Making something from nothing

I ordered a gear off Ebay that fit my motor output shaft and had enough extra material to work with for drilling or welding. I had previously cut the center hub out of the clutch disk to have a matching spline for the transmission shaft.

The task at hand is to adapt the motor to the transmission spline.


I found a scrap 1.5 inch piece of round stock that I machined in the lathe for a snug fit of the gear and the inside of the splined core so the 2 parts would be in alignment for welding or bolting together. I will need a roughly a 3/8 spacer between the 2 parts due to the construction of the clutch center.


I found that I needed at least 1/2 inch spacer between the transmission spline and motor shaft, I found in the scrap pile a
old coupler that was 1 inch and would work.

After machining and drilling the sprocket, I snapped a tap off and had to redrill the holes as removing the tap proved to be too difficult, after assembly it was far from running true.

I was out getting some allen head cap bolts for the adapter and found a hub for a weld on sprocket, it looked to be large enough for making the adapter so I picked it up, I found that the spacer and my new motor hub outside diameter were the same making alignment easier. I fastened the two together with a hose clamp to mark and drill the holes.
I redrilled the holes, broke another tap, and put it all together with my alignment shaft. I spun it in the lathe and it ran true, success!
I put what seemed like too much time in the adapter but it is an important part and I wanted it to be right, I only used four bolts and have looked up the shear and strength numbers, with no clutch and absence of shock loads I am confident it will hold up ok. Time will tell...

Stripping the truck

I took advantage of some vacation time and picked up a engine hoist. I unbolted all accessories that were associated with the ICE and unbolted the engine from the transmission. After checking that all hoses and wiring were disconnected the engine was hoisted from the truck.
I continued to remove all fuel system parts, exhaust, cooling and air conditioning systems.
I also removed the power steering unit and replaced it with a manual steering unit.
When the front shocks were removed, both the lower bolts broke off, another problem to deal with.
I found that the adapter plate I had purchased on Ebay is for another style bellhousing, many bolt holes didn't line up. I did find that the locating dowels centered the plate hole on the transmission, so I may be able to adapt it to this application.
While everything was apart I measured the shafts of the transmission and motor so I could start to build the motor to transmission adapter. I cut the center out of the old clutch to weld to the adapter.

I look at the growing pile of scrap and am amazed how many components are needed for the ICE system.

Fun begins

The long anticipated moment came today, the motor finally arrived! It had been on back order and was overdue. It came off the truck at 183 pounds on the skid. Once opened it seemed larger than I thought it would be, it measures 16 long not counting output shafts and over 9.5 in diameter, looked huge in the box when I opened it.

I am now a lot more motivated and looking to pull the engine from the truck. I bought a engine hoist that needs to be assembled first. I have almost everything I need except the batteries, which I will buy last.