I am putting in a lakewood bellhousing w/ tremtec 5 speed. I have the instructions from both on how to measure the runout on the bellhousing however they seem to contradict eachother...
Lakewood states you half the indicator reading
For the tremtec you take readings @ 12, 3, 6, & 9 o'clock
The clock positions will get you in the ballpark, however, I look for the largest reading and adjust accordingly. If you measure between the 3 and 6 positions you'll likely find the largest deviation, about .100" by my estimation.
The bellhousing is out by .034" in the 12/6 direction and about .035" in the 3/9 direction. Since you have to do all the location change from two dowels, you'll need dowels that will have a total of .050" from what you have now to correct both directions at once. Replace the offset dowels with the regular ones and measure again, paying close attention to both the clock positions and the location of the highest reading. Make sure your dial indicator stand doesn't shift even slightly as you are measuring or you'll end up doing this a few extra times!
I'll be out in your area this weekend if you need a hand with this.
Thanks guys! I read through it, I did manage finally tonight! I went down to 0.007" offset dowels and got it on the second try after doing the first try! I'm -0.0005 & +0.0050 = 0.00275"
I pulled the housing 3 times and rechecked it and i'm good. I may try seeing if i can get it any better but i'm under the max allowable of 0.005" FINALLY
The easiest way i found was to do a trial and find the true zero of that try ie. -0.030 & +0.060 true zero is +0.015. So once your back to 12:00 set the dial to 0.015 and then you get 0.045 as the max reading in both directions and once the dial is reading 0.045 you know move the housing in the direction of the indicator being positive or negative.
The guide 69taposer used is the way to go for sure over a dial indicator, and I agree the Lakewood bellhousing is a little frustrating in some respects. The dial indicator way isn't bad once you get it set up properly I ended up just using the base and the solid arm that attaches to it with the indicator attached to eliminate the extra arms and fittings that are truly a pain as thats the worst part of the process.
So from the sound of it, the numbers you gave in your first post were examples, not actuals?
Yes, getting rid of any extra slop is critical, and having that tool is cheating! Make a note of the offset positions either on paper or by putting "tick" marks with a punch to show where the dowels are oriented just in case.
The first set of numbers were with 0.014 offset dowels set horizontal, I just had that feeling I got a bad numbers when I did the inital with the stock dowels as I was fighting with the dial indicator and the stand at that time and was using a dial that could only read 0.045 then went and bought a indicator that can read up to an 1" in .001 increments. Way better for the initial runs and then I did my last couple of checks with the more sensitive dial as I knew I have enough travel that it wouldn't run out.
I will be puching the dowels, case, & block as I'm not that interested in repeating this whole procedure, although I am a little better at it now!!!
FYI - If anyone else puts in a Lakewood Bellhousing be sure to buy the adjustabe pivot ball as the one in the stock bellhousing is to short and will not allow the clutch linkage to operate properly! Costs $17.00. Lakewood will tell you the stock one will work which it will if you use a different throw out bearing.
I have heard of guys having to cut one of the tabs on the bellhousing to allow the Z-bar to clear. I flipped the adjustable rod and it works perfectly rather than start cutting the bellhousing.
