Bell housing installation amd alignment
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 388
Likes: 1
From: Queretaro Qro
Bell housing installation amd alignment
I have seen here before a complete and detailed bell housing alignment procedure with lots and lots of pictures....now that I need it, guess if I can find it....have searched the archives for hours with no results....
Does anyone knows where this thread is or have the lots and lots of pictures saved up somewhere? It would really help me out.
Thanks,
Luiz
Does anyone knows where this thread is or have the lots and lots of pictures saved up somewhere? It would really help me out.
Thanks,
Luiz
Safety Car
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From: St. Louis MO
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Burning Brakes
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From: Upland Ca
If your using a GM bell housing you don't need to do it. I have never seen a GM housing even close the the outer specs. Now if your car is unknown and the BH pins have been messed with, thats a different story.
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 388
Likes: 1
From: Queretaro Qro
New 540cc engine with Lakewood bellhousing. For what I understand, there is not Lakewood housing that comes close to being within spec. If I knew this beforehand, I would have purchased a McLeod....they make sure every one of their housings are within alignment. Got the procedure already (found a PDF on the web) and will soon be checking the alignment. Will post the results....thanks for the videos, very nice.
Luiz
Luiz
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Joined: Oct 2005
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From: Camp Verde AZ
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540 CC. A little small, don't you think?
My motor is 6995 cc's....
Lakewood bells are notorious for being out of spec. They blame the need for alignment on sloppy pin hole location in the block, which that is a bunch of crap, rather than their lack of being able to get the bell housing holes in the correct location, GM didn't send out of spec blocks out door, and with their tooling setups, i would suspect it would almost impossible to drill the pin holes in the wrong places in the block.
Doug
My motor is 6995 cc's....Lakewood bells are notorious for being out of spec. They blame the need for alignment on sloppy pin hole location in the block, which that is a bunch of crap, rather than their lack of being able to get the bell housing holes in the correct location, GM didn't send out of spec blocks out door, and with their tooling setups, i would suspect it would almost impossible to drill the pin holes in the wrong places in the block.
Doug
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 388
Likes: 1
From: Queretaro Qro
540 CC. A little small, don't you think? My motor is 6995 cc's....
Lakewood bells are notorious for being out of spec. They blame the need for alignment on sloppy pin hole location in the block, which that is a bunch of crap, rather than their lack of being able to get the bell housing holes in the correct location, GM didn't send out of spec blocks out door, and with their tooling setups, i would suspect it would almost impossible to drill the pin holes in the wrong places in the block.
Doug
My motor is 6995 cc's....Lakewood bells are notorious for being out of spec. They blame the need for alignment on sloppy pin hole location in the block, which that is a bunch of crap, rather than their lack of being able to get the bell housing holes in the correct location, GM didn't send out of spec blocks out door, and with their tooling setups, i would suspect it would almost impossible to drill the pin holes in the wrong places in the block.
Doug
The bellhousing was a package deal with the transmission....keisler should not recommend this bellhousing knowing that we, the customer, will go through a lot of trouble not just to align the darn thing but also to make sure it is parallel. I have also heard that the Lakewook bellhousing also have a .004 play on the transmission side
which means I have to be within a total of .006 on the engine side in order to ensure the .005 total play recommended by Tremec
This will be fun....
Luiz
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Le Mans Master
Joined: Dec 2007
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From: Puget Sound
My McLeod bellhousing came with a sticker that showed the run-out specs. After I mounted it, I got the exact same readings. I've heard nothing but horror stories about aligning Lakewood bellhousings.
Jim
Jim
Melting Slicks
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 2,826
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From: Tennessee
Please allow me to clear up some bad information floationg around on this thread....
First of all, if you are installing a TKO, you MUST do the bell housing run out. I believe it was LEE H who states that if you use a GM bell you didn't have to do the procedure. That is absolutely FALSE.
Someone else stated that the Mcleod bells are "Pre-dialed" in. There is no way ANYONE can say their bell housing doesn't need to be dialed in. The reason why is because there are 3 factors that determine your run out.....The engine to bell mating surface, the bell itself and the dowel pins in the block. How can anyone claim there bell doesn't need to be dialed in unless they are selling the engine to you as well?
Here is a for instance for you...Our GM 621 reproduction bells are machined to within .002" of factory specs. That means that all the bolt holes, starter pocket, register hole and surfaces are machined to within .002 of factory specs. The Mcleod bell may be machined in a similar fashion but to say it doesn't need to be dialed in is just plain ridiculous.
Please, please, please...if you are installing a TKO, do yourself a favor and do the run out procedure no matter what anyone tries to tell you.
