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Brian Watson
United Kingdom
188 Posts |
 Posted - 24/08/2019 : 16:59:52
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I have this bellhousing which is now surplus to requirements as I have sourced a P-type one. I would like to sell it on but I have no idea what engine it would fit. It mates perfectly with the Wolseley gearbox (comes with bonus home-made clutch pedal).
Can anyone identify it?
Any help would be much appreciated.
Brian |
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Oz34
United Kingdom
2501 Posts |
Posted - 24/08/2019 : 19:38:55
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Brian, am I right is guessing that the surface in your bottom photo which closes the MG gearbox is a separate plate bolted onto the bell housing? From memory this looks very like the bell housing I had some years ago which had been used to mate a F**d engine to the MG 'box.
Dave |
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sam christie
United Kingdom
3059 Posts |
Posted - 24/08/2019 : 22:08:42
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I think Dave has correctly identified the bell housing.
Sam |
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Brian Watson
United Kingdom
188 Posts |
Posted - 24/08/2019 : 22:55:20
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Gentlemen,
I hadn't thought there was a separate plate - it's all a bit gunged-up round there. Ford is the usual suspect but there was no engine at all with this car when I bought it so I couldn't be sure. It looks close to Sam's photo but with a couple of additional lugs on either side. Looking around on Google it seems to have come from a Ford 8-10hp model.
The Ford bellhousing and gearbox casing was a complete casting so you have to admire the ingenuity and tenacity of our forebears in keeping our cars on the road. By the looks of things the Ford box was scrapped, the bellhousing cut off from the box and then bolted to a plate - either cut from the original MG bellhousing or fabricated to suit. Then, of course, the input shaft would have been modified. Quite a feat of engineering, when you think about it: almost as difficult as reversing the process 60 years later...
Anyway, now I know it's no use to anyone: just worthless scrap!
Thank you both for your help.
Brian |
Edited by - Brian Watson on 24/08/2019 23:40:43 |
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sam christie
United Kingdom
3059 Posts |
Posted - 25/08/2019 : 00:50:20
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Here is another example -
Sam |
Edited by - sam christie on 25/08/2019 00:51:37 |
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whirlwind
New Zealand
94 Posts |
Posted - 25/08/2019 : 01:57:05
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J2 box fitted to Ford 10 engine as removed from my PA.
Colin |
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Brian Watson
United Kingdom
188 Posts |
Posted - 25/08/2019 : 09:11:43
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Sam, that's it - exactly the same.
Colin, interesting photo: I've never seen how such an assembly was mounted in the chassis. Your photo clearly shows more ingenuity with the rear mounting bracket.
Thank you,
Brian |
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sam christie
United Kingdom
3059 Posts |
Posted - 25/08/2019 : 10:53:12
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It seems there was an industry making these conversions back in the 1950's. Did specialist firms advertise a conversion service?
Presumably the extra cubic capacity of a cheap side valve engine made all the trouble seem worthwhile. Perhaps someone knows why the Ford gearbox was not always used along with the E93A (?) engine. The Ford gearbox pictured below (in a J2) has a Wolseley Hornet Special remote and it seems to fit.
Brian, did your bell-housing come with a first motion shaft for a Ford clutch?
Sam |
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Blue M
United Kingdom
1461 Posts |
Posted - 25/08/2019 : 12:30:25
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| Among others, Bowden did a conversion service. However, since most Specials used the Ford gearbox there must have been a lot of MGs being converted to make it worthwhile. Having owned both a Special and a Minor 2 seater with Ford Ten engines I can say that anyone doing that conversion would not have been disappointed. Good enough for Lotus and Morgan, Rochdale and Buckler to name just four. |
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coracle
United Kingdom
1896 Posts |
Posted - 25/08/2019 : 12:40:23
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quote:
Originally posted by sam christie
Brian, did your bell-housing come with a first motion shaft for a Ford clutch?
Sam
Just to add to the gallery, would it have been one like this:
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Brian Watson
United Kingdom
188 Posts |
Posted - 25/08/2019 : 13:49:38
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Sam,
I think you may be right: this set-up looks like a kit that someone came up with: seems there are too many similar examples for them all to be home-made.
Regarding the shaft: my guess is that it had been modified for a Ford clutch but I can't be 100% sure. It was about the same length as the P-type shaft but with 10 splines. It's the shorter one in the photo below. The longer shaft is a very different story: it's been extended but I'm not sure how. The longer shaft and gearbox still had a P-type bellhousing when I bought them. The photo shows the two shafts - along with an old bit of half-shaft. My idea was to have the input shaft rotary friction welded to a length of half shaft (same drive train, same material, was my logic) but the company I found wanted more than £1,000 for analysis before they would do the job. The actual work was on top of this price so I've no idea how much that would have cost. The actual process looks superb and takes about a minute from what I can see on YouTube. Re-cutting the splines would then be straightforward. Anyway, the cost was too much for me to swallow so I've had to go down a different route and had the shaft built-up with new metal and hope to have new splines cut in the next couple of weeks. Here's the photo of the shafts:
Brian |
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Brian Watson
United Kingdom
188 Posts |
Posted - 25/08/2019 : 13:54:00
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Nigel,
That looks almost identical to the shorter example in my last post.
As no-one is re-making this part, you would think there must be an appetite for reversing this conversion.
Brian |
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