71 Wheeling Rig

them things can do a lot. it's a universal wrench

 

I got them from Summit. They are Omix parts, but seem to be decent quality.

• https://www.summitracing.com/parts/OMX-1828009

 

Just cleaned stuff tonight.

The case is cleaned to my satisfaction:


I used a Benchmark Abrasives strippre wheel on the machined surfaces again. They seem to be the perfect thing for the task:


Also used it on the PTO cover to take the rust layer off the outside:


Cleaned all the fasteners but didn't take a picture.

Made it about halfway though cleaning the shift tower before calling it a night:

 

More cleaning. Whee!

Top cover cleaned up:




I need to ovalize two holes in the transmission case, drill a third, and make a bridge to catch the forth. I need the bellhousing to do all that, so it's next on the cleaning list. Started with the solvent tank because it was dark by the time I got to it. Progresss is slow, so I'm taking the pressure washer to it tomorrow night. That should be a LOT faster:


That's the last thing to clean, and then I can start doing some actual work.

 

Cleaning up old greasy parts is a pain, however it sure do look good when you're done.

 

Well, the pressure washer didn't do much for it:


So it was back to mineral spirits and hand scrubbing. Finally got it done:


Used the stripper wheel again for the mating surface:


I put the front Novak bearing retainer on the front of the transmission to assess the next tasks. Per Novak's instructions, you can use their machined down retainer (or machine your own) to fit the GM bellhousing pilot hole and bolt the GM bellhousing directly to the Ford transmission with minimal mods and no adapters. This plus a T18 makes for the shortest possible truck 4spd at about 1.5" longer overall than the original T14.

The two upper holes need to be ovalized in the transmission case about 1/8" I might need to find a smaller diameter bit for the die grinder.

Upper driver's side:


Upper passenger side:


The lower driver's side needs a hole drilled in the unused ear on the transmission to match the existing hole in the bellhousing:


For the passenger lower bolt, Novak says to drill the unused ear on the transmission and drill/tap a matching hole in the bellhousing. I don't like that solution because the bellhousing has cast in webs and bosses for the bolts. If you do what Novak says, you end up with a bolt in the web and not in the much stronger boss (See the pictures above). Instead of doing that, I'll make a bridge that spans the original lower transmission bolt hole and a drilled/tapped hole in the unused ear:


Here's an example of what I have in mind on a NP435:

 

I just did this, Only about 5min each with a round file. Well maybe a bit longer. Call it an hour to be completely done.

 

Thanks Scott. I've got some chainsaw sharpening files that remove material quick so maybe I'll just do it by hand then.

 

Either way just don't let waiting on a tool hold you up for to long. Love to see the detail you post on this thread about the rebuilds. As I said this T18 I recently did myself. I'm sure you will not have the issues/mistakes I made.

 

X2

 

This showed up to make life easier putting it back together:


Did some bellhousing adaption work this evening.

Used a level to get the bellhousing and transmission indexed the same and marked it in 3 places with a Sharpie:


Used some marking ink and a scribe to locate the holes on the front of the transmission. It's hard to see the marks for ovalizing, but they are there:


Cleaned up threads in the bellhousing:


I started with a round file, but found a small enough die-grinder bit in my toolbox and ended up using that. It took around 10 minutes per hole. I put the top/side covers back on and taped the remaining holes to keep the filings out of the case while grinding. Here's the upper passenger side bolted in place:


Here's the upper driver's side bolt in place:


Center punching the hole for the lower driver's side bolt:


After lots of drilling. I drilled it out to 9/16" for a little slop around the 1/2" bolt:


Bellhousing mounted with three of the four bolts in place:


Here's the front with the ovalized and added holes:


Next is making the bridge piece.

 

Woodford stopped by today, told him to tell you hello!

 

I love big orange cats.

 

Took Emmett:


And put the Jeep in the ditch again to check the new bumpstops:




This is about as far as I want the fronts to compress so I can still have a little fender clearance for steering:


...and it's stting on the front bumpstop. Perfect!:


The rear is a bit beyond where I would like it. The tire is into the inner fender well pretty hard:


...and I'm still about an inch off the bumpstop. I'll need to make some spacers for the rear stops:

 

In the evening, I futzed some more with the bellhousing.

Pilot hole drilled in the blank ear:


Drilled the hole to the proper tap size and tapped it for a 7/16" bolt:




Did a CAD drawing of the bridge piece:


A spacer will go in the gap:


Bridged traced onto a 1/4" piece of plate. I'll cut the spacer from the 1/2" ID 1/4" wall chuck of tubing there:


And that's it for tonight. I'm too worn out from all the yard stuff we did this weekend.

 

Worked on the bridge tonight.

Putting the cut-off wheel to use:




Starting to round the corners:


Center-punched the end holes and drilled them out to 1/2" for some extra clearance to the 7/16" bolts:


Bolted it on to locate the last hole:


Marked with a center punch through the bellhousing:


Drilled it out to 9/16" for some extra clearance for the 1/2" bolt:


And it didn't fit. Had to ovalize the middle slightly with the die grinder. After that it bolts on nicely:


Because it's a casting, the tabs on the transmission have a slight taper on the back side. There are also some radii I needed to grind some clearance for:


Here's my bridge with a matching agle ground in so it can be square with the world:


It's kind of crappy Ford didn't machine the back sides of the tabs. The original bellhousing bolts have to flex to take up the angle of that surface.

Cut a spacer to the needed length and bored it out from 1/2" to 9/16" for bolt clearance. All bolted together:


I'll pull it apart and weld the spacer in place tomorrow night. It doesn't need much of a weld since it's under compression. It just needs to be held in place for easy assembly:


Hopefully I'll get it painted tomorrow night too and I can call that project done.

 

Didn't do much tonight, but did get the bridge welded:


And painted:


Then I put ALL the tools away mid-project because the work area was a disaster.

Next is some more bench cleaning then figuring out how to get the all the gears off the T18 output shaft.

 

Looking good Bud.

I find the bench clearing therapeutic sometimes.

 

Vanity shot of the bridge piece all painted up:


From the front (I need to grind the upper screw about 1/8" shorter):


I surpised myself with how flush it came out:


That was is it for the drilling/grinding on the case so it was time to give the bench a good clean in prep for gear work:


The transmission rebuild kit and the D18 adapter:

After reading the instructions for the adapter, I realized I wasn't done with drilling/grinding the case.

The counter-sunk hole at the bottom of the picture needs to be drilled and tapped in the transmission case. The original bolt hole in the case interferes with the backwards bolt on the D18:


Off to the drill press. The table on my bench top press didn't go down far enough to fit everything, so I made a Jenga tower on the base:


As per the instructions, used a 13/32 drill and the adapter as a jig to start the hole:


That worked great:


Drilled through with a 5/16 dril:


Tapped the hole for a 3/8" bolt. I started the tap with the drill press to keep it straight but I couldn't turn the chuck by hand after it got in a ways. I finished it the old fashioned way:


All bolted up:


On the factory T98s, this bolt needs to be in the adapter before the adapter is bolted to the transmission. I realized the part of the case in the way on this late model T18 is superfluous and decided to grind clearance for the bolt:


Much better, now you can slide the bolt in with the adapter in place:


I cleaned the shavings out of the case from drilling the through hole. Clean and finally ready for assembly. The flecks you see are pieces of blue paper towel:


Hopefully some work on the gears tomorrow.