The V8 Owners Forum -

Am going to make up an adapter plate to mate a T5 gearbox to an alloy bell housing as was wondering if anyone could advise how think the plate needs to be.

The plate will be no more that 9" square and will have both the bell housing and gear box bolted to it.

Will 10mm steel plate be thick enough and anyone know where off cuts can be purchased.

8 to 10mm ally should be more than adaquate, look at the thickness of the bell housing you will be bolting it to. I would avoid using an ally/steel/ally sandwich if you can.
What V8 are you adapting it too? with the T5 there are production bellhousings to go to ford 302, Chevy, BOP (rover V8/buick 215) plus the TVR jobbies, I think even Mopar. I am pretty sure you can get a flat head ford as an aftermarket part.
Mike

Hi Kiwicar

Do you think bolting the bellhousing and gearbox on to the alloy plate will be strong enough. That was the only reason I was going to go for steel.

By strong I mean will the threads hold in the plate ok

Was going to attempt this on my other Car and not my V8 Capri which is an old 2.3 Droopsnoot Firenza but it’s knocking out about 220bhp now.

Many thanks

The plate holding My 650bhp chevy to my audi gearbox is 15mm thick ally, it is 16" by 18" ish and also suports the starter and braces part of the chassis a plate 9"X9" will be inherintly stiffer (about 4 times for a given thickmess). If you are worried about bolts "pulling out" helicoil the threads (or use thread inserts) from the outset (and buy a shorter rachet handle). Look at the torque specs for fitting the bellhousing to the gearbox and use the same.

Mike

Thanks Mike, Alloy it is then with Helicoils.

Mine is done exactly this way with 12mm alloy onto an auto bell housing. Counter sunk bolts to the housing and the box holes are clear enough to use nut and bolts. I would think threaded alloy on its own is more than strong enough since this is they way its originally done.

Thanks Marki,

So if I used 10mm alloy plate and the holes were threaded in the plate you think that would be ok for the bolts to go through the bellhousing and into the plate and on the other side through the gearbox and into the plate.

I have this sitting here , it's the adaptor plate that holds the rangerover auto box to the V8 engine as you can see from the witness marks of the v8 back end , it's just over 16mm thick
any good ?

Keith,

Is that for a ZF HP22 box? Just thinking forward to when I may be to old and decrepid to operate a clutch and manual box.

Kevin.

Reg, Ill pop over Sat afternoon and have a look if you want,

CastleMGBV8 wrote:Keith,

Is that for a ZF HP22 box? Just thinking forward to when I may be to old and decrepid to operate a clutch and manual box.

Kevin.

hi Kevin , is it mate yes .. i bough it ages ago when i was first going to fit a V8 in the van , but then i went manual , cost me a tenner if you want it for that your more than welcome
take care
keith

Cant remember the bolt sizes but basic rule of thumb is the thread needs to be as long as the bolt is diameter, if that makes sense. Think 12mm would be best and use good taps, not the cheap ones that give a loose thread all the time.

Thanks for the offer Keith but it would not help me.

Seen some 12mm Alloy Plate on ebay for about £20 does that sound reasonable. Or is there anywhere around Hemel that may do offcuts.

Ian,

if you have time to pop over that would be great, be able to see my v8 Capri tucked up in the bubble for winter