833OD bellhousing?

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dart6

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I've got a 482 bell, can someone tell me if it will work with the OD tranny
thx
 
The OD bellhousing needs to have a 5.125" pilot hole for the front bearing retainer. If that's not what the hole measures, it won't work.
 
or have it turned out if you have a buddy with a big enough lathe
 
Not all o/d trannies have the bigger bearing retainer.
You should measure the outside diameter of the retainer and compare it to the bellhousing.
I have an o/d trans out of a '75 Dart Sport that has the small bearing retainer and it has a cast iron main case as well.
 
Yes, it can work.

There is a shop near my work that uses those bellhousings all the time with the 4.160" bolt center cases that use the 4.807" and 5.125" bearing retainers.

You can't use a 4.354" bearing retainer, because of the 4.160" bolt center pattern.

If you look closely at the bell, you can't open it up to a 5.125" before invading the clutch fork pivot bolt holes that are next to it.

The thing to do is to machine the bearing retainer to the 4.807" size if that isn't the size that is already on the trans.

Measure the thickness of the tallest area from the front milled surface of the transmission case, where the bearing retainer surface mounts to, to the front of the bearing retainer, somewhere near the outer 3/16" of the flange.

This measurement, + .030" will become your depth to cut the bellhousing open to 4.807". You can cut the bellhousing to 4.807", if you do not go all the way through. By doing this, it will allow you to keep the 4.354" clutch fork pivot location and parts, because it does not get too close to the portion of the threading that the fork pivot bolts actually go into.

Hope this helps.
 
Yes, it can be changed to accomodate, but there is only one way to do this. This is because you can't just change the bearing retainer if you want to keep that case with that bell.

The case has a bolt circle with a 4.160" diameter. The bearing retainers that use the 4.160" bolt circle pattern are either 4.807" or 5.125". You cannot put a 4.354" bearing retainer on the case that has a 4.160" bolt pattern, because they do not match and even if you opened up the holes, the heads of the bolts themselves would interfere with the 4.354" bellhousing circle.

the difference between 4.354" and 4.160" is only .194", which is just shy of 3/16", which is not enough room for the bolt heads and may not even be enough for the threads to clear 4.354". You simply have to use the 4.160" pattern on the case with one of the larger bearing retainers that have the wider flanges.

The clutch fork pivot bolt holes, next to the 4.354" diameter index hole on the bellhousing is too close to open the bell up to 5.125" and the bolt circle on the trans case is too large to use a 4.354" bearing retainer.

This means that you have to meet in the middle on both the bearing retainer and bellhousing, at the 4.807" diameter, but you don't cut all the way through the bellhousing at that diameter. You only go as deep as you need, to get the flange of the bearing retainer into the bell. It only goes halfway in, anyway, so the idea is to leave as much material in the bell as possible, so the bolt holes that hold the fork pivot in place have enough material between them and the index hole. The bolts come in from the front of the bellhousing on the fork pivot and only go partially in, anyway. So you have the bearing retainer going partially into the bell from the back, and the bolts for the fork pivot going partially into the bell from the front.

if you have a case with a 4.160" bolt circle that has either 5.125" or 4.807" bearing retainer and a 4.354" bellhousing, you have enough parts to complete the transmission, you just have to machine partially into the bell and make sure that the bearing retainer is at 4.807", either by leaving that one in, if that's what you've got, or machining the 5.125" retainer down.
 
Just a heads up, Brewers has O/D bellhousings, but it is less expensive to have yours cut, locally, as I described, partially through, leaving the engine side of the bell at 4.354" and cutting the bell from the back out to 4.807"

Your other option is to look for a 4.807" or 5.125" bellhousing elsewhere. Most of the ones on ebay that I have seen are either the 4.354" or more expensive than it costs to machine one of them out.

If I were you, I'd save the cash and headache and just take the bell and retainer to a machine shop so they can fit them for you.
 
Why not simply buy an OD bellhousing? That is the most correct way. No trip to the machine shop. Just buy a bellhousing and go.

If it's the money, then you should get out. Now. No offense meant. But most machine shops have minimum charge. Couple that with gas to and from, the time spent and you could have simply done it the best way.
 
Location makes a difference, for sure. I'm in a city, but that's not always the case.

If you sold the bell, you could offset cost, too.
 
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