Richard
First of all, if you are installing a TKO, you MUST do the bell housing run out. I believe it was LEE H who states that if you use a GM bell you didn't have to do the procedure. That is absolutely FALSE.
Someone else stated that the Mcleod bells are "Pre-dialed" in. There is no way ANYONE can say their bell housing doesn't need to be dialed in. The reason why is because there are 3 factors that determine your run out.....The engine to bell mating surface, the bell itself and the dowel pins in the block. How can anyone claim there bell doesn't need to be dialed in unless they are selling the engine to you as well?
Here is a for instance for you...Our GM 621 reproduction bells are machined to within .002" of factory specs. That means that all the bolt holes, starter pocket, register hole and surfaces are machined to within .002 of factory specs. The Mcleod bell may be machined in a similar fashion but to say it doesn't need to be dialed in is just plain ridiculous.
Please, please, please...if you are installing a TKO, do yourself a favor and do the run out procedure no matter what anyone tries to tell you.
Richard
Last edited by rj8806; Jun 9, 2008 at 08:49 AM.
Melting Slicks
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 2,826
Likes: 3
From: Tennessee
A typo that made sense....but shrunk my engine...540CI...just shy of 8,800cc's.
The bellhousing was a package deal with the transmission....keisler should not recommend this bellhousing knowing that we, the customer, will go through a lot of trouble not just to align the darn thing but also to make sure it is parallel. I have also heard that the Lakewook bellhousing also have a .004 play on the transmission side which means I have to be within a total of .006 on the engine side in order to ensure the .005 total play recommended by Tremec
This will be fun....
Luiz
The bellhousing was a package deal with the transmission....keisler should not recommend this bellhousing knowing that we, the customer, will go through a lot of trouble not just to align the darn thing but also to make sure it is parallel. I have also heard that the Lakewook bellhousing also have a .004 play on the transmission side
which means I have to be within a total of .006 on the engine side in order to ensure the .005 total play recommended by Tremec This will be fun....
Luiz
It's not that we "recommend" it or not. We offer it for you guys wanting a scattershield. In fact, I hear the sales guys warning people that the Lakewood is notorious for being out if align and the need for using offset pins more often than not.
Richard
Tech Support
Melting Slicks
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 3,379
Likes: 7
From: White Mountains NH
Please allow me to clear up some bad information floationg around on this thread....
First of all, if you are installing a TKO, you MUST do the bell housing run out. I believe it was LEE H who states that if you use a GM bell you didn't have to do the procedure. That is absolutely FALSE.
Someone else stated that the Mcleod bells are "Pre-dialed" in. There is no way ANYONE can say their bell housing doesn't need to be dialed in. The reason why is because there are 3 factors that determine your run out.....The engine to bell mating surface, the bell itself and the dowel pins in the block. How can anyone claim there bell doesn't need to be dialed in unless they are selling the engine to you as well?
Here is a for instance for you...Our GM 621 reproduction bells are machined to within .002" of factory specs. That means that all the bolt holes, starter pocket, register hole and surfaces are machined to within .002 of factory specs. The Mcleod bell may be machined in a similar fashion but to say it doesn't need to be dialed in is just plain ridiculous.
Please, please, please...if you are installing a TKO, do yourself a favor and do the run out procedure no matter what anyone tries to tell you.
Richard
First of all, if you are installing a TKO, you MUST do the bell housing run out. I believe it was LEE H who states that if you use a GM bell you didn't have to do the procedure. That is absolutely FALSE.
Someone else stated that the Mcleod bells are "Pre-dialed" in. There is no way ANYONE can say their bell housing doesn't need to be dialed in. The reason why is because there are 3 factors that determine your run out.....The engine to bell mating surface, the bell itself and the dowel pins in the block. How can anyone claim there bell doesn't need to be dialed in unless they are selling the engine to you as well?
Here is a for instance for you...Our GM 621 reproduction bells are machined to within .002" of factory specs. That means that all the bolt holes, starter pocket, register hole and surfaces are machined to within .002 of factory specs. The Mcleod bell may be machined in a similar fashion but to say it doesn't need to be dialed in is just plain ridiculous.
Please, please, please...if you are installing a TKO, do yourself a favor and do the run out procedure no matter what anyone tries to tell you.
Richard
I bought a Lakewood shield for a 468 I built that was going to spin 7500+ rpm between shifts.
After checking both warped mounting surfaces we had it Blanchard ground.
Not over yet though. The alignment pin holes had to be "moved" to
center the transmision correctly. The last couple of thou. came in during assembly.
Safety Car
Joined: Jun 2000
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From: St. Louis MO
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