After much pi$$ing around and talking to different places I have finally gotten a brand new TREMEC 5-speed for my car. I got a kit that has all the installation bits, including a pretty hefty cross member and even a shift ****. The whole kit was delivered to my office by FedEx on Tuesday, and I took it home like a kid with a Christmas present. I tore into all the boxes and looked at all the parts and read the instructions like I was studying for sex ed. I rarely read instructions, but hey, for this kind of money I don't want to screw anything up.

Has anyone used a dial indicator on a bell housing? The instructions call for measuring the bell, and the salesman at American Powertrain told me it is very important for the new transmissions to have a good bell housing line-up, but I've never done this before with my old transmissions. I guess things change.

Anyway, I will call them for tech, but I was hoping someone here could tell me if there are any tricks or tips to doing this, and where I can get the dial indicator tool to use. They have one they sell for $45, but that seemed a little steep.

Thanks for the help.

 

I would guess the want you to check parallism from the front to back of the bell housing. To do this you would set the bell housing on a surface plate with the engine side down and swipe the transmission side with an indicator to check for parallel. If they asked you to check something with a indicator they should have told you what was acceptable. Did they say what was acceptable? They must think its a garage/machine shop doing the install. Not to many hobbiest have a surface plate in their home garage. Atlease not one large enough to check a bell housing. Let us know what they say.

 

Gorn,

Sorry, I may have mis-stated the question. They are looking at how well the bell housing lines the up to the crank, and they did send complete instructions. The instructions call for a magnetic base dial indicator with at least 1/1000" resolution. It says a small round base indicator is best, but all I can find are big square ones. The instructions say you can use a square one, but that it fills up most of the space between the flywheel and the bell, making it really hard to manipulate. I think I will just call and buy the indicator they offer. The square ones are about the same price so I really won't be spending any more money, plus I know theirs works.

What I was hoping for here was any techniques or tips from someone who had already done this. I think I can get the measurement down, and I can do the math, but if I have to take the dowel pins out of the block I may have to call in a professional.

Nice ride by the way. I don't see many 67's with that color combination. You can only look at so many black or silver Camaros!