Kirkham Motorsports Assembly Manual

[David Kirkham]

more diff stuff

[David Kirkham]

INSTALLING THE FLYWHEEL, TRIMMING THE BELL HOUSING, AND DIALING IN THE BELL HOUSING.

First, a note from the legal department.

We like to install scatter shields in our personal rides. Since our feet extend past the clutch plate, we like to have something more than a cast aluminum bell housing between our legs and the spinning flywheel/clutch setup.

This information is provided only to let you know what we have tried and found mentally comforting. Anyone contemplating modifying their own scatter shield should read DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY and the important safety tips.

DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: As with so many other things in life, what you do here is at your own risk. Kirkham Motorsports is providing this information only to let people know what we do with our own personal stuff. Kirkham Motorsports isn't responsible if you have problems before, during or after this warranty-voiding modification.

Modifying your scatter shield may kill, injure, harm, upset, or otherwise cause problems to you, passers by, pets, government officials, race sanctioning bodies, and others. Please check local laws, race sanctioning bodies, and anyone else who might have a competent opinion before undertaking the modifications listed above.

It is likely you will use dangerous tools to perform the above modifications. Please insure that all tool safety equipment is in place before attempting any modifications. For your own safety, it would be best to hire someone competent and experienced to modify your scatter shield for you.

Lakewood makes a very fine scatter shield which can be installed after trimming. On the down side, the modifications on this page will probably void whatever warranty your scatter shield may have had. Furthermore, common sense says any cuts made to the scatter shield will probably weaken it, though it should still be better than a cast aluminum bell housing (which we wouldn't ever use). Obviously, any modifications you make to the scatter shield are at your own risk.

If you still want to modify your scatter shield/bell housing, this is how we do it:

The first thing you have to do is trim the bell housing. As the bell housing comes out of the box, it will not fit in a our car...or, by extension an original Cobra. The bell housing must be notched to clear the right frame rail next to the starter. Also, JUST AS IMPORTANT, you need to cut the bottom of the bell housing off so it will clear any object you happen to run over...like rocks, weeds, cats, road gators, Osama's buddies, speed bumps, and THE WORST OFFENDER--TRAILERS (this is where LOTS of cars get high centered).

Here Sandwich is getting ready to cut the offending parts of the bell housing off. He will cut the bell housing along the black lines he has drawn on the bell housing. You can get a pattern for doing your own cutting off of our website under the "Technical FAQ's."




Here is Sandwich on the band saw. Notice he is wearing his SAFETY GLASSES! You should too! I once had a piece of crap fall in my eye when I opened a hood and then wondered why my eye started to feel like it was on fire the next day. Well, I had to have the local eye surgeon scrape the crap out with a needle. It was one of the most painful experiences I have ever had in my entire life! On the bright side, the surgeon is now a very good friend of mine and did Lasik on my eyes and now I can see way better than 20/20. He is an incredible doc, Thanks Doctor Noble!

Notice Sandwich bolted the backing "saver" plate to the bell housing so he could save time and cut them together and make a neat cut.

[David Kirkham]

Now we are going to install the flywheel BUT, you HAVE to install the engine "saver" plate FIRST...it goes in front of the flywheel (in front of meaning toward the front of the car). Just think, I have just saved you 1/2 hour of all sorts of bad words and thrown wrenches because you probably would have just bolted the flywheel on in your excitement and forgot the "saver" plate. Then you would have had the wonderful opportunity of taking everything back off again and cleaning out all the yucky Locktite that got stuck in the holes. On the bright side, you could have practiced your technique torquing your flywheel bolts...

I am not sure why they call it a "saver" plate because if your flywheel/clutch explodes I am not sure there would be anything left on the block worth saving. But, fortunately, I haven't seen--or heard--of a blown clutch/flywheel since we have been in business. In the early 60's the big three ran cast grey iron flywheels. I have heard they blew up all the time at the drags. In the mid 60's they changed to ductile iron and that stuff is almost indestructible. Not sure if any of those ever blew up. But drag racing started way before the 60's and the rules got made and now we still live by them even though our materials are VASTLY superior to what they ran back in the day. (Come to think of it, we suffer the same problem with Congress. Like Mark Twain said, "The only time a man's life, liberty, and property are all in jeopardy is when the legislature is in session.")

I digress,

Back to the "saver" plate.

