So I was looking on eBay for FD center housings for nefarious purposes, and I came across this:
SUBARU 13B STANDARD TRANSMISSION BELL HOUSING BELLHOUSING
Looks like a Ribcase bellhousing with some sort of adaptor bolted up.
But... what the heck does it bolt to?
Image from ad rotated so top is top:
That does NOT look like a Ford T5 bolt pattern. And I can't think of anything that has a pattern shaped like that. Anybody recognize it?
That's less a bell housing, and more the front half of a transmission case, I'd say. The small hole in the middle would have the front seal and input shaft through it, and the larger machined circle would support the input shaft bearing.
But no countershaft support point.....
It's definitely an adaptor. The eight holes in two vertical-ish lines are bolts from inside the bellhousing, those are the Mazda bolt pattern that originally bolted the bellhousing to the Mazda trans, which was a bottomloading unit.
Good News! I think I figured it out. I'll know for sure in about a week when I get my grubby mitts on it. I didn't know anyone made an adaptor for this unit.
Given the nature of the transmission, this is probably a Turbo II bellhousing, so I'll probably put it right back on eBay or RacingJunk.
Ahh, isn't this doing things rather bassackward...?
Not really... People are starting to no longer make performance bits for rotaries, supplies of everything are drying up, so it makes sense to buy first and ask questions later.
The engine side is definitely Mazda rotary, somewhere around 1976 from the tilt of things. It was originally for the bottom loading trans. The back end fits some sort of Subaru trans - I guess.
WildScotsRacing wrote: Ahh, isn't this doing things rather bassackward...?
Buy first, ask questions later. Then figure out what to do with it a distant third
patgizz wrote:WildScotsRacing wrote: Ahh, isn't this doing things rather bassackward...?Buy first, ask questions later. Then figure out what to do with it a distant third
So, this is becoming somewhat a rotary thing now. I get it
I believe so. Similar to how i am hoarding ls6 243 cylinder heads.
I think I have an adapter for hooking up a rotary to a marine inboard drive. Same kinda deal, figured I would never see something like that again so I bought it, and I don't even have a rotary engine anymore.
There is a term for that kind of buyer.
In RMH they were called "feculators"
When you play with weird/orphan stuff, you never know what you may need in the future.
Well, heck, the engine in my car since 2012 is mostly a product of buying stuff I didn't know I was going to need yet, and piecing it all together.
I'm having terrible thoughts of the fun nightmare this could enable for a turbo rotary powered GC chassis Impreza. Good thing I have no where either the budget or space.
patgizz wrote: I believe so. Similar to how i am hoarding ls6 243 cylinder heads.
Don't bother.
There is an Ebay vendor who has matched the specs completely on a scratch built (numberless) head. I just bought a brand new pair in ready-to-bolt-on condition including valves, heavier springs, retainers, etc. for $400.
Yes, they were brand new heads, milled mating surfaces, and I have confirmed all the specs. The only thing wrong with them is that they don't say 243.
In reply to Knurled:
An unidentified bellhousing is an odd piece to build a car around. 
SVreX wrote: In reply to Knurled: An unidentified bellhousing is an odd piece to build a car around.
There's no feeling any greater than to shoot first and ask questions later!
I actually do have a purpose for it. My RX-7 is eventually getting a faceplated T5 (have the bits for that, too, need to send the gears and sliders and a credit card number to Liberty) but, in another example of buying without knowing what you want to do with it, I bought a GTI from here a few years ago. I have some of the bits to put twin Webers on that (leftover from a previous VW) but I sort of kind of want to do a side mounted rotary engine in it. A Ranger 7.5 rear with its highly right-offset pinion would be perfect for that. I recently received e-mail from someone about a special porting technique that could get 280hp at 8000rpm from a common, normally garbage 6-port engine, and that would be the perfect place to try it out...
See how everything comes together?
And the trans that would mate to this bell is perfect for the application since the shift mechanism is hanging off the side, not centermount, so the linkage will be a little easier. Just need to keep watching eBay and RacingJunk for one to come up cheap.
The only downside, is one of our suppliers had a massive gauge blowout sale and I bought a complete set of gauges for the GTI for $51. Tach, coolant temp, oil temp, oil pressure, and voltmeter. (The gauge cluster is fried and was part of the reason why none of the POs could get it running, the tach circuit was keeping the ignition coil grounded) But the tach only goes to 8000 and rotaries really need 10k tachs minimum. Argh. Maybe I'll get an 11k tach for the RX-7 and put its tach in the GTI.
