Bell Housing Difference?q

1758 Views 5 Replies 3 Participants Last post by Alfajay, Apr 13, 2015

velocedoc

Discussion Starter · Apr 11, 2015

The question was asked of me the other day if there was a way to mount a 1600 transmission to a 2 liter bell housing. I said you would have to machine a hole in the top to accept the longer shift rods, but other than that, I didn't think there was a difference...or is there?

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Alfajay

· #2 · Apr 11, 2015

velocedoc said:
The question was asked of me the other day if there was a way to mount a 1600 transmission to a 2 liter bell housing. I said you would have to machine a hole in the top to accept the longer shift rods, but other than that, I didn't think there was a difference...or is there?

I've never tried it, but it would probably work. Two thoughts:

- If you get an early 2L bellhousing, it will already have the holes for the shiftrods.

- I installed a 2L transmission in my 101 1600 Giulia spider. Yea, the opposite of what you are proposing. The only thing that needed attention was getting the proper sized seal for the input shaft. I predict that if you have a problem with your conversion it will be that the OD of the 2L input shaft is large, the ID of hole in 1600 bellhousing is small, and no seal will have that combination of ID & OD.

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Alfar7

· #3 · Apr 11, 2015 (Edited)

Bell housings

I installed a 2L transmission in my 101 1600 Giulia spider. Yea, the opposite of what you are proposing. The only thing that needed attention was getting the proper sized seal for the input shaft. I predict that if you have a problem with your conversion it will be that the OD of the 2L input shaft is large, the ID of hole in 1600 bellhousing is small, and no seal will have that combination of ID & OD.

Incorrect.

The input shaft from a later ytansmission is smaller than the early transmissions (Area of the seal and entire input shaft aft of the splines.

Any 2 liter can be used with an early bellhousing, but if you want to use the reverse light switch without modifying it you need to finf a long shaft pre 1974 transmission.

I keep seals that fit the 26mm later 2 liter input shafts and the early mechanical bell housings.

If you want to use a 1600 trans with a large input shaft the shaft can be machined down to fit or you can use a 2 liter input shaft if your trans is post 1963-1964 or so.
If it is a very early trans swapping the input shaft and 4th gear on the layshaft will create a closer ratio transmission.

Then comes the starter problem. Bell housings are machined for era ringgears and starters and those dont interchange unfortunately.

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Alfajay

· #4 · Apr 13, 2015

Alfar7 said:
Incorrect. The input shaft from a later ytansmission is smaller than the early transmissions (Area of the seal and entire input shaft aft of the splines.

Well I am often incorrect. I assumed that later = larger, but in this case I guess that wasn't a good assumption. Must admit that I hired someone else - it was the late, great Willy Mueller - to graft a 2L transmission to my 101 1600 bellhousing, so I wasn't involved with the details of the input shaft diameter.

Then comes the starter problem. Bell housings are machined for era ringgears and starters and those dont interchange unfortunately.

This is a good point. velocedoc didn't tell us what engine and ringgear the 2L bellhousing would be mated with.

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velocedoc

Discussion Starter · #5 · Apr 13, 2015

Great discussion we have going on with this.

The question just came up in conversation that the guy had a 1600 trans he was going to swap out in his 2 liter car. I said it won't work because of the difference in the shift rods, but I got to thinking, there might be other differences too. I was going on the assumption that the trans was going to be the only swap with the flywheel/ring gear staying the same. You remove the trans, swap out the gear box by unbolting it from the bell housing and putting it all back in. By putting the two split cases side by side you would think they are the same on appearances.

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Alfajay

· #6 · Apr 13, 2015

Knowing the year of your friend's 2L car would help. If it's early, the swap might be pretty simple, as its bellhousing will accommodate the long shift rods that exist on the 1600 trans.

As Richard and I have been discussing, the input shaft diameters differ between 1600 and 2L transmissions, so he will need to size the input seal properly.

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