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1945 Crane powered by a 1945 Chry flat 8


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  • 4 weeks later...

Has anyone removed one of these industrial bellhousings from a straight 8? I'm trying to do it, and get it off. Because of the way the heads of the bolts holding the flywheel to the crank are sheared off on one side, it seems that the bellhousing has to come off before the flywheel.  I've removed all the bolts I can find that hold the bellhousing to the block and that hold the two pieces of the bellhousing together.  I've been rapping on it with a hand sledge and it won't budge from the block. The two pieces have very slightly parted, but don't seem to want to keep moving. Should I stop rapping and start pounding?  Thx!!

 

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just following up on the rare chance that someone else might need to do this.  There were pins or dowels between the top and bottom of the bellhousing, like the ones between a normal bellhousing and straight 8.  By pounding down on the bottom piece, I was able to get them to separate and the bottom is now removed.  I can access the nuts now, but it is tight and I still hope to get the top of the BH off first.  It is not yet responding to the hand mallet, but I think it is only a matter of time.

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Jeff, Take a good look up in there.

I seem to remember some of the old Mopars having bolts thru the bell housing to the block that cannot be accessed with the flywheel in place.

Not positive on this engine and you have probably already done so, but just a thought.

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Jeff, Take a good look up in there.

I seem to remember some of the old Mopars having bolts thru the bell housing to the block that cannot be accessed with the flywheel in place.

Not positive on this engine and you have probably already done so, but just a thought.

Good call Jack!  There are two bolts that I can't get too without removing the flywheel first.  This is going to be fun.  I might just grind the heads off the bolts instead of trying to get the nuts off the back.  For now, lots of PB Blaster, and I'll go play in the garden.

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The top two bolts are not exposed on a industrial bell housing. Regular and ind housing pictured below.

Take pictures for other people's reference. Pictured below is a 1940 Chrysler flat 8 block and crankshaft bolt pattern. 6 bolts and 2 pins. I would think that other flat 8 blocks would have the same pattern except for crank. Seen some with a 4 bolt pattern.

Thanks

Dave

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Edited by countrytravler (see edit history)
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I don't know how much clearance you have, but heating the nuts will loosen them up as the nut will expand from the bolt.

PB Blaster may do the trick, but it may be flammable so take that into account.

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I don't have sufficient clearance at this point. I was thinking of heating the bolt heads, and hoping that the heat would transfer to the nuts through the flywheel.  Should I be concerned about harming the end of the crankshaft with heat?

 

Have you been to World of Speed Jack? I took Jake there on Saturday and was impressed.

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You wont hurt the crankshaft with heat as long as you are only heating the bolts. I guess you could try heating the bolts from the outside, but its kind of going at it backwards..

I have not yet been to WOS, I guess I should as its just down the road. I have heard others compliment the place as well.

But so is The Air and Space museum, and it was there several years before I went there.

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The collection is quite impressive and includes some great Mopar stuff, including a hemi cuda, a hemi GTX, a hemi Daytona, and some 392 hemi-powered racers.  If you go, try to do it Saturday morning because "coffee and cars" is held outside from 8-11.  We saw a convertible road runner along with a 6 pack hardtop roadrunner.  Also saw a 428 CJ 69 Mach 1.  Even though I'm a Mopar guy, I really like that car.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thanks Dave.  I'll post a few pics when it's apart.  I also figured out that it would be a terrible idea to grind off the bolt heads because there is not enough room inside for the bolts to slide out.

 

Removing the bellhousing has been quite a challenge.  I got the nuts off the back of the crankshaft flange and was able to remove the bolts that appeared to be holding the flywheel on, but it's still firmly affixed.  It looks like it might be pressed onto the crankshaft flange.  Is it typical to have to use a puller to get these off?  (I realize there might be nothing typical about an industrial straight 8.)

 

I marked the transition between crankshaft flange and flywheel in red in these two pictures, one from in front and one from the back.

 

The third picture is an engine-tilting contraption I made so I could get access to those nuts.  It worked great.

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