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 Post subject: Making a bell housing ?
PostPosted: December 10, 2018, 11:36 pm 
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Can't find much on this,so how hard is it to make a bell housing. I have this idea of using part of a Subaru tran's axle housing (the bell part ) and building some king of flat area to be able to mount a Porsche 928 tran's axle to it. Ideas ? Their is a mount area on the Tran's but nothing on the bell housing. ? This will give me a Rear most diff likethe 908-3 ? Ideas ?


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PostPosted: December 11, 2018, 12:12 am 
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I've contemplated it before. You would need to be comfortable getting some fairly precise measurements for the locating features (the rest of the attachment holes are typically oversized so there is more room for error).

A few options exist for finding hole centers:
1) If you had a large enough mill, you could probably use a hole finder to get X and Y coordinates.
2) Something like an oversized clock makers depthing tool could also work - one end would always go to a bolt hole while the other would need a fitting for either a bolt hole or the crankshaft/transmission input shaft.
3) You can get adapter for calipers to find hole centers. Only downside is that you're limited by the caliper size and its only good for finding centers between bolt holes.

If you were comfortable with casting I think that would be the easiest route since you would only need to drill the mounting holes, face mill the front and back, and bore the center.

The more realistic but heavier option would be to cut a front and rear flange from 1/4" steel plate and make the rest from 1/8" plate. You would still need to do some face milling and boring afterwards to get everything to line up.

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PostPosted: December 11, 2018, 12:17 am 
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If that is the trans you want to use it looks like a milling machine, flat aluminum plate, and TIG weld job to me.
Make a plate to bolt to the trans side and weld it to a suitable bell housing.
The clever bit is retaining access to all necessary bolts. :mrgreen:

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PostPosted: December 11, 2018, 12:27 am 
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Thanks,a.

The Subaru housing has every thing for the clutch system in the bell housing or on it. Here is a photo from the front.
My thinking is to just pull the guts out of the Housing,bolt it back together and run it through the band-saw then build a plate after finding centers.
Then build a stub shaft to go from the crankshaft center bearing through the clutch plate/pressure plate then to the cuppler on the tran's axle ?
In the photo the clamp thing is not on the splinted cuppler.


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PostPosted: December 11, 2018, 12:30 am 
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The plate that would mount to the Subaru part with luck have its bolts on the outside and the Porsche mount will be on the inside ? Make seance ?

The newer Corvette us something like this ?

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Last edited by B85 on December 11, 2018, 12:33 am, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: December 11, 2018, 12:33 am 
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You will need a milling machine twice.
Once to square up before welding and again after.
Might help to be able to bolt up to an empty block while welding.
Alternate weld area from side to side in an attempt to minimize distortion.

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PostPosted: December 11, 2018, 12:36 am 
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I don't think it is to tall (bell housing ) for my mill.
And yes holding it for welding and adding some heat will help.
Hell, I may be able to bolt it to the bell ?

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PostPosted: December 11, 2018, 12:56 am 
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Anybody have a idea what the cost would be to make a shaft like this but with the Porsche splines on one end and the Subaru on the other ?


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PostPosted: December 11, 2018, 1:02 am 
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Something like this ? Not to scale ! LOL


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PostPosted: December 11, 2018, 1:05 am 
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B85 wrote:
Anybody have a idea what the cost would be to make a shaft like this but with the Porsche splines on one end and the Subaru on the other ?

Do you have specs for the splines?
You can send it out to a shop for splining once it's been turned on the lathe.
If you have a good dividing head and the proper cutter you may be able to cut the splines one at a time on a mill.
In any case you will need to have it heat treated.
Probably harder to do than the bell housing so I suggest making more than one basic part.

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PostPosted: December 11, 2018, 1:14 am 
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I'm ok with the mill but? Think I will farm it out .

The lath work I can do but need to find out what steel will be the best for turning and then treating. A little out of my pay grade. LOL

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PostPosted: December 11, 2018, 1:19 am 
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Here is a better shot of the cuppler.


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PostPosted: December 11, 2018, 1:27 am 
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If you are REALLY lucky you can obtain a shaft with the larger end already done.
Then turn down the smaller end and have it normalized, splined, and re-heat treated.
That gives you the proper steel without having to be a metallurgist. 8)

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PostPosted: December 11, 2018, 8:44 am 
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You are using an EJ engine? It may be possible to use an EA to EJ adapter plate plus a bolt on EA ~'90 Subie 3 speed auto bellhousing. This bell housing bolts onto the subaru 3 speed. I've got one on my shelf from back when I was thinking about going rwd on my impreza that I am sure I can part with.

adapter plate: https://andersondesign-fab.com/product/ea-ej-adapter-plate/

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PostPosted: December 11, 2018, 10:22 am 
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Can't do the Auto bell. Their are no mounts for the clutch system.
But thanks for looking at the idea.

If I use the cut MT5 housing everything is their. Only question will be the starter and can it clear the 928 box ? I think it is ok ?

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