The plugs on the back of the motor do NOT sit flush with the back of the motor. The stick out. They will interfere with installing the "saver" plate. So, you have to drill relief holes for them. There are two holes you have to drill. One is here:




And the other is here: In this picture, Sandwich has already drilled the hole out. To mark the holes, we simply put magic marker, chalk, or anything else that happens to be within reach and cover the offending plug. We then put the plate on and lightly tap the plate over the plugs. We then have a beautiful mark where to drill the holes.





Yes, I have seen people just bolt the plate down and dent the plate. If your mechanic wants to do that, just STOP, blow the whistle, and tell him, "STEP AWAY FROM THE CAR!"

[David Kirkham]

Now we need to find the bolts to bolt on the flywheel. We ONLY use ARP flywheel bolts. Critical bolts are one of those things that you don't want to skimp on. It takes a LOT of work to dial in a bell housing and there is no sense "testing" the scatter shield to see if it "works."

I forgot to take the picture of the bolts before Sandwich took them out of the package, but here is the package anyway. Flywheel bolts for a Ford FE are ARP part number 200-2802.




And here they are holding on the flywheel. We use Blue Locktite and CLEAN OUT THE HOLES with brake clean! Like most people, Locktite doesn't like to work when it is dirty. We torque the flywheel bolts to 80 ft/pounds. Notice we use an aluminum flywheel. I HATE steel flywheels! The motor takes WAY too long to rev and which makes canyon driving much less enjoyable.

[David Kirkham]

And now we run into our first major problem! I should have known the FE gods were going to get me back when dialing in the bell housing was so easy (see below). We actually put the pilot bearing in after we dialed in the bell housing but it doesn't matter when you do it.

Anyway, the hole in the Scat crankshaft is TOO BIG! It was machined wrong by Scat. When we tried to put the pilot bearing in--it just FELL in. The hole in the crank measured 1.860 inches and the bearing measures 1.852 inches. Thinking we need about a 0.002 inch interference fit, that means the crank was machined 0.010 inches over sized.


So, the master machinist Sandwich trimmed 0.200 inches off the outside diameter of the pilot bearing and then machined an aluminum sleeve to go over the outside of the bearing and bring it back up to the proper 1.862 inch outside diameter. Sandwich is to the lathe what Jason Bell is to a Stradivarius.




Here is the pilot bearing we use: Part number SKF B50-HD Sorry the picture is blurry, but the box is blurry.

[David Kirkham]

Now, for the thing we always get a million questions on. Dialing in a bell housing. You may ask, "Why do I need to dial in my bell housing?" Good question. The bell housing is what holds the transmission on to the engine. The center of the transmission input shaft is supposed to be pointed directly at the center of the crankshaft. There is a pilot bearing/bushing in the end of the crankshaft. The bearing or bushing can be a true needle bearing, or it can be made out of bronze.

The snout on the input shaft of the transmission fits very snugly into the bearing/bushing. If they are not "perfectly" in line then the input shaft on the transmission will be cocked over and the bearing on the input shaft will start screaming it is UNHAPPY! Well, in a very short time, you will be unhappy too as you have to pull your interior, seats, tunnel, emergency brake cable, throw out bearing assembly, drive shaft, and drive shaft safety loop--for those of you who were smart and bought that option. (Nothing like a free wheeling drive shaft by the family jewels to give you an unexpected vasectomy if it unexpectedly comes loose or apart. But hey, look at the bright side--if it broke it'll probably be sharp, so it'll be quick--but probably not too painless...). Anyway, it is about a 4 hour job to fix everything--(the tranny, that is, not the neutering). Signs of a bad alignment on the bell housing are: hard shifting, noisy front bearing, and if you are really unlucky, a complete failure of the bearing with lots of little metal parts scattered in your transmission.

So, to avoid purchasing stock in the antacid companies, please dial in your bell housing or have someone who is competent do it--I have seen several that are NOT competent. The current "record" is actually from a "professional" installer--0.139" out! That is more than 1/8 of an inch! The bearing didn't last 100 miles, but that was more than the warranty the installer gave and the customer was left out in the cold. The car ended up here where so many of them do that have had Backyard Bob working on them--right here back in our shop for a "tune up."

First thing to do is drill the dowel pin holes over sized in the bell housing--we drill them to 1/16 inch larger than the bushings we are going to weld in. Sandwich is kindly pointing to the 2 holes that need to be drilled out. They are circled with black magic marker.

[David Kirkham]

Then you will need to buy (or make as we usually do) these babies. Here are the weld bushings we use.