308 V12 conversion begins

The ears used for the original clutch linkage were hitting the clutch and since they are no longer required I removed them.

I also got started on the new clutch shaft. I should finish up the lathe work tomorrow night if all goes to plan.

I still need to do some mearsuring for the trans gear hub, maybe I can get that done tomorrow too. I need to get that going too so everything can go to heat treat together because the part are small enough that it should be a lot charge so it's all 1 price if they go together. Sean is sending me an engine gear with a ruined hub to cut apart so I don't have to destroy the good one I have, it should be here next week sometime.

The bellhousing is clearly going to need some welding, I need to remember to fill my argon tank this weekend.
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Of course!

 

Good Grief Charley Brown!!!! All I've managed to do on the 442 in the last month or so is rub through the clear on the top of the left front fender. other than that, all time has been spent either at work, or in moving furniture all over the house!

I'd say "hurry up and finish so you can come help me on my project," but I am afraid that if you did I would end up with some sort of mad hybrid 442 with a V16 made by welding 8 Ducati V-twins together or something!

Keep the work and pics going!

Shiny Side Up!
Bill

 

Who's cutting the spline ... especially the internal one?

You mentioned you're going bigger so you can use the gear I have with the messed up internal ... is it some larger "standard" spline that the co. is setup for? If they're broaching it they might have to draw the gear back first or you got an EDM guy?

Are they cutting the external ones on the shaft also or are you gonna have a go at that . edit: BTW the smile is not because I want to . Be a "fun" piece to make if I "had to".

Cheers

 

All the internal splines will be wire EDM'd as will the external splines on the new trans gear hub (I made them thru cuts to allow wiring). There is nothing standar about the spline, just a design the fits and is strong....I think.

I will cut the external spines on the clutch shaft with an indexing head and key seat cutter on them mill leaving the minor diameter a little facetted and about .010 oversize. After the shaft is hardened I'll will grind the minor dia to finish size on a surface grinder with the wheel dressed to the correct profile.

We'll come up with something "good" for you to make in trade for the good uses stock gear and shaft
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I'm pretty sure your car will be done long before mine is.....there is a lot of work left to do...... and a lot of money left to spend

 

Good man ... nice plan.

I just picked up a surface grinder in the typical "lucky" condition ... free but needs the air bearing spindle cleaning .

cheers

 

I had about an hour to sneak into the shop today so I used it to.....scrap the clutch shaft I had 3 hours and $100 piece of steel into

It looks like next weeks updates will be remarkably similar to this weeks as I start the shaft over.

Here's a picture that shows the relative difference in lenght.....pay no attention to the exactly .100 undersize gear spile area.

I did successfully replace my nearly empty argon tank this morning, so that's something I guess. I really want to get going welding the bellhousing back together...maybe tomorrow.
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This beats out all those other engine swaps I've seen.

 

Mark, I think you went about this thread backward. It might have been alot easier to simply state what would remain stock rather that what needed to be changed/fabricated.

 

Look at the glass half full? Cut some clutch splines into it and you'll have a darn fancy clutch alignment tool.

 

I think you're right.....

 

There is always a bright side I guess

 

The new bearings came in saturday and they look like they'll work fine. One will go in the bellhousing and the other in the cover after I weld in a boss to hold it.

I messed around with the bellhousing a little today. The first thing I noticed was that the ring gear bolts hit the block, I'll switch to button heads and maybe notch the block if there is still a problem.

Next was the fitting the chuck I sawed off a couple months ago. This piece will remain in it's original orientation so the drain plug is on the bottom....but since I changed the engine position the flywheel all kind of runs into it. So out comes the sawsall and grinder and away go the offending areas.

I think I'll make the mounting flange for the bellhousing the same way I did the end of the trans. I'll take a piece of bar stock and bend it into a 1/2 circle in the press...it's a lot cheaper than sawing the part out of a big piece of plate.

The gap I'll need to fill between the sections of the casting is about 1 7/8" so I'll get some 1/4 x 1 3/4 bar which will leave a 1/16" gap on each side and that's about perfect for welding.

Getting this whole thing to fit properly is going to be a bit tricky becasue when I weld the snot out of it putting it back together it's going to warp, shrink, twist and anyother bad thing that can happen but I think I have a good plan.

First I machine thepart that hits the trans flat taking as little as possible. Then I cut the part that hits the engine the correct distance away to match my engine/trans assembly. I'll leave about 1/8" extra material when I weld the flange on the bellhousing to be sure there is no problem at this set. I guess I need to make sure the face is square to the clutch shaft too.

Then I clamp the the bellhousing to the engine and indicate the clutch shaft bearing exactly in line with the engine crank and the bolts that go into the trans as close to lined up as I can get them. Then I machine the trans bearing to exactly line up with the trans shaft. The new bearings are about .100" larger OD than the original so there should be plenty of metal. Also while it's clamped up I'll pin it to the engine and trans and drill the bellhousing mounting bolt.

Third I clamp it flat on the table face the drop gear case flat and indicatre in the engine and trans bearing to tell me where to machine the idler gear bearing. The idler gear is moving because I'm swappin the engine and trans gears so I'll weld up the boss when I'm welding everything else.

Last I install machine the drop gear cover to match and ion theory it will all work again. We'll find out in a couple weeks
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Looking good Mark.

What's the story with Joe the plumber............i mean cam guy? Any news to report?

 

Joe said he would havew a look at the cams over thanks giving weekend whne the shop was quite. We'll see. Not that it really matters as I'm clearly not ready to build the engine yet. I'll get the trans wrapped over the next month or 2 then get back to the engine.....where there is still a lot of work to do.

 

Instead of welding on the cover and warping it is there any way to make a bolt-on flange for the bearing to sit in?

 

Yes it could be done that way and maybe that would be better....I'll give it some more thought. The only issue I think are the stiffening ribs, they would have to be cut away to form a flange to bolt and seal to.

 

Tonight's project was to make the flange for the bell housing. It was a little more than my press could handle so I had to heat it to get it to play nice. I'll probably play with it a little more to get it a bit flatter, but the shape is plenty good enough and there is plenty of metal to remove to clean it up to look nice.

I also sawed the stock for the trans gear hub and nut and the new piece of metal for take 2 on the clutch shaft came. There will be plenty to do over the holiday.
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FOR NASA, the weather is pretty nice in Houstin,but great as Malibu in Austin,you could commute from Austin,Lana would like Westlake for sure,FORZA

 

My bother keeps trying to talk me into moving to Austin, but Lana doesn't want to go any place that has scorpions.

 

There aren't any scorpions in Austin, it's a blue county.

And only an hour away - I could come up and help!!

 

That must be what she meant

 

I got looking at the a couple pictures of the bellhousing on the engine and I'm now thinking the outside diameter of the bellhousing is a bit to large where it meets the engine and covers where the bolts need to go. I could just machine pockets for the bolt heads since the flange I just made is going do all the work, but I think it will look better if I reduce the entire diameter. So, the next time I'm in the shop I'm going to cut a series of wedges out, heat and bend it to a better OD size and then weld the cuts and grind it smooth like it came that way before I weld the flange on......I think.
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You sir are your own worst enemy!