H55 conversion parts question (1 Viewer)

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Feb 28, 2017
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portland oregon
hey gang,

starting the journey to collect all the parts & pieces to put a 5 speed in my 62.

I have the HF55 (the easy part that's orderable) and the whole aisin clutch kit.

anyone care to share what kind of prices I should expect to be quoted for things like bell housing, cross member and brackets, clutch fork parts, etc.. I'm new enough to this community that I don't know what a fair price is vs. not so fair.


things i need:

2H bell housing
flywheel + bolts
flywheel dust cover
all the clutch fork parts (fork, bearing hub, etc...)
cross member and brackets
trans mounts
pedal bucket

hydraulic lines are easy - i've got an order in with Georg for various things...but the above stuff I'm hoping to find local to portland. (so far not so happy with results)

thanks all,
paul
 
Good project for a '62. I seem to recall that a late ('87?) bell housing from a 60 will fit the H55, but it's been a while so I may be incorrect. Maybe someone can confirm that? Maybe the cross member will fit too? Let us know how things go. Always wanted to do that with my '62, but never did. Ned
 
3F bellhousing is what you want, unless you have a H series deisel.
 
I thought the 2F bellhousing could also work, but needed a little bit of grinding?
 
best to find someone close by who is parting a rig out or has all the parts and make a package buy.
shipping some of those items can be pricey.

my WAG for the parts listed above would be $500-650

the crossmember you want will be a 1 piece, you would need to install/weld some angle iron onto the frame rails to bolt the crossmember onto. this crossmember works with the 3F bellhousing

if going with the 3 piece crossmember you would use the earlier 2F bellhousing and grind the notch for clearance.

the crossmembers don't work with the other bellhousings
 
I'm not sure that's what I'd do.

Any 2F or 3F bellhousing will work. I like earlier vs later because you need to match the slave cylinder to the bellhousing you use. The earlier bellhousing allows you to use the earlier adjustable slave cylinder, which in my opinion is better. But all will work.

Assuming you buy a new shifter with your H55 (which I recommend), it seems to be geared for the 3F bell housing which rotates the transmission down about 9 degrees. With the earlier bell housing, the gear shift lever comes out close to you and the wiper control. You can bend it or just live with it. On balance, I like the adjustable slave of the 2F bell housing.
 
all stock.

3FE + A440F

can't wait to have a manual!
 
best to find someone close by who is parting a rig out or has all the parts and make a package buy.
shipping some of those items can be pricey.

my WAG for the parts listed above would be $500-650

the crossmember you want will be a 1 piece, you would need to install/weld some angle iron onto the frame rails to bolt the crossmember onto. this crossmember works with the 3F bellhousing

if going with the 3 piece crossmember you would use the earlier 2F bellhousing and grind the notch for clearance.

the crossmembers don't work with the other bellhousings


Probably should add the 3F bell housing rotates the the transmission so unless the crossmember are from the same type the angle won't match.
 
Probably should add the 3F bell housing rotates the the transmission so unless the crossmember are from the same type the angle won't match.

agreed - talked to someone this afternoon that set me straight on that point. i think i finally got the point (call me slow)


Based on all the threads I've been reading - I was under the impression that the 3F BH clocking the gearbox caused downstream headaches that were avoidable by choosing the 2F BH.

now i understand...we want the 3F because it tips the front output shaft yoke at a favorable angle to make connecting the driveshaft to the diff go smoothly.

the reason this isn't an issue with the automatic is that it's an entirely different BH and the fact that it's so much longer - the front prop shaft is longer and the angle of approach to reach the diff is spread over longer distance.

so - I think i'm set - 3F BH + cross member from same year range that it's meant for clocked install.

so - back to original question... anyone willing to share what they've paid for this stuff in the past?
 
3F Bell Housing, and I'm fairly sure a 60 cross member will work, but you have to weld it in about 4 inches forward from the 62 location. I did the conversion several years ago, but I've got the motor pulled at the moment, and I've got a bell housing that says 3F sitting on the garage floor..
 
