Section : Car Preparation

Alloy Bellhousing 

Posted By : Chris Wilson, 22-Jun-2004, 06:43pm

Righto - I've got the chance of getting an alloy bellhousing for my race car project. I've a choice of 3 - I know one is the herald type and one is the spitfire type (don't know yet what the other one is but I suspect either herald or spit type!).

I've read Jon's "A guide to racing your Triumph Spitfire" and wonder if any of you chappies out there can offer me some "unbiased" advice!! (Go easy please - I'm still in learning mode!).

I'm gonna be using a single rail non-overdrive gearbox so my question is - how easy/difficult is it to drill this quote "sizeable hole to take the upper selector rail from the later gearbox" unquote and what else do I need to do to fit this alloy bell housing to the gearbox? Oh I've decided to go for the spit type alloy bell housing due to it being thicker and more strengthening ribs - am I making the right choice? Final question - how much should I expect to pay for one of these bell housings??

Regards

• Alloy Bellhousing 

  Posted By : Jason Chinn, 22-Jun-2004, 07:28pm

  I've seen these things go for &163;90 on ebay and I've also seen them fail to sell with an opening price of &194;&163;50. Canley's list them at &163;80, not sure if they have any, ask Dave - if you really want to save some weight ask him about billet aluminium gearbox casings - I'm sure he's just uncovered a rick deposit of billet ali under the carpark!

  • Alloy Bellhousing 

    Posted By : James Carruthers, 22-Jun-2004, 07:39pm

    Or else Bill D might have some - I got mine off him for about 70 quid... I tend not to remember prices... it's the best way...
    
    
    
    James
    

    • Alloy Bellhousing 

      Posted By : Adrian Lee, 22-Jun-2004, 11:08pm

      I concur wholeheartadly with James,forget the prices and then you don't have to lie to the missus,I don't know becomes the stock answer!!!!!!!

      • Alloy Bellhousing 

        Posted By : Jon Wolfe, 23-Jun-2004, 11:46am

        It's perfectly OK to use the ally bellhousing with a single rail gearbox, however if the front end of the selector rail is not an excellent fit in the gearbox casing, you can get an excessive amount of gearbox oil out around the rail under heavy braking. If it's bad it may be necessary to fit a tube cap over the hole to receive the selector rail.
        
        I prefer the Herald bellhousing as it's a bit lighter than the MkIII one.

        • Alloy Bellhousing 

          Posted By : Chris Wilson, 23-Jun-2004, 06:12pm

          All, thank you for your various inputs. I still havn't had a price yet for the bell housing - hopefully tomorrow. Now another question and this I think is one for NiG to answer??!! The person who has these bell housings is the gearbox "guru" who has re-conditioned my overdrive gearbox for my road car and is aware that I am building a 1500 race car. He has offered to "sort out" a non-overdrive 3 rail gearbox, with alloy bell housing that will mate up with both the propshaft and the 1500 engine. (You can see that I'm not a technical person!). As I don't have a copy of the TR register/TSSC regs yet - hint hint!! am I allowed to have this 3 rail gearbox in my 1500 race car?? I would save all these questions for Oulton on the 3rd but I'm just too darn impatient!!
          
          Regards

          • Alloy Bellhousing 

            Posted By : David Styles, 24-Jun-2004, 10:10am

            impatience... ah yes..
            
            what these racers don't realise is that those of us who aren't racing yet just have to make do with looking at our cars, polishing them, and trying to work out if there are any modifications we need to make.
            
            Its tougher when you're not racing...
            

            • Alloy Bellhousing 

              Posted By : Michael Davis, 24-Jun-2004, 11:35am

              3-rail on a 1500 is OK. At least I hope so because I've got one!

            • Alloy Bellhousing 

              Posted By : Chris Wilson, 24-Jun-2004, 08:46pm

              >> what these racers don't realise is that those of us who aren't racing yet just have to make do with looking at our cars, polishing them, and trying to work out if there are any modifications we need to make. <<
              
              Oh I wish!! I suppose I could give the chassis a quick polish and erm the diff and driveshafts!!?? Haven't got the body off the Mk IV yet so I still look at it and think - hmmmm - soooon, soooon!!!! Modifications?? My whole project is a modification I think Dave!! But if I'm honest, once the thing's built and tried and tested then yep - I'll be spending those "virtual" thousands on mods and in reality hassling the bank manager!!
              
              Regards
              

          • Alloy Bellhousing 

            Posted By : Nigel Gibbins, 24-Jun-2004, 12:43pm

            With my official hat on...
            
            Yes, you can have a three rail gearbox, with a alloy bellhousing mated to a 1500 engine - that, incidentally is exactly what I had when I started
            
            I didn't know you were lacking in a copy of the regs I always have a few copies with me at races, so please just ask for a set when we are at Oulton.
            
            The regs are designed to reduce any specific advantage a particular Mark of a model may have. I this way 'original' parts from any Mark are completely interchangeable. Herald to Spitfire are also interchangeable as is Vitesse to GT6. Gearbox internals are free.
            
            In class C, theres even more freedom as you can interchange between models too (eg GT6 to Spitfire etc)
            
            Looking forward to Oulton

            • Alloy Bellhousing 

              Posted By : Andy Vowell, 24-Jun-2004, 01:38pm

              "In class C, theres even more freedom as you can interchange between models too (eg GT6 to Spitfire etc)"
              
              But not engines, ie Gitfires/Spit6's are not allowed or even 1147 GT4's (though why would you!)
              
              Cheers
              Andy
              
              
              

            • Alloy Bellhousing 

              Posted By : Chris Wilson, 24-Jun-2004, 08:54pm

              Cheers for that Nig (and Mik too!!) . I'll be askin ya for a copy at Oulton!! So I'm now gonna have a 3 rail etc in me racer project!! I didn't fancy having to modify the alloy bell housing to take a single rail anyway - my engineering skills are about -10 followed closely by engineering knowledge at -20!!
              
              I'm hoping to get up there on the Friday evening, preferably earlier rather than later, (working on boss at the mo to finish early on the Friday!!) Also looking forward to Oulton!!
              
              Regards

  • Alloy Bellhousing 

    Posted By : Nigel Gibbins, 22-Jun-2004, 07:47pm

    Sorry boys,
    The billet gearbox casing (and Diff casing) is illegal for racing under current regulations.
    
    The rules clearly state original block, head, gearbox and differential casing must be used.
    
    Phew, nipped that one in the bud

• Alloy Bellhousing 

  Posted By : Nigel Gibbins, 22-Jun-2004, 07:50pm

  Chris,
  
  I suppose you can use whichever one suits you best. Mine is the thicker type.
  
  However, I'm not entirely convinced they will fit to the single rail gearbox casing - I've personally never tried it as I prefer the three rail box everytime.