[rjvadala]

There is a large horse shoe spacer (has holes in it which fit over transmission bolts) that goes between the engine and the transmission. I know my GT 1300 took the thin spacer. Without that spacer, the throw out bearing lever did not go Back or foward enough for the clutch to engage. I found that out the hard way.

There is a thicker spacer that I have seen used on GTVs. Perhaps 1/8" thick.

My quesiton is that I am now installing a 1750 engine into my Junior and don't know which spacer I 'm to use? Thanks, Rob

 

[Alfajay]

I think it works as follows:

- The spacer and bellhousing should match. That is, if the bellhousing from your junior came with a thin spacer, you should use that one regardless of the engine size.

- Early cars used the thicker spacers, later cars the thinner. Doesn't matter if it's a GTV/Spider/Berlina. All the 1600's I've worked on have had the thick ones - all the 2000's the thin ones - don't know about 1750's.

But, I could be wrong here, and would like to hear others' opinions.

 

[Gordon Raymond]

Jays correct. That's how it works for me.

 

[steve69]

The spacer on 1750 is a little more than 1 mm.

 

[dbest]

Bellhousing Spacer

Usually the mechanical clutch bell-housing requires the thick spacer, however there are some 3-bolt starter mechanical clutch bell-housings that take the later thin style spacer. Does your car have a 3-bolt starter?

Regards
Don

 

[njh1964]

Hi,

Sorry to chime in here, but I'm also interested in the correct spacer (I think it's also called a sandwich plate?) to go between a 2lt 105 bellhousing and the back of a 2lt Twin Spark motor. Can anyone recommend the correct item, possibly a photo of it, and where I might be able to source one?

Regards,


Nick

 

[rabhalter]

New Sandwich Plate Query

I found this thread and thought I'd try to revive it. The posts here seem to say that a mechanical clutch bell housing that will accept a three bolt starter will also take a thin engine-transmission spacer. Can you confirm?

My problem is that my '66 Giulia Super came to me as a non-running car. During reassembly I realized that the transmission was not original to the car (It had later synchros and a three-bolt starter bellhousing) but didn't think much of it until I realized that, when I got it running, the new clutch wasn't fully disengaging. I can shift only with difficulty. I know about the many other things to check, but I'm wondering if having the wrong spacer plate could cause my symptoms.

Wouldn't it be the case that having the wrong plate would alter the spacing between the throwout bearing and the pressure plate, making it impossible to get satisfactory adjustment of the mechanical clutch linkage. I have adjusted the new clutch cable as short as I can get it and still have way too much freeplay before the clutch engages.

 

[Alfajay]

my '66 Giulia Super came to me as a non-running car. During reassembly I realized that the transmission was not original to the car (It had later synchros and a three-bolt starter bellhousing) but didn't think much of it until I realized that, when I got it running, the new clutch wasn't fully disengaging. I can shift only with difficulty.

I don't know which shim is correct for three bolt starter bellhousings on mechanical clutch cars.

But sure, a thinner shim would position your bellhousing closer to the flywheel, and as such, move the T/O bearing forward. The question is whether the input shaft of your transmission would bottom on the base of the hole for the pilot bearing if the tranny was shifted forward. If you have things apart, you might try assembling the block-crank-bellhousing-tranny with NO shim, and see how forward you can position the bellhousing before the input shaft contacts the bottom of the pilot bearing hole.

Another possible cause for your clutch problems: those mechanical clutch throw-out forks tend to get bent. You may need to heat and re-bend the lever to gain more throw. When they get bent, the lever interferes with the hole in the bellhousing before fully releasing the clutch - is that your symptom? That problem has been discussed in the 750/101 community, as those cars use the same mechanical clutch mechanism.

 

[rabhalter]

Another possible cause for your clutch problems: those mechanical clutch throw-out forks tend to get bent. You may need to heat and re-bend the lever to gain more throw. When they get bent, the lever interferes with the hole in the bellhousing before fully releasing the clutch - is that your symptom? That problem has been discussed in the 750/101 community, as those cars use the same mechanical clutch mechanism.

Jay,
Thanks. I'll add that to my list of things to check. Unfortunately the car is together and may have to come apart again if the simple things all check out. I do have some earlier gearboxes laying around and can check to see whether the forks match up with the one in the car.

 

[rabhalter]

Update

You may remember I was complaining that I had way too much free pedal motion in my mechanical clutch linkage and couldn't get a clean shift because the clutch was not fully disengaging. I thought that it might be because of using a later transmission with an earlier thick mounting plate.

Well, I found enough adjustment in the clutch cable to avoid having to disassemble the whole unit. The clutch action is not perfect as there is still too much free pedal movement, but at least I can now make clean shifts without drama. When/if I have to do other maintenance I'll be changing either the adapter plate or the transmission bell housing to restore the proper clearance.

 

[rabhalter]

Update #2

I finally took the time to fit an earlier transmission. The older two bolt starter mount bellhousing works perfectly with the thick adapter plate. Clutch adjustment is now what it should be and all shift problems are rectified. So, for mechanical clutch set-ups, transmissions with the two bolt starter mount bellhousing should always be used with a thick engine adapter plate and the three bolt mount bellhousing should use the thin adapter plate.