TKO mating to 385 Series BellHousing

[kitcarbp]

I need some info from the experts here. I am using a Ford OEM cast iron 351/400M bellhousing behind my 460 mated to my TKO 600. This 351/400M bellhousing uses a 4.850" diameter input bearing retainer register bore.

Using my McLeod HYTOB for the TKO 600, the input bearing retainer Mcleod sent me was 4.687" diameter. So when I set it all up, I placed a call to McLeod and I learned I needed a reducer ring they make to slide over the 4.687" bearing retainer to correctly center it in the 4.850 bore, its a nicely machined reducer ring to make this HTOB retainer center correctly in the bell housing register hole.

During the assembly, I zeroed the bell housing to within 0.010" indicator reading, ( .005" actual) (without the reducer ring).

I have about 20 hours of run time on my all new set-up in the shop and I noticed I still have a little drag on the input shaft when hot, indicating an alignment issue for the input shaft perhaps to the crank pilot bearing. I am thinking the tolerance stack here is putting the input shaft out of alignment (beyond 0.010" indicator reading ) when hot because of this reducer ring. I dont know yet if Mcleod has a correct diameter bearing retainers for 4.850" register bores for my 351/400M bellhousing and the tko 600.

Has anyone been down this path and successfully used this reducer ring with McLeod HTOB's on thier bellhousings ? I'm skeptical! Does McLeod have a input bearing retainer for the TKO 600 with the correct 4.850" diameter to eliminate using the reducer ring?

My questions are the following:

1) Do I just re-zero the bell housing to achieve below .005" run-out and continue to use the reducer ring and hope that solves it ?
2) Do I pitch the reducer ring and find a McLeod input bearing retainer with 4.850" diameter for the TKO (part number appreciated!), does this even exist ? (its not clear to me if this was available in 2007 when I assmbled this power unit)
3) Is there an OEM Ford 460 BB bellhousing out there that uses a 4.687" register bore that I should find and use instead, and pitch my 351/400M with the 4.850" register bore?

Thanks all,
Sage advice appreciated.

[blykins]

How much clearance do you have between the bearing and the pressure plate fingers?

There are Quicktime bellhousings for this combination without having to use all the adapters...

[kitcarbp]

Its about 2.87" from fingers to TOB face. I am using the 1364 Mcleod HTOB with the correct piston (after a few different pistons). If I recall my measurements, the OEM Ford Bell Housing I have has total height is 6.250" (without the OEM motor plate). I need this shallow depth(height) for chassis clearance.

I am using the short input shaft on my TKO 600.

In looking at the Quick time catalog, they too offer "Universal" bell housings for 460's for different register bore diameters which tells me they too provide these reducer rings ??) But the quicktime RM-8015 appears to have a register bore of 4.685" for the 460 Ford and the depth of 6.30"

[blykins]

How much distance is there between the face of the bearing and the pressure plate fingers? Do you have clearance there, or does the bearing ride the pressure plate?

As for the Quicktime, most of them will come with adapter rings as most of the Ford bells are set up for either a Toploader or a TKO/T5.

[kitcarbp]

Sorry, I miss-typed. trans mounting face to to pressure plate fingers is 2.87" ;. With bearing piston fully seated in its bore, the face to finger clearance was set at Mcleods recommended range to allow for disc wear ( dont have the figure handy here but it was near .180" )

[blykins]

So is it wanting to creep even when the clutch is pushed down?

[kitcarbp]

Yes, Thats the symptom but only when fully hot with wheels off the ground, when clutch is depressed and in any gear, the output shaft still turnin the rear axle. It does not do this cold. Once I learned that the TKO 600 rev gear is not synchro'd. , when cold , if I select another gear before reverse, no more grinding into reverse, I get that part. The clutch disc now releases with pedal about 1 inch off the pedal stop. I must admit this testing is done with car elevated, no intertia load on drivetrain, have not yet go karted either.

[blykins]

Then I wouldn't worry about it now....you should have mentioned that it was up in the air at first. That's totally different.

If you want the clutch to engage a little higher on the pedal (I would...) you can adjust the bearing closer to the pressure plate.