Hot Rods Halibrand V8 quick change rear cover question

my Culver City qc has a 2 ear cover, Ive seen some with 4 ears. Does anybody know if this was a change done over time or location of Halibrand?thanks,Louie

 

Pix????

 

I don't know the answer, but my Culver City has 4 ears...

 

the cover has an ear top and bottom on opposite sides

 

Weird... I can't recall ever seeing one like that, but that doesn't mean much. Maybe someone removed them at some point? Dang Louie, give that poor thing a bath!

 

They are probably just ground off.

 

mine looks like Louies cover.. maybe the later ones had more ears.

 

john, looks like they are a totally different casting to me. look at the length of the rib that runs between the bearing housing bosses. the four ear has much larger housings resulting in a shorter rib between them.

my only guess on this is the two ear cover is a "lightweight" cover with either a smaller bearing or less material surrounding it. probably a later refinement.

 

If you were actually laying in the muddy infield or wet salt at Bonneville changing gears you would appreciate having 4 ears to tap the cover off. And Halibrand did increase the od of the bearings. Many of the earlier smaller bearings would lock up from metal in the oil and spin in the cover. I used sealed bearings in mine without a failure and also machined an o-ring groove in the cover to eliminate oil leaks. But if you want your car authentic you better have leaks.

 

I've seen them both ways, but the 4 ears is definately more common. None of the 6 or 7 that I or my Dad have owned were the 2 ears.

 

I've seen the two ear several times before. The 4 is more common (like C'Fed said above)

By the way, there are a number of casting of the 4 ears I've seen with a "ding" in a rib closest to Culver. Thunderbird's doesn't have it, but mine does and I've seen other that are identical. Somebody must have damaged a master, part way through production.

 

Kevin
The covers are the same size its the angle of the pic I believe

 

Heres my back Cover

 

The two ears are earlier if I'm not mistaken. They changed to the four for easier removal of the cover.

That's what I was told when I bought my quickchange 12 years ago from the guy who had it. He pointed that out to me for some reason, cuz at that point it was something I was unfamiliar with I just knew I wanted the rear end.

FLiP

 

Lou mine has just two ear I believe. I remember when putting together on I thought it was odd.

 

ok then, makes sense if they changed the bearing size for reliability. I always wondered about the tangs though as the newer winters rears I've used racing midgets you had to be careful that you werent sitting with the rear hanging down hill or you could end up with the cover and the gears falling off when you pulled off the last nut. believe me when you are in between warmups and heat races rushing to change gears, having a hot gear lube covered gear hit you in the chest then roll off into the pits where it collects a nice coating of mud and rocks SUCKS.

way too much difference in the length of that rib to be angle only. one looks to be less than half an inch the other an inch or more.

how's your truck coming btw?? heard through the grape vine you sold the henry J and now steve is selling the 32?? whats this world coming to??!!

 

The bolt pattern and overall size of the two versions are the same. The length difference in the rib is due to the increased OD of the bearing boss in the 4-tab version.

 

that was my point

 

I have both two and four eared Culver City covers. My two eared cover has not been ground on. But I think both of mine take the same bearing OD? I'll have to check.

The bearing in one of mine has a smaller ID because it was used on an A/B center section. (actually a different brand center that the Halibrand cover happened to fit onto)

 

My dad has a 2 ear cover, he got it from a racer that blew it up in 62 or 63 but he didnt remember where he got it from

 

thanks a lot guys.