How to: T56 Magnum Quicktime bellhousing dial-in

[MWFrels]

You must remove the front bearing plate of your T56, then mount the plate to your bellhousing. Then you index the input shaft bearing bore of the front plate.Attachment 117915

Judging by this pic you prefer to indicate with the engine crankshaft CL vertical? That makes sense if trying to mitigate gravity influencing the indicator readings.

M

[68Cuda440]

Judging by this pic you prefer to indicate with the engine crankshaft CL vertical? That makes sense if trying to mitigate gravity influencing the indicator readings.

M

It would keep the crank seated against one of the thrust surfaces and take that variable out of "play"...

[Chevy Kid]

So I pulled the front cover of my T56 to dial in the bellhousing. It all worked great. I went to reinstall the front cover and now can't get the trans to shift. I dont know if the trans was in neutral when I pulled the front cover. I also didnt release the front detent. By the time I did, I guess the damage was done. I was not rough with it. It came apart easily.

It appears that the 3-4 fork is stuck. This transmission is a brand new magnum, never even had fluid in it yet. Help! Thank you!

[pannetron]

In case anyone else follows this thread to the end, QuickTime produces a T-56 index plate, RM-130, that avoids needing to disassemble your transmission to use it for indexing. The RM-130 costs around $70.

[1965_SS]

In case anyone else follows this thread to the end, QuickTime produces a T-56 index plate, RM-130, that avoids needing to disassemble your transmission to use it for indexing. The RM-130 costs around $70.

So I've searched everywhere for any info on this and all I can find is that it's unavailable at Summit Racing. I can't find it on Holley's web site. Do you have a link, pictures, or anything that shows how it's used.
Thanks

[Sparky65]

I had one made! 5/16" thick steel fyi.


Summit Racing QTI-RM-130 currently $71.96

[MWFrels]

So I've searched everywhere for any info on this and all I can find is that it's unavailable at Summit Racing. I can't find it on Holley's web site. Do you have a link, pictures, or anything that shows how it's used.
Thanks

I thought the same Thursday when I read my Google results. When I did a re-read of the Summit page this morning I see that it says IMAGE UNAVAILABLE. I guess we need to give a phone call to Summit to clarify.

M

[JodysTransmissions]

I have a QuickTime RM-130 plate and will do an A/B dial indicator reading comparison. I'll post a picture of it shortly.

[1965_SS]

Thank you very much Jody. I can't really grasp how a separate plate is used instead of the actual transmission piece. How would they be the same? Anyway, can't wait to see your writeup on that.

[Sparky65]

Todd, Using the front plate from a T56 you are indicating on a roughly 3" diameter recessed bearing bore with the magnetic base "stalk" protruding up through it. It's difficult to set up to get accurate readings. The plate I had made is within 0.001"dimensionally of the T56 front plate (locating dowel holes and bearing bore) but has a 6" diameter hole in it to indicate on. Easier to set up and less room for error.

[1965_SS]

Todd, Using the front plate from a T56 you are indicating on a roughly 3" diameter recessed bearing bore with the magnetic base "stalk" protruding up through it. It's difficult to set up to get accurate readings. The plate I had made is within 0.001"dimensionally of the T56 front plate (locating dowel holes and bearing bore) but has a 6" diameter hole in it to indicate on. Easier to set up and less room for error.

So you had your plate made exact to your trans front plate. Now I understand how it would be perfect for yours.

If I used that Quicktime RM-130 plate, it could be a little different than my front plate and therefore not have correct readings..............

[1965_SS]

I have a QuickTime RM-130 plate and will do an A/B dial indicator reading comparison. I'll post a picture of it shortly.

Hi Jody. I was wondering if you ever had any time to do this? I would really like to see if using that QuickTime plate gives different readings.
Thanks,
Todd

[Sparky65]

So you had your plate made exact to your trans front plate. Now I understand how it would be perfect for yours.

If I used that Quicktime RM-130 plate, it could be a little different than my front plate and therefore not have correct readings..............

Not sure how the RM-130 is made but my plate should be good for any T56/T56 Magnum as it was made on a CNC machine. The location and size of the two dowels relative to the center of the front bearing bore were taken from an engineering drawing and input into the CNC computer. The front bearing bore dimension was increased to 6" dia from the nominal 2.6875" diameter front bearing O.D. I drilled the eight mounting holes and cut the plate to the shape you see in the photos above. The RM-130 had better be made to the same standard/dimensions/tolerance as the Tremec front plate wouldn't you think? Using the alignment plate (if one is available) is much better option than partially disassembling your transmission for that purpose IMO. Cheers!

