Another Homemade Bellhousing Thread...

dig!

 

For the last 40 years I have been stamping my name, date, city and sometimes mileage on the parts I make

 

For a DIY bellhousing like mine, it would be critical to have a mockup block and dummy transmission case on hand.

Probably the 1st thing to work out is the clutch package. It's usually a mix and match of parts to get a disc that fits the input shaft and a pressure plate that will bolt up to the flywheel. Choosing a workable throwout bearing is pretty important preliminary step, as that will help determine the overall depth necessary while still having enough freeplay between the bearing and PP fingers to allow for normal wear of the clutch disc. Input shaft length is also something to consider, as you want the disc to be fully engaged in the splines of the input shaft.

Most likely you will need to make a custom pilot bearing.

If the throwout brg needs a larger bearing retainer dia, i'd just machine a sleeve and loctite that to the transmission's original bearing retainer. For the bellhousing in this thread, i just machined the Toploader's bearing retainer down to fit the Chevy style hyd throwout bearing, as they are much cheaper than the ones available to fit a Ford.