SVreX wrote:patgizz wrote: I believe so. Similar to how i am hoarding ls6 243 cylinder heads.Don't bother. There is an Ebay vendor who has matched the specs completely on a scratch built (numberless) head. I just bought a brand new pair in ready-to-bolt-on condition including valves, heavier springs, retainers, etc. for $400. Yes, they were brand new heads, milled mating surfaces, and I have confirmed all the specs. The only thing wrong with them is that they don't say 243.
Link? 
SVreX wrote:patgizz wrote: I believe so. Similar to how i am hoarding ls6 243 cylinder heads.Don't bother. There is an Ebay vendor who has matched the specs completely on a scratch built (numberless) head. I just bought a brand new pair in ready-to-bolt-on condition including valves, heavier springs, retainers, etc. for $400. Yes, they were brand new heads, milled mating surfaces, and I have confirmed all the specs. The only thing wrong with them is that they don't say 243.
in this case i don't trust offshore non GM castings. and when i can get a certain engine for X, part it out for X, and have free 243 heads...
In reply to patgizz:
I have been less than impressed with aftermarket aluminum heads for just about anything. Very little attention is paid to water jacket flow. Might be just great for drag racers where you don't even really need a cooling system to begin with, but I've had WAY too many problem-child cars with aftermarket aluminum heads that constantly overheat on the street. Aftermarket in this case being cheap knockoff crap or big advertisers selling cheap knockoff crap. People want to keep the A/C and they want to drive their cars long distance, you can't do that when the engine is running 230+ degrees with the A/C off and running on for seconds after shutoff Uncle Buck-style and percolating the coolant out of the overflow, and the problems all started when "I got dese heads on eBay for only seven hundred bucks!"
So these 243-clone heads, the ports and chambers may look like GM parts, what do the water jackets look like? Did they save money by making less complex molds for the parts nobody is going to see? Do they have "THICK DECKS!!" when blowing head gaskets under high boost isn't really even a problem to begin with so thick decks is just making the water jackets smaller or nonexistent around the exhaust ports?
edit - Yes, I am ranting. This is a subject that bugs me greatly, because it's a wall I have to butt my head against every summer, and the one thing that will FIX the problem is the one thing people don't want to hear about.
In reply to Knurled:
People never have the money to things right, but they will have the money to do it twice.
A nice man in a brown uniform dropped the bell off at work today!
It's not a Turbo II bell, it's a '74-78 bell. Excellent, as I am only set up for nonturbo-sized flywheels and starters. It's also been heavily ground upon on the outside for what I assume was clearance for a bolt-on scattershield, which is mandatory for rotaries quicker than 13.49 in NHRA now.
I decided to go to Summit tonight after work to check things out. MAJOR WIN. I found a 3" metal-substrate cat for $40 (these do not melt and will allow pretty much anything meet a catalyst rule), a new RCI camlock harness for $50, and... something I stared at for a good ten minutes trying to not believe my eyes.
MAJOR WIN.
The bellhousing/adaptor I bought on eBay for $80 mates up a Mazda rotary to a Jerico racing transmission, once you cut one of the transmission's ears off to clear the starter. Jericos are getting to be pretty popular with the big power guys as they can handle a lot more power than any Mazda trans and NASCAR takeouts are fairly inexpensive for what you get.
Jericos are more or less GM bolt pattern with a couple extra holes, so this meant I could also mate up a T-10, Muncie, Saginaw, Camaro T5, anything I wanted.
What I found at Summit today is an early GM to GM T56 adapter plate. You bet your hind that I bought it. I still had the bell in the trunk so I had to try it out. All the holes line up and it spigots perfectly.
Heh heh heh. Now I just need to look under a rock and find a T56, and I'll have a .50:1 overdrive to go with my 5.43 gears...
(Cliffs notes: I found a Mazda to Chevy racing trans adapter for practically free on eBay. Then the day it was delivered, I found a GM bellhousing to T56 adapter plate also for practically free. This only reinforces the "buy now, ask questions later" mentality)
i saw the t56 adapter on the clearance shelf the other day, had it in my hands but put it back. it was meant to be yours.
Thanks for not buying it!
Did you also think about buying the SBC longblock that had been dropped so hard the rockers punched slots through the mangled valve cover?
No but i thought long and hard about the 5.3 block bored to 5.7 if it was still there.
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