3F Bell Housing, and I'm fairly sure a 60 cross member will work, but you have to weld it in about 4 inches forward from the 62 location. I did the conversion several years ago, but I've got the motor pulled at the moment, and I've got a bell housing that says 3F sitting on the garage floor..



There was more than one crossmember used in the 60 series. Ones made to work with the 2F bellhousing and another one made to work with the 3F bellhousing. Just saying 60 series crossmember is assuming there were all the same which they weren't.
 
There was more than one crossmember used in the 60 series. Ones made to work with the 2F bellhousing and another one made to work with the 3F bellhousing. Just saying 60 series crossmember is assuming there were all the same which they weren't.

Agree. You need to stay consistent. Early (up to and including 1984 model year) had the usual 2F bell housing and the 3 piece rear mount. 1985 got the flat mount and the non-adjustable slave/clutch linkage. Somewhere after 85, came the '3F' bell housing and the tilted mount. As long as everything (master, slave, rear mount) are all the same it works fine.

Just for me, I don't like the 3F bellhousing, because it rotates the transfer case down, and decreases ground clearance under the transfer.

But there are many good ways to skin this cat, all good. Just stay consistent in the drive train.
 
the hardest part of this conversion is setting the pedal bucket and mounting the clutch master. in a 62, you want to use the late FJ60 stuff. reason is the earlier clutch master has a different clocking on its mounting points than the later master. the later master mounting boss exists on the fj62 firewall, and is easily drilled out to mount the later cylinder. an earlier master can be used, but is harder to mount. whichever master you use, you will also need the matching vintage clutch pedal bucket and slave cylinder and clutch fork and ball combo. if you use an early bucket, stick to the earlier master and slave combo...any compatible BH works as long as you fab mounts for the crossmember after hanging and aligning the transmission. I used a late fj60 one piece crossmember and fabbed some frame mounts so it bolts in. an 88 3FE used the same bolts as a 2F for the flywheel- they are longer than the flexplate bolts. after 89, that bolt got fatter, so for a large diameter crank bolt 3FE, you need special order flywheel bolts from a non us application (see Georg) a 2F flywheel can be drilled out to accommodate this situation. dont forget you need the tcase to transmission bolts, too. the tcase to A440 bolts are too short. HTH
 
3F Bell Housing, and I'm fairly sure a 60 cross member will work, but you have to weld it in about 4 inches forward from the 62 location. I did the conversion several years ago, but I've got the motor pulled at the moment, and I've got a bell housing that says 3F sitting on the garage floor..

does that mean you're willing to sell it?
the hardest part of this conversion is setting the pedal bucket and mounting the clutch master. in a 62, you want to use the late FJ60 stuff. reason is the earlier clutch master has a different clocking on its mounting points than the later master. the later master mounting boss exists on the fj62 firewall, and is easily drilled out to mount the later cylinder. an earlier master can be used, but is harder to mount. whichever master you use, you will also need the matching vintage clutch pedal bucket and slave cylinder and clutch fork and ball combo. if you use an early bucket, stick to the earlier master and slave combo...any compatible BH works as long as you fab mounts for the crossmember after hanging and aligning the transmission. I used a late fj60 one piece crossmember and fabbed some frame mounts so it bolts in. an 88 3FE used the same bolts as a 2F for the flywheel- they are longer than the flexplate bolts. after 89, that bolt got fatter, so for a large diameter crank bolt 3FE, you need special order flywheel bolts from a non us application (see Georg) a 2F flywheel can be drilled out to accommodate this situation. dont forget you need the tcase to transmission bolts, too. the tcase to A440 bolts are too short. HTH

yep - thanks Lambcrusher...definitely helps.

i got all the t-case bolts from Georg along with a handful of other stuff. looking for BH / pedal bucket / clutch fork parts / cross member
 
fwiw...I got an early pedal bucket, but was able to make it work by cutting off the clutch pedal pivot and marrying it to the fj62 bucket. interesting note; the 88 fj62 bucket has the holes for the clutch master @ the firewall, just not the pedal pivot... details of this can be seen in my old thread... another H42 into FJ62 thread
 

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