sounds like a stock one. Shouldn't be too bad I guess

Fuck that's pretty heavy

You can use either, I've seen Clevo flywheels drilled for multiple clutch setups. A 10.5 clutch would be fine if that was what you were going to use anyway, and the clutch really doesn't care what it drives against. If your Windsor is a roller block it will be a later 50-oz imbalance flywheel so as Thom says get a Clevo one and get it balanced from 28 oz to 50 or find a later (post-83) 351 Windsor (also a 164-tooth) which is 50 oz already.

I think it was about 8mm from memory, or 5/16".

Yeah there is... Sounds like you have an auto starter so you either need to source a correct manual one or make up/buy a spacer like I did. Same goes for using a 6-cyl starter on a V8. After doing this you'll need to check tooth engagement. Either that or the housing is wrongly machined. Wouldn't surprise me seeing as they're half the price of a Dellow or CRS unit.

Might be able to source gears from the states, as some 3rd gen Camaros used the Aussie BW diff and there are some aftermarket bits available. They call them the "GM 9-bolt" diff over there.

Another option might be an adaptor/spacer that goes on the shorter bellhousing and uses the longer input T5 box. It changes the bolt pattern from toploader to the T5. They're available from the states for a bit over $100 US. That doesn't really help you going from a single rail pattern so some more machine work may be needed. It's so much more complicated than it needs to be, but there you go.

Sorry correction, BA-onwards uses longer shaft but not sure how so. I would guess it's the 5/8" longer Mustang length and if so, that Mustang/EB V8 bellhousing would work but only if you put a 157-tooth Windsor flywheel on. Be careful as post-82 flywheels are 50-oz whereas you need a 28-oz for a Clevo, so for that option a pre-80s Windsor flywheel is the go. You're limited to the smaller Windsor clutch diameter with that flywheel. EA-ED boxes have the same length input as a single rail or top loader, hence easier fitment. Your BA gearbox might be more valuable left where it is.

As far as I know, Mustang T5s are the longer input shaft type (by 5/8", same as E-series Windsor) so only go with that type of bellhousing. They're also for a 157-tooth flywheel, whereas Clevos are 164. His box is just your garden variety 6-cyl type so has toploader/single rail input length.

Gotta fill in some holes in my toploader bell and drill & tap some new ones for my T5. Was wondering if there are any folks here who've had some experience with furnace brazing cast iron and more specifically if this sort of heat will warp the housing so as to need machining again. No I'm not buying a Dellow or CRS housing. Cheers.

He's getting some awesome bite out of the hole but top gear is under-utilised. Maybe he can go a little shorter in diff gears?

Yeah seen something like that done elsewhere. I quite like that method, very strong. Like you say a bit of a bitch but if you have access to all the good gear it's a much cheaper alternative than buying a bellhousing that "might" do the job. I'd rather modify a factory housing that I know works.

I've read that cast iron is stable up to 600 deg, then it's structure starts to change and you can do some funny things to it. So I plan on using an old washing machine tub and putting timber/coals in to achieve a nice dense heat source, then place the bellhousing in it till it approaches said temp. I've got access to a laser thermometer. Then I'll silver-solder the parts in place with an oxy setup, cover with sand and leave overnight.

Thanks for all your advice fellas I found it very useful. Hope others can too. I'm convinced that silver is the way to go and I'll solder in some studs for the new box while I'm at it. I might start a T5 conversion thread as there seems to be a lot of interest in it.

Thanks for that Bear, yeah thinking of doing a thread on it. Plenty out there already but none are done in the same way.

Thanks heaps for that guys. The machined mounting face on mine is large enough top and bottom to allow all of the T5 holes to see flat metal, with the bottom two actually lining up with the cast-in bosses. Top ones are the problem, where each of the new holes will have less than 1/4" of metal to the old holes, which doesn't make me feel comfortable about putting any torque load on them. They're the ones I want to fill: I'm thinking of plugging them with cut-off bolts and brazing them in place, or just filling them entirely with brass. I've used electric brazing rods on wrought iron with success, but cast might be a different story. I guess I'll tell what metal it is by grinding the bell a little bit and seeing the sparks it makes and also the shininess of the fresh metal. Pics tomorrow

A bloke at work keeps raving about Optima batteries. They're an Absorbed Glass Mat type "hybrid" (ie deep cycle but good cranking amps) and are priced pretty well. Ctek is also often mentioned and somehow knows what it's plugged into (ie deep cycle or conventional) so a good choice for deep cycle. Can't recommend any model though. Deep cycle need higher volts to charge (about 0.5v higher) so your regulator needs to account for this. I'd advise against putting too many smart gadgets in place as they'll likely fight each other and cause more dramas than solve. 2.5 amps/hour isn't a unit of measurement, however amp-hours is to do with battery capacity. 2.5 amps draw from the fridge though is about 30 watts. A couple of deep cycle batteries should have no trouble powering that over a weekend without charging. That's all I got

Wow that's really shit in your ice cream hasn't it?

Looking at my single rail bell, it comes nowhere near bolting up to my T5. The bottom of the face ends way above the bottom 2 bolts of the T5 so not even any meat there to drill and tap into. That's why I got a toploader bell to do the job and even that needs a lot of stuffing around. Watch this space as I (eventually) do the conversion.

The one in the pic has the fork pivot sitting inwards of the rivets. Is yours the same way?

That's some serious CNC work there! From memory mine had a mm or two off the face but mostly the bloke took meat off the rough cast bit on the engine side. Balanced it too while he was at it.

Nah something's up to shit there mate, could you show a pic of the pivot and how it attaches to the bell? Does the pivot bolt on 2 different ways or is it part of the bell? Seems as if the fork is the wrong one or the pivot point is too far outward from centre