Castlemain Rod shop bellhousing

[-Nemesis-]

Granted it was a long time ago now, but I had no end of dramas with my CRS 1uz > R series kit. Like you, I bought it because it was cheaper.

The list is as long as my arm, from incorrect ring gear on the flywheel (discovered after conversion when it wouldn't start), to the smallest thing like wrong size dowels supplied for their own clutch kit.

Unlike like krakatinny I was lucky, I managed to get them to pay for most of the labour to rectify all the problems..

Hopefully they've improved.

[krakatinny]

Like i said not one part fitted and not one cent refunded plus the extra expenses of manufacturing another kit and solicitors fees not to mention 3 months without my daily driver/work horse,,never ever again, and to this this day i am still awaiting an explanation.

[80's_delirious]

So far gets top marks over the others I have used in the past.


Bru

Subtle dig

ninja dig??

[Breaker Brother]

bolted up so sweet, light tp and she was on.

only thing i didn't like was the 4 bolt holes on the motor side are about 14mm for a 10mm bolt. The kit came with 4 4mm thick laser cut washers so they cannot pull in.

I will have to skim the spacer plate between the gearbox and bellhousing by about 4mm (according to the mendeloa site there is 4mm odd difference between SBC and Ls1 bellhousings.)

I'll post some pics soon

Just remeber the LS series engines the crank flange is .400" deeper into the back of the block

[Breaker Brother]

bolted up so sweet, light tp and she was on.

only thing i didn't like was the 4 bolt holes on the motor side are about 14mm for a 10mm bolt. The kit came with 4 4mm thick laser cut washers so they cannot pull in.

I will have to skim the spacer plate between the gearbox and bellhousing by about 4mm (according to the mendeloa site there is 4mm odd difference between SBC and Ls1 bellhousings.)

I'll post some pics soon

From what I know of them, the crank is inset into the rear webbing of the block about 10mm further than the SBC or Holden V8
That aside
I've used Dellow several times now and have always found them to be great

[Beato]

I know this is an age old debate, but speaking from my own experience I have used a Dellow kit to fit a 1UZ V8 into my 75 series cruiser without any dramas at all. At the time i read a lot of flack about their clutches, but 2 years later and a lot of abuse it is stil all good.

[raptorthumper]

I just had drama today when i went to start my Ford BF engine into patrol using a Dellow conversion kit.

cut & paste below.

Well i got the motor in last weekend and got ready to start it up today with a few things still not finished. I was keen to start it and check the clutch action so i wired up the necessary stuff and fired it up. Soon after it started i selected low range and pushed the clutch in. As soon as i got into reverse the car started driving backwards. Ohh shit i say as i realise the clutch is not releasing or so i thought. Anyway the motor stops soon later and i go to crank it and it feels tight. (Slow to crank). I charge the battery and get it started again, (still slow cranking though). Then the motor stops again.

I soon work out that the bellhousing is too short by a few mm and the input shaft of the gearbox is bottoming out on the end of the crank. I have pulled the motor out and will measure everthing carefully tommororow but it looks like i need to trim a few mm off the end of the input shaft or fit a spacer plate to the belllhousing or gearbox. ( i can see marks on the end of the crank and input shaft where it's been touching) I'm going to start the motor again tomorrow while it's out of the truck, and i'm praying i haven't done any damage to the crankshaft bearings.

I'm pissed off with myself for not checking this closer before assembly. Bloody Dellow. It doesn't look like they sell many of these Barra engine kits for patrols. I will contact them and let them know. At least they should change their instructions to say input shaft of gearbox may need trimming BE SURE TO CHECK PRIOR TO ASSEMBLY. No one should go through this, and i may recommend they include a laser cut plate OR trimming instructions to the gearbox input shaft when they sell a kit for a BA / BF engine into patrol.

_

[Struth]

I tried to tell marks a few things I had learnt from using their kit, that some parts they sold for my conversion were incorrect and that other parts from their list should be used instead.

They treated me like a f/wit who couldn't possibly know better than they do, I mean it is pretty obvious that V6 4 Runner does not have the clutch master cylinder in the engine bay, it is behind the actual clutch pedal in the cab.

I wouldn't be surprised if they are still selling their clutch master cylinder set (the one that would work for a 4 Cyl Runner or lux) as part of the V6 4 Runner to V8 conversion kit.

Their bellhousing has too small a thread in it for the larger V6 clutch fork pivot, so a smaller 4 Cyl unit has to be fitted, they looked at me like a wanker when I tried to explain this, that their bellhousing for the V6 conversion cannot utilise the V6 clutch fork pivot.

I am not dumb, but I could not fathom their thrust bearing kit no matter how I looked at it, there was no way it would fit the application, so I binned it and sourced an alternative.

Then I had a discussion re VSS adaptors with them that was similar to any other I had. Obviously I was an idiot if I thought my V6 4 Runner had a cable driven speedo, they are all electrically driven.

In the end I said give me your catalogue, had a look and said thanks I will take that VSS adaptor there. But that won't fit your car they say, guess what it fitted.

I guess they are just all mostly poorly developed products with f/wits up front who don't know their *ss from their elbow about their own product selling you what you can't use.


Aaaaah that feels better, even 4 years after going through this I still need to regularly get their stupidity and arrogance off my chest

[loosecanon]

Hmm, no comment on CRS but, ive just done a conversion looked at a dellow and i wouldn't touch it with a 10ft pole.

i went with marks, and i tried the cruiser clutch kit, and it sat too close to my fire wall, i was made aware of this by marks, but as i have a fibre glass tub wanted to try it. i did a test fit didn't like it, and sent it back no problems, dowles were already fitted and they said no dramas just send it back...

i found them to be very helpful gave me all the info i needed, as this was my first conversion i had a lot of dumb questions,

if anyone asks ill be giving out there number,

that is all
loose,

[chimpboy]

I used a dellow bellhousing to put a supra 5-speed behind a Jag V12. It was fine.

I have heard of others having problems with dellow stuff, I can only say my experience was alright.

If I had to guess I would say that both CRS and Dellow have too many different conversion kits for them to realistically be on top of them all. That would be alright if they would only be upfront about that.

[raptorthumper]

I spoke to Dellow today, and told them about the dramas i had with the gearbox input shaft bottoming out on the end of the crank. The guy was very apologetic and said that just recenlty since Xmas they have found this problem on a few engines including some GEN III V8 conversions. According to him he said that Nissan do not control the tolerance on the spigot length size that well and they do vary. (some are longer than others) Obviously on the std Nissan motors the cranks have a deep counterbore to prevent this from ever occurring. The gen III and late model falcon motors however have a shallow counterbore. He also said that adding a spacer plate is not a good solution as by spacing the gearbox out the clutch friction plate does not get full spline engagement on the input shaft. He is going to add a note in the installation instructions to all GEN III and falcon 6cyl conversions to trim some material (5 - 6mm) from the end of the gearbox input shaft.

He was thankful of my phone call and appreciated the feedback (and how critical this dimension is) to stop seizing your new engine..

Definately worth taking a mental note if you are planning an engine conversion. Double check assembled, input shaft to crank clearance. The spigot is well and truly fully engaged (well past) so trimming the length has no negative effects.