[1965_SS]

Not sure how the RM-130 is made but my plate should be good for any T56/T56 Magnum as it was made on a CNC machine. The location and size of the two dowels relative to the center of the front bearing bore were taken from an engineering drawing and input into the CNC computer. The front bearing bore dimension was increased to 6" dia from the nominal 2.6875" diameter front bearing O.D. I drilled the eight mounting holes and cut the plate to the shape you see in the photos above. The RM-130 had better be made to the same standard/dimensions/tolerance as the Tremec front plate wouldn't you think? Using the alignment plate (if one is available) is much better option than partially disassembling your transmission for that purpose IMO. Cheers!

Thanks for the input! Can you share the drawing? I can model it Pro Engineer/Creo and have my friend make me one. He is the machine shop teacher at a local college and they have lots of cnc machines.

Thanks,
Todd

[Shawn01754]

I thought the same Thursday when I read my Google results. When I did a re-read of the Summit page this morning I see that it says IMAGE UNAVAILABLE. I guess we need to give a phone call to Summit to clarify.

M

Haha, that simply mean that summit racing doesn't have an image. Take a look at the ship date. It's available 2/13. They probably produce so many at a time. Reminds me of the time my Dad went bear hunting, was almost to the camp and seen a bear left sign....came home because he thought all the Bears left. (That's an old joke btw)

[SSSTANG]

Sorry for the long post but...

I have never considered my car "Pro Touring" but it may actually pass as one since I love to drive it on the street. I have a 1981 Mustang Cobra with an LS454 and a now faceplated Ford spec T56 Magnum. To mate the Ford transmission to the LS engine I have a one-off QuickTime bellhousing. I used the Ford transmission because I wanted a cable actuated clutch for drag racing. The clutch is an Ace NexGen softlock.

I bought the transmission new and since day one it has never shifted as easily as I think it should and there has always been a sound from the bellhousing that I couldn't pinpoint that becomes more noticeable as the engine warms up. It always shifted fine in normal driving around town and on the highway but speed shifting was iffy and power shifting was out of the question. I blew 4th gear synchro blocker rings at 400 miles trying to powershift and had to tear into it for the first time and replaced all blocker rings with carbon fiber lined rings and the RAM throwout bearing was very loose so I replaced it with a McLeod. After that I tried different fluids and clutch settings and it still would not shift right and the noise was still there.

Last November, after a total of 3200 street miles and losing several races to much slower cars at the track, I decided to faceplate 1-4. When I pulled the trans out the pilot bearing came out with it and was hanging on the input shaft. I thought that was odd so I order a new one along with a new TO bearing because the McLeod was loose. When I got it all back together in Feb I was extremely excited to take it to the track but was disappointed when I found that powershifting was now only hit-or-miss and I was still missing gears. ET did improve by .2 but could have been better. After that track outing I started noticing the noise from the bellhousing was different so I decided to tear it down and check it out.

This time I found the pilot bearing in three pieces, the input shaft had wobbled in the TO bearing retainer sleeve and worn the splines and cracked the sleeve at the base where it is pressed into the front cover. After measuring, I found the input shaft would move ~.040" in any direction.






After this discovery, while searching for answers, I found this thread. I am now checking and adjusting bellhousing/front cover parallelism and concentricity and dreaming of a smooth and quick shifting transmission. Years ago I had a faceplated TKO and I indexed the McLeod bellhousing and it shifted effortlessly. I never missed a gear!

[SSSTANG]

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[SSSTANG]

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[SSSTANG]

I removed the last two posts because I realized, on my own, I was going about checking parallel alignment wrong. After many attempts, I have the bellhousing parallel alignment within .0005" TIR with .015" shims at 12 o'clock, .014" shims at 3 o'clock and .006" shims at 4 o'clock.

As for concentric alignment, I don't recall the initial measurement exactly but it was >.040" offcenter. After the parallel alignment, concentric was out .021" TIR. I had ordered .014" offset dowels a couple weeks ago so after swapping them in, so far, the best I have is .011" TIR. Tomorrow I'll attempt to get it closer but the best I could do with these dowels is .007" TIR so I think I'll order a set of .007" dowels. Any assistance or feedback would be greatly appreciated.

I shift at 7800 rpm so I need to get this as close as possible.



I have a question that I hope someone will give opinions. Should I go back with a pilot bearing or try a bronze pilot bushing?

[SSSTANG]

Got the .007" dowels yesterday and on Jodys advice, since the .014" dowels were already installed, I only replaced one with a .007" offset dowel. Turned the crank a few revolutions and discovered alignment was within .003" TIR or .0015"! Thinking that was too good to be true, I put the other .007" dowel in and couldn't get any closer than .004" and that was after at least six different dowel orientations. I was very frustrated to say the least. Decided to put one .014" dowel back in and after three attempts, got it back to .0015", locked the dowels in place and breathed a sigh of relief!