The bellhousing conversion for the Ford Type 9 Gearbox in the Scimitar SE5A is now finished and pictured here as a trial assembly.
Also pictured is the new cover assembly for the selector rail which has to protrude through the original bellhousing.
First job today was to set up the Scimitar bellhousing on the turret mill and produce spot faces for 4 of the bolts which now pass through it and thread in to the new adaptor plate. The remaining 2 bolts pass through the adaptor plate into the original threads in the bellhousing.
The Type 9 gearbox, unlike the original SE5A unit, has only one selector rail but when 2nd or 4th gear are engaged this protrudes much further from the gearcasing than did the rails in the original box. In order to accomodate this I have bored a hole in the bellhousing which breaks through to the clutch area. Not wishing to soak a nice new clutch in oil I have made up the “top hat” cover in the bottom picture which attaches with three 2BA set screws into the newly machined surface inside the housing. Ford have thoughtfully provided flats on the end of the selector rail so it won’t hydraulic inside the cover plate – oh and the top hat section isn’t strictly neccesary but it looks so much more workmanlike than a plain lump of steel bar!
All that remains to be done now is to machine the guide tube for the clutch release bearing carrier so that it is of compatible size with the Scimitar clutch assembly and to machine the heads of some high tensile bolts for attaching the plate; the ones fitted now are “stock” bolts for trial assembly. The bellhousing can then be finally assembled with gaskets in place, and the whole thing will be ready to fit to the vehicle.