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2-9-2008
I got a little time today and made the flange that the lower part of the timing cover bolts to. This is going to be a dry sump set-up the little roundish area on the right side where the oil pick up tube would normally go will simply get a boss for an AN fitting and then a line from the an oil tank mounted somewhere.


Tomorrow I should have most of the day and be able to get the pan extension parts made and hopefully welded in. Slow but steady I guess…..

I took a good long look at the bell housing last night. I had it in my head that converting to a hydraulic throw-out bearing assembly would save my a ton of room, but the reality is I thin it would not be more than ¼” if I optimize the mechanical stuff already there. I’m still not quite sure how I’m going to make all the pieces fit the way I want…..I’m pretty sure it will involve band sawing and weld some how though

The problem is that the bearings obviously have to be in exactly the right spots. That means they have to be machined after welding, but the castings are already machined. So I either need to replace the whole section with a chunk of billet or bore out the bearing areas and weld in a sleeve so they can be machine back to size in the correct location. A problem for another day I suppose.

2-9-2008
I thought nap time was over but it wasn't quite so back to the shop to start the pan extensions. I want the pant to match the look of the engine and that has round corners. I don't have a roller so the easiest way for me to make that is to just buy tubing with about the right radius, quarter it, and then tweak it into the right shape with a mallet....plus a little weld will hide a lot of mis-match.

One side is pretty much done, just a little more trimming then one more and a plate to go between and it's time to weld.

2-10-2008
I got the right side all welded together today. Once I grind all the welds I do't think anyone will ever know it didn't come that way. I just need to make a semicircle and weld it on the left and the trans case is ready for final machining.

The case has to be finished machined with the pins to locate the engine before I can move on to the bell housing and drop gears if I want to have any hope for getting all the parts to fit together in the end.

2-11-2008
Everything is TIG welded with straight argon. I do pre-heat, although not as much and as well as I probably should, I go to about 200F. My welder is a 400 amp machine but the torch I used (W20, water cooled – you want a water cooled torch if you don’t already have one) is only good to 300 or 350 depending on which brand….mine is supposed to be 350 but that must be under ideal conditions because it’s looking pretty melted these days.

For the block I had the welder set to 325 and had the pedal to the floor a good amount of the time and that requires a 1/8” tungsten. The trans is not as thick, I’ve got the welder set at 300, but almost never have the pedal all the way down. With more preheat you can use a lower power setting but you have to watch over heating the weld zone, aluminum weld best when you put the power to it and go fast

The more you pre-heat the less distortion you should get…at least in theory but any time you weld anything the only thing you can count on is that it’s going to pull in the weld zone. The block is out .010” down the main bearings and will need to be fixed by either oversize bearings or welding up and re-cutting the journals. Also on the front face of the block it’s pulled in around the bores and I’ll need to weld up the surface and re-cut it. I think the trans is ok so far because the precision stuff is far enough anyway from where I’ve been working, but I won’t know for sure until I get it off the jig and check it.