Dialing in aftermarket T56 bellhousing?

[1BADAIR]

the engine should be mostly protected. thats what the midplate is for. mine came with an alum piece but after complaints they sent out steel units. I never got my quicktime under .007. the bore is also rough so it was hard to read. I use bushings instead of bearings cause they allow a little more tolerance

[Fox Slaughter]

Hey least yours came with instructions. Mine came with Stickers.

2 bags of bolts. Searching Lakewood I found out the Hex key bolts are for the bell to block, then the regular bolts are for the bell to midplate.
I have a steel midplate.
My dial indicator and other measuring tools come end of this week/next week.
So I will find out what the run out on mine is probably 2 weekends from now.

I also used a bushing. I read that the bushings are factory and the bearings if they fail will screw your input shaft unlike a bushing that will just wear.

[birdie2000]

The instructions did absolutely zero for me. There was no information in there that was directly pertinent to putting the kit together. In fact, there were some washers and lock washers in the bag, in larger quantities than needed, that we basically just guessed which bolts needed which.

I used a bushing in the past, but this time all we had around was a bearing so we threw it in since the car won't see that many miles. Wonderful.

I'm gonna call McLeod about this crap soon. I put up a thread on LS1Tech so hopefully they'll just see it there.

If this all has to be done I'm just gonna drop it off at Detroit Gearbox and have a pro figure it out, lol. Might as well put the money toward the labor instead of some f-ing $200 measurement fixture.

[Nocooler]

the engine should be mostly protected. thats what the midplate is for. mine came with an alum piece but after complaints they sent out steel units. I never got my quicktime under .007. the bore is also rough so it was hard to read. I use bushings instead of bearings cause they allow a little more tolerance

Mostly I've seen them kick the starter out. The block cracks at the starter mounting bosses. I should state - on aluminum LSx.

[Fox Slaughter]

See the crappy thing is the tolerances are so tight. I was going to say measure diagonally across from each bolt and it would give you the center. Then take a plate and cut the center out. But we are talking thousandths of an inch so this is impossibly to manufacture yourself.

[birdie2000]

That's the thing, I don't get how bolting a plate to this thing could ever provide enough accuracy for the measurements we're talking about.

[Fox Slaughter]

Because the plate would probably be CNC'd.
The dowels change the placement of the bell housing on the block. So the dowels will hold the bell housing in place.

[birdie2000]

Right, but I mean where the trans bolts to the bellhousing. If I understand it properly, you're trying to make sure the centerline of the crank and the centerline of the trans input shaft are perfectly aligned. From what I remember, there are no dowels between the trans and that side of the bellhousing (or anything other than the bolts to locate the trans to the bellhousing for that matter), and coarse threaded bolts don't seem like they would be precise enough to use as alignment pins when you're talking about thousandths of an inch unless the bolts had precise shoulders on them, which I can't remember if they do.

Anyway, it doesn't really matter, I'm just cranky now because I thought the driveline was in for good 6 months ago. Hell, I've already put 5-10 miles on this thing. Ugh.

Sorry guys, I'm done complaining, lol.

[Nocooler]

On the LS1 cars there are dowel between the trans and bellhousing to locate it - LT1 cars - don't know.

[birdie2000]

That would make more sense then. It's been almost 7 months since I did all this and my memory is foggy.

[Fox Slaughter]

Hm, let me go look at my trans real quick. There are now dowel pins in the bell housing but I have the trans sitting in the garage.

Yes the trans has dowel pins in it.

[birdie2000]

Thanks for looking, I completely forgot they were there.

[Fox Slaughter]

Cyeah. So obviously the dowels on the block move the bell, the bell then dictates the transmission placement.

[birdie2000]

So, called McLeod and asked if their bellhousing needs to be dial indicated. Their response: "Yes, but you can't".

I then asked "So is this bellhousing intended to just be bolted on and run as-is?"

Their response was basically yes. Because the T56 has dowels on the trans to line it up, they rely on that to get everything lined up properly. I was then told that if I absolutely knew it needed to be done, I would have to MAKE the plate to do it. I asked them what would make you need to do it, an align bore? They responded "yes."

My engine had an align bore done. FML.

Thoughts? Anyone know if there are any symptoms that I'll notice while driving or during assembly that will tell me if something's off? Or is wearing out the trans quicker the only thing that'll happen?

[WMCCjames]

Dialing in aftermarket T56 bellhousing?

McLeod sucks for instructions. Always have. I don't see how that company has survived for so long. I'm surprised you were even able to get ahold of anyone there.


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