Howdy, all.
Phil "don't speculate about it, just try it!" Bradshaw wrote:
>Went to the local pick-a-part wrecking yard yesterday, determined to sort
>out this thread on 3A gearbox interchangeability etc. I took a FWD 4AGE
>(LHS starter) flex plate (that goes on the back of the block) and matched
>this up to a 3A auto tranny bell housing.
>It matched up to all the bolt holes, including starter. There was one hole
>that did not line up, but I do not think it would be inportant. I would
>certainly consider buying a 3A box as an option for a low horse 4AGE as a
>cheap option (1/3 cost).
Phil, just for clarification, you mean by this, a 3a slushbox? Am I safe
in ass-u-me-ing that it has a different pattern on its front, than that
of whatever rwd manual tranny came in 3a powered cars?
>Also - the auto tranny bell housing is about 8mm shorter than a 2T
>bellhousing - I reckon it could be an excellent base for adding a plate
>and joining a 2T T-50 to a 4AGE - if you cannot get a 4A bellhousing.
Hmmmm... very interesting. The 8mm shorter length could come in handy.
The plate you refer to, would have to go in between the 3a bellhousing
and the T-50 'box, as a bolt pattern adaptor?
>Does this
>mean that an Auto bell housing may be a good starting point to mate any
>gearbox to an engine? Admittedly the clutch slave cylinder will have to be
>mounted somehow, and the fork etc will have to be made to fit, but if you
>are doing an obscure combo, it may be an option.
Just as a random comment, I think that if anyone ever *does* contemplate
such a combo, it might be a good candidate for a conversion to an annular
ring type clutch slave cylinder. These have been used for years in Saabs,
and they have some neat advantages. This can get the slave cylinder out
of your way, in tight swap installations, or where the only available
bellhousing for a swap would otherwise put the slave cylinder in an
impossible location.
An annular ring clutch cylinder might be a particularly logical choice,
for a bellhousing that doesn't have any existing mounting provision for
a clutch cylinder.
For a brief description of annular ring clutch release cylinders, see:
http://www.rain.org/~tomeck/lotus/new1.htm#Annular_Clutch_Release
By the way Phil, as usual, I'm impressed by your no-nonsense, "just do
it" attitude.
Regards,
Erik Berg
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