Bellhousing differences

[Elliott99]

Hi, I bought a 6 rib gearbox some time ago, but have only just had time to fit it. All was going well until I fitted the starter motor, and noticed that the end of the motor shaft was only just entering the bush, sitting roughly 10mm short of where it should be. I have run a tape measure over the old and "new" bellhousings, and all the major dimensions seem to be identical except for the starter motor mountings. The overall thickness of the starter motor mount is about 73mm on the old bellhousing, and about 83mm on the new. The distance from the motor mounting face to the bush is about 52mm on the old, and about 65mm on the new.
So the question is where to go from here?
Can I swap bellhousings, all the fixings look to be the same?
Is there an alternate starter motor with a longer shaft?
Any suggestions?

Elliott.

 

[Trikky2]

Yes you can simply swap the bell housing.

Also measure the gearbox input shaft. It might need shortening a little, so it doesent bottom out in the flywheel.

 

[dustrat]

Rather than change bell housing and shortening out put shaft get correct starter motor for your gearbox. 6 rib gearbox was normally fitted to type 4 engine.
Robert

 

[Elliott99]

Thank you both! I was not sure it made sense after I posted it!

Elliott