Came across this interesting thread on Turbosport where a guy has done loads of fabrication, including a bellhousing!
TOP WORK!
Good find, Some interesting ways to do things there and some nice work!
wow, very good work, but that bell housing looks a little er, heavy
wow that is a great find.
like the metal work
stu
quote:
Originally posted by blakep82
wow, very good work, but that bell housing looks a little er, heavy
^ yeah, true enough, i've only ever handled aluminium ones. never had the pleasure of lifting a cast iron one
How the hell did a MK1 Escort end up in Serbia back in 1989, I cannot imagine that it was an export market that Ford wanted to chase, or was allowed
to!
Saying that, I do have a photo somewhere, of a very tidy MK1 Cortina being used as a mobile advertising board in Prague. This pic was take on my stag
wekend about 7 years ago.
Cracking ideas on show !
And he's doing it all in slippers too!
Maybe this is sort of a Mk1 version? Now everyone has seen it there will doubtless be ideas on how to make it lighter.
At school I made a base for a mini wind turbine project I was doing.
Cast in aluminium from a wooden shape I'd made. Then set it in sand to make a mold, removed the wood and poured in liquid aluminium!
The CDT department used to get us all to bring in old Coke cans etc. to melt down for the aluminium! lol!
I'm not sure how DIY-able the melting down/casting process is. But would it be a reasonable way of making a bell housing your self but with the
weight of ali instead of steel?
Make it out of steel/MDF/whatever then cast it yourself? Wouldn't take *that* much ali...
Or atleast make the model yourself and find an engineering place that would do the ali cast for you?
Any thoughts in if it's possible?
Cheers,
James
Love it. Very talented guy.
Always wondered how you line it all up when making a bellhousing so the input shaft is centred and parallel to the crank. If it was that easy many of us could join any engine to any RWD box by knocking one up.
quote:
Originally posted by Dusty
Always wondered how you line it all up when making a bellhousing so the input shaft is centred and parallel to the crank. If it was that easy many of us could join any engine to any RWD box by knocking one up.
Lots of little stiches all over untill it is fully welded up. If you want to get tecnical, which
he isn't, you could even use a dial gauge and clock the shaft, but he did it without
quote: wow, very good work, but that bell housing looks a little er, heavy
My thoughts entirely until I remembered that the standard bellhousing is cast iron. He does actually say that both weigh the same.
This is a really good example of what can be done with no more than hand tools and without spending a fortune; you can imagine his satisfaction at
what he has achieved. It looks like he doesn't even have a hole say to bore out the manifold flanges so he's obviously not daunted by chain
drilling and lots of filing. A fascinating read.
quote:
Originally posted by 2cv
quote: wow, very good work, but that bell housing looks a little er, heavy
My thoughts entirely until I remembered that the standard bellhousing is cast iron. He does actually say that both weigh the same.
This is a really good example of what can be done with no more than hand tools and without spending a fortune; you can imagine his satisfaction at what he has achieved. It looks like he doesn't even have a hole say to bore out the manifold flanges so he's obviously not daunted by chain drilling and lots of filing. A fascinating read.
And, like buses, two come along at once!
http://www.alfabb.com/bb/forums/engine-conversions/45832-alfa-bmw-alfa-motor-e30-body.html
I had more than a small part in the Xworks Alfa/bmw project!