sierra bellhousing

72panelvan · Posted: Mon Sep 25, 2006 11:09 am Post subject: sierra bellhousing

Any one considered this? Just been trying to think of a way to do a DIY job but because of the size of the ford flywheel you have to cnc a thick piece of aluminium to get the clearence - which is costly. I'm thinking it might be easier and cheaper to get a piece of steel and mate the sierra bellhousing to the vw gearbox.

It's just a thought, but does anyone know any reason off hand why it wouldnt work?

Also could you put a different clutch plate into a ford cluth so that the splines are the same as the vw input shaft?

Both of these maybe stupid questions but i'm just trying to find a cheap way of doing the conversion.

Tom

richbaker78 · Teacher of Padawans Joined: 31 Jan 2006 Posts: 1298

sounds pretty sensible in principle but I dont know enough about ford to comment really - however i can tell you that RJES bellhuosing conversions use a VW clutch plate with the subaru clutch - for the very reason that the input shaft spline wouldnt otherwise match - so this part of your idea is sound - obviously this depends on the diameter of the ford clutch but there is enough in the VW range that youll have a good chance of a match - i think the GSF online catalogue lists all the sizes so maybe have a look there?

the only other problem I would foresee would be the oil seal on the ford housing matching the diameter of the vw input shaft and being in the correct place - but this may be solved with a bit of machining and a new seal perhaps.

72panelvan · Posted: Mon Sep 25, 2006 4:02 pm Post subject:

I think sierra's have a hydraulic clutch so I think I'd have to do the work involved with that. Any one know otherwise?

I put in a 1600 vw clutch plate today to kill some time and it's a lot thicker so it doesn't appear to offer enough to be pushed by the release bearing. Might be that I just had a worn ford clutch plate.

I am going to try and get a sierra bell housing for cheap just to have a good look at it. Even if I can't fit it easily it would be useful to make an adapter plate keeping the vw bell housing.

tom

rusty69bus · Jedi Master Joined: 24 Apr 2006 Posts: 467 Location: essex

plenty of ford apators available have a search on here for Adpators page showing pds racing.
what your sudjesting could be possible, you'd have to line up the input shaft with the clutch plate which may mean you need an oversized plate,depending on wether the bellhousing would need to be raised or lowered to line up the clutch...
not all sierra gearbox's have a hydraulic clutch and if the do i believe they
bolt the gearbox itself not the bellhousing as they are inside the bellhousling with just a pipe ppoking out!

Covin · Posted: Mon Sep 25, 2006 5:02 pm Post subject:

One problem I can see is the thickness of the Ford Bellhousing ? An adaptorplate is only 25mm to 30mm thick and I'm sure the Ford item is at least 3 times the thickness so mating up the input shaft might be a problem. The idea is a sound one though.
Be interesting to see some pictures as It's been a while since I've seen a Ford bellhousing.
I've had 8 Sierra's of all types and they were all cable clutch.

_________________
DARREN

I LOVE RUST ME
Patent Pending "The Ultimate In Rust Remedy"

www.vwbaywindow.co.uk - - www.covin.co.uk - - www.flat4dubs.co.uk

72panelvan · Posted: Mon Sep 25, 2006 11:38 pm Post subject:

stunnin! I think cable would be easier.

It wouldn't suprise me if the sierra bell housing was longer than the vw one cos the ford clutch is that much deeper.

It may still work out cheaper for me to use the sierra bellhousing some way and to extend the input shaft somehow.

I'll get a sierra bellhousing and post some comparison photo's or somethings.

tom

richbaker78 · Teacher of Padawans Joined: 31 Jan 2006 Posts: 1298

i run hydraulic clutch on my bay - using t25 master cylinder - its pretty easy to convert with a bit of pedal trickery. So thats another problem ticked off!!

famous phil · Posted: Wed Nov 01, 2006 12:04 am Post subject: bellhousing

me and my dad did a conversion on a merc G WAGON 10 years ago and what we did was cut the bellhousing off one gearbox ,say 65mm then cut the other bellhousing to suit , then made a jig to hold them together in the right position , so they could go off to get welded together , the g wagon had done about 90k miles when this was done , and was changed at about 170k miles , had no bother in all that time , its a good idea . what you might be able to do is cut vw bellhousing off but leave so much left on so that its still bolted up , then bolt siera one over it , might be an easy way of doing this , that is if the siera bellhousing is no to long ,

its a shame that the ford flywheel is as thick as it is ,, the pug one is only about 14mm from the face of the block ,,, you still after overcome the diameter though

hope this gives you some ideas
_________________
Auto Union Munga Jeep ,T4 2.4td , T4 2.5tdi ,Mercedes S Class on LPG , 66 splity deluxe , GP mk1, 3 type 25s 1 with 1.9dt pug engine + 1 with N/A pug engine ,,there are 6 t25s with pug power in Darlington