Chevy Bellhousing

[choogh]

I'm fitting a replacement bellhousing to a 350 Chevy, I'm told I need to "dial in" the bellhousing....
What all that about ??

[Boosted LS1]

Don't know, it should be referenced by the dowels in the block.

[Steve_D]

If the bell housing has never been on an engine before it may not have dowels or dowel holes. In which case simply bolting it on may leave the gearbox shaft out of alignment with the crankshaft.
Dialing it in will consist of mounting a DTI (Dial Test Indicator) on the flywheel such that when the flywheel is rotated the pointer of the DTI can run around a circular element of the bell housing and confirm/adjust so it is central to the flywheel.
However as you have asked what this means then I suspect you may not have the equipment to do it. If so then find a small back street engineering firm who can do it for you.
Once aligned it should be doweled so it always goes back in the same place.

Steve

[choogh]

Steve_D said:

If the bell housing has never been on an engine before it may not have dowels or dowel holes. In which case simply bolting it on may leave the gearbox shaft out of alignment with the crankshaft.
Dialing it in will consist of mounting a DTI (Dial Test Indicator) on the flywheel such that when the flywheel is rotated the pointer of the DTI can run around a circular element of the bell housing and confirm/adjust so it is central to the flywheel.
However as you have asked what this means then I suspect you may not have the equipment to do it. If so then find a small back street engineering firm who can do it for you.
Once aligned it should be doweled so it always goes back in the same place.

Steve

I take out the sparkies, place a magnetic DTI on the F'wheel, adjust the pointer to run round the mating face on the block... rotate the engine so the pointer "runs around" the face ..So far I understand...But then what, what and how can I adjust
I live in North Italy, & small engineering firms are thin on the ground.

[tvrolet]

choogh said:

I take out the sparkies, place a magnetic DTI on the F'wheel, adjust the pointer to run round the mating face on the block... rotate the engine so the pointer "runs around" the face ..So far I understand...But then what, what and how can I adjust
I live in North Italy, & small engineering firms are thin on the ground.

You are correct. Instructions are here http://www.lakewoodindustries.com/pdf/bellhousing_...

You then get offset dowels, so the bit of the dowel that goes in thge block is slightly offset from the dowel end that goes into the bellhousing. They have a screwdriver slot in the end so by turning the dowels the bellhousing moves relative to the block. I had a lakewood bellhousing, and it was miles off. I'm sure someone in Italy can supply offset dowels, but mine came from Real Steel in the UK, and I know Summit and Jegs in the US do them...but Real Steel had them off the shelf.

[Steve_D]

choogh said:

I take out the sparkies, place a magnetic DTI on the F'wheel, adjust the pointer to run round the mating face on the block... rotate the engine so the pointer "runs around" the face ..So far I understand...But then what, what and how can I adjust
I live in North Italy, & small engineering firms are thin on the ground.

When you have the DTI on the FW you are looking to clock the bell not the engine block. So the bell has to be dropped into place over the DTI so the pointer can run around the register on the bell.
Not come across the offset dowels before but that assumes the bell is already drilled for dowels.

Steve

[Boosted LS1]

You'd really expect a bell housing manufacturer to do this for you wouldn't you. It would make life so much easier.