Yes, I'm going to do the pain in the ass that everyone is telling me not to do. No great reward without great risk right?



You're going to like this one feets. The aluminum KB 572 will be going into my 1973 Imperial coupe backed by this transmission. I'm concerned the torque of the 572 will rip up the bell housing that I weld up -- so I'll take any suggestions that anyone has to make sure this doesn't happen. I'm not going the Ultrabell route either. I really don't trust all of the torque being held by the tranny pump bolts -- that's not going to work for me at all. The plan is to clean up the cases in a Tornado parts washer, do the proper cutting of the bell housings to the cases, and then take the pieces that will get welded together and get them alkaline dipped to clean up the aluminum as best that we can before TIG welding. Would there be a better acid dip that I should consider? I just want to make sure I get as much oil and impurities out of these pieces before welding and would take any suggestions on what works the best. I plan on doing lots of practice getting this just right. I know what a PITA this is going to be to be able to get the big block bell onto the 46RH and 46RE transmission cases -- but I think I've got more time than brains, so, why not? Besides, I really like how the 73 Imperial rolls down the road, and that's what it's all about, right? With that huge torquey motor and a nice OD tranny, it will be damn near nirvana.

I'm going to use a CNC to cut off each bell housing and then use a precision jig to get the proper orientation and indexing to the big block bell on the 46RH transmission case. I'm really interested in the 46RE transmission controller too, so I can go that route too if that project gets completed and works well. I'll probably end up making one of each so I can go either way. Seems like it's a lot easier to find 46RE trannys than 46RH. I've got a couple of 46RH trannys right now as well as a 46RE. I've got to round up some big block trannys too, that shouldn't be too hard though. I've just got to make sure the threads aren't all screwed up on the bell, and that the right ear is on the driver's side of the big block bell for the 73 tranny linkage.

Wish me luck, I think I'm going to need it....................