Bell housing to engine plate, what goes where ?

[tr7dan]

1981 TR7 dhc

I'm trying to get my engine and gearbox back together ready to refit to the car but am having difficulty in locating all the right bolts etc which secure the bell housing to the engine plate.

Could anyone tell me - should there be a locating dowel at the top of the bell housing (there wasn't one in when I took it apart) and what goes in the holes either side of the dowel, bolts or studs and what size ? It's not very clear in the parts diagram and the guy who put me a new clutch in about 25 years ago has fitted a right mix up of bolts back in and left parts off.

Also, is there a diagram or picture anywhere that shows the correct position of the wiring harness clips that fit to the bell housing nuts / bolts ?

thanks

[Howard722]

I can help a bit-
Either side of the top dowel hole should be two studs in the block, TD819 but NLA!- they protrude 40mm on my spares engine (with engine plate in situ.) with 20mm of thread which I think is 5/16" UNF -double check this with a known bolt etc., overall length unknown. Mine are too tight in the block to risk taking out!-so you`ll need to check thread hole depth and make a judgement.
Hope this helps

[busheytrader]

Hi Dan,

Apologies if you’ve already referred to this. https://rimmerbros.com/Item--i-GRID006102

The diagrams on Rimmers website are straight out of the TR7 parts book.

I’ve currently got the same issue with a classic mini. Loads of bolts of differing lengths etc.

Adam

[FI Spyder]

That's a tough one. The bolts are different lengths. What I did with mine when I dropped the transmission out the bottom to change the clutch, I made a diagram out of cardboard and stuck the bolts in the right holes as I removed them one by one, so they'd go in the same holes they came out of. No pictures of that, so no help there. Fit the bolts into the holes starting with the longest ones and make sure they don't bottom out? If there's any logic to it the longest ones would be at the top because they are holding the most weight as it would want to come apart at the top and be forced together at the bottom??

[dursleyman]

That's a tough one. The bolts are different lengths. What I did with mine when I dropped the transmission out the bottom to change the clutch, I made a diagram out of cardboard and stuck the bolts in the right holes as I removed them one by one, so they'd go in the same holes they came out of. No pictures of that, so no help there. Fit the bolts into the holes starting with the longest ones and make sure they don't bottom out? If there's any logic to it the longest ones would be at the top because they are holding the most weight as it would want to come apart at the top and be forced together at the bottom??

I think your analysis is wrong, the most pull apart loading will be at the bottom where it will tend to separate, the top will be forced together.
It can't be too difficult to work out which goes where by looking at the thickness of the bellhousing. You can see where the 3/8" and 5/16" go by the size of the holes and the length is not critical, just make sure there is enough thread for the nuts and washers. You can just try the different combinations whilst its out of the car

[tr7dan]

OK, thanks for the replies.

I think I've got the hang of where all the bolts go now. I've ordered a bellhousing bolt kit which includes the 'special' bolt at the bottom which looks like a shouldered bolt in the parts manual but now just looks like a normal 3/8 bolt. I've made a dowel for the top location as they aren't generally available and I will make up two 5/16 UNF studs for the fixings either side of it. I'm a bit anal about having the right sized bolt in the correct place and it can't do any harm knowing it's correct.

Anybody know which bolts have the wiring harness clips attached ?



cheers

Dan