I'm noticing that there's reputable companies out there selling engine to bellhousing adapter plates made of 1/4 inch steel. Is that strong enough?

What about bellhousing to transmission? Does that need to be more stout?

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'81 W150 on Propane... Oversize valves, Oregon Camshaft cam, 10:5 static CR, Distributorless ignition, megajolt timing controller, PowerTrax lockers.

assuming the adapter is fully sandwitched between the two functional parts, case and bell or the bell and the tranny,, and the quantity of the mounting bolts and thread engaugement has not ben compromised,,
a thickness stout enough to work with will be fine,,, if you end up with a part of the adapter that will see torsional stresses that is hanging outside of the compressed envelope,, then you should be concerned.

any adapter thickness added can affect the tranny input shaft engaugement, mounting points, shifter location......

I hear my dad talkin in the back of my head.......

If the adapter is merely sandwiched between the block/bell/trans then it can be paper. The greater the distance between the bolts on the seperate items the greater the load. With 1/4" steel that distance can easily be 2" .

When you see a 1/4" aluminum engine plate or midplate you get an idea of how much torque can be handled if done right.

Most guys overbuild everything ...............

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

Yeah... Lots of stuff is built with the "better safe than sorry" philosophy, and thus, overdone.

Really, I don't think that a 1/4 inch or so plate is too thin for a motor - bellhousing adapter. The trick is for me to find an aluminum bellhousing and have 1/8 in shaved off and I'd not need a crank spacer. That 1/8 inch just won't affect the pilot bearing or anything else enough to matter. I'm not even sure that 1/4 inch would do that much... possibly using a high grade steel go to 3/16 inch. I'm sure an automatic would need a crank spacer, but not a manual.

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'81 W150 on Propane... Oversize valves, Oregon Camshaft cam, 10:5 static CR, Distributorless ignition, megajolt timing controller, PowerTrax lockers.

"Better safe than sued!"...but then again we have to be thankful that engineers back in the day did this...calc the requirements then was take the slide rule calc and add 25% and call it safe...if it wasn't for that ideal our slant six would not take the mods we are giving it, they'd be 5% per the modern day rule and we'd be S.O.L getting 105 SAE HP out of them at best before things went to heck...I can definately see this shift in modern autos, the best example is the first gen Grand Cherokees that got the plastic parts in their transmissions...feds ended up putting a bulletin out since they weren't designed to take anymore abuse than driving to the grocery store using a 5.2L as grandma would drive...saw a manager at work drop the entire tranny on the road in front of me leaving work one day in his '92.



-D.Idiot

I would feel fine about 1/4" steel. This is how my first T5 adapter (back of BH) was made. 1/4" aluminum would be pushing it.

Lou

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