It looks a lot like an Offenhauser Adapter but I'm not sure, it only has a few letters stamped into it. I now know that it will fit an Olds engine but I cant figure out transmission will bolt to it, any ideas?
I am pretty sure that is not Olds engine. ....looking at all the bolt locations below the side dowels. They are way off. I would edit the thread title to "ID this bell housing pattern" or something catchy Edit: I just found a pic of a 1957 block. It looks like maybe your bell uses 2 totally different holes that are NOT used with a stock Olds bell housing. If you try to compare your holes to a stock Olds bell, then they look wrong ..
Tranny bolt pattern looks like a mopar to me. Engine bolt pattern has me baffled. Kinda looks like FE ford but has no starter provision...don't know what it is........maybe studebaker?
Can I try again? Here is a pic of a 49-53 stock cast iron Cadillac bell. Look close at the pattern, but see that it is sitting on top of an aluminum adapter that bolts to a 55-up Cad motor....so there are holes in that too that can confuse the pattern on the iron bell. I think your bell was made for Cad, but it might work on an Olds. Cad and Olds were not 100% the same pattern, a few holes were off. I think Rocky might be onto something with Mopar. But wouldn't it have to be a trans that was before the early Hemi came out? or try to think of a popular Cad swap back then? ..
Nope, I am wrong again. I was just looking at the holes right above the dowels. NOT made for a Cad. So I guess it is an oddball Olds pattern that uses some lower holes in the Olds block that were only used on the Hydramatic? I should quit before I did a deeper hole
Crappy pic of Olds iron bells. Hopefully you can see that no holes stick further outwards than the dowels. The OP bell has a bolt on each side below the dowels, that stick out further than the dowel. Then go look at the pic of the blue engine block, and you can see two threaded holes that are not used on a std trans bell. I think those holes fit the Hydramatic bell? Ted, I don't know about the GMC stuff. ..
all my aftermarket Olds bells have the engine side bolt holes placed like the op's example. see Speed Gems for Chevy Truck next to OP's for comparison
By looking at Mark T's next to mine it looks to me like the mold for Mark's may have been taken directly from a Speed Gems, see how the casting appears to be a little smaller in relation to bolt placement? And if Rocky says the transmission pattern looks like mopar I would start there.
You say it fits an olds. I am thinking the two side holes below the dowels are for engine mounts. Cadillacs did not use the bell housing type mounts, but Pontiac did. But this is not a Pontiac bell. As far as transmission, look at early Ford and Lasalle transmissions.
This is a fascinating thread, and it's hard to grasp the fact that HAMB didn't get it in under 4 posts. But this should be living proff, that we need a thread/tech archive with: bellhousing pattern, gearbox bolt pattern, clutch match for flathead in the most used version/combos, what year Lincoln brakes make what make ford brakes brake perfect, what gearbox housing works with the zephyr gears (from what year) and how does one make a 1929 capable of stopping. Not to be disrespectful, but tomorrow might be the day we loose an old timer with the info (still in his head) that we really need, and the HAMB will be full of un-answered thread like this one. That was not rant, that's the sound of a grown man begging!! And that's a nice bell housing, and I hope it goes to good use!!
I think you got it Paul. Who in there right mind would put an Olds motor in a Cortina, Crazy! Here is another angle of a Cortina Bell.
Reading a bit about the Cortina, something comes up is that it was a relatively common platform for English kit cars. Still though, hard to believe the drivetrain and chassis could handle the weight and torque
4 speed single rail version of the Ford 2000E gearbox. Cast iron maincase with alloy tail housing. 7/8” x 20 spline input shaft. Fitted in: Ford Cortina Mk2 Ford Cortina Mk3 1.3 / 1.6 / 1.6GT Ford Cortina Mk4 / Mk5 1.3, 1.6 (not GT) Ford Lotus Cortina 69- Ford Capri Mk1 / Mk2 / Mk3 1.6 OHC Ford Capri Mk1 -8/72 1.6 OHV Ford Capri Mk1 2.0 V4 Ford Sierra 1.6 Possibly the most popular of the Ford 4-speed gearboxes for fitment into modified cars and kit cars is the so called '2000E'. This gearbox had the best of the 3-rail remote gearchange mechanisms. There were early and late versions. The later type had the mainshaft diameter for 2nd gear increased from 35mm to 37mm. Other changes were made to the gear selector rod and the ball on the gear lever.
I'd like to see one of the kit cars that might have had the room for the Olds. What years do you think the kits were made, or/and, if they came to the USA?
Hmmmmmmmmm...maybe a sunbeam tiger? 260 ford V/8 with cortina gearbox? But I still don't see a provision for a starter and ford starters bolted to the bellhousing. I give up.
We've come to the conclusion that this bellhousing fits the Olds motor so it wont have a provision for a starter. You may be onto something with the Sunbeam, maybe this bell was used to install an Olds motor in Sunbeam, did they use a Cortina gearbox?
The Sunbeam Tiger used the BW t-10 for a while with 260 engines at the beginning as the Ford Top Loaders were not up to production load but by the time the 289's were going in they used the Ford Top Loader..http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunbeam_Tiger...There was no room for an Olds..
I belive if that small Four banger box, that can take a log of beating, will grenade behind a well build olds 303. But if one end fits an Olds 303 it should fit the cad 331, right? 49-54 cad 331 share a bell with the olds 303, 324, 371 and 394. That rear part should only fit a 2000E, non of the othe ford boxes seems to fit, not the 4 banger Rocket or the V6 gearbox either, they are all 4 bolts that is in a rectangular pattern. So it's an olds 303, 324, 371, 394 and Cad 331 to Ford 2000E adapter. Cool go try it. ️
Please compare this someone to the thread I posted to ID one for me.The block pattern is very similar and what Ive found out is it is a stude trans behind adaptor.Maybe Mark T and I can both learn something .F&J,what do you think. Walt said you know everything
Same motor flange, but different casting details like where the trans bolt bosses are, as well as the TOB cross shaft type
If you are talking about stock OEM cast iron bells from Cad and Olds divisions.... the only Olds bell that kind of "looks" like a Cad, is the 50 Olds V8. Here is the confusing part; If you try to bolt an Olds iron bell to a Cad 49-54 block, only four bolt holes line up. But take the iron 49-53 Cad bell and try to bolt it to an Olds, and SIX bolts now line up....I am pretty sure about that (I just read last week, that although Cad's last stick trans was in 53, the back of the block was not changed till after 54 model)...(in case you wonder why I used 53 and 54 above)
I used this a a reference: http://www.transmissionadapters.com There is a flywheel for both the cad and the olds. And a belhousing for a olds And I just deducted that they fit. Sloppy work on my part. Never trust the WWW, only The HAMB.