Adapt Merkur/t9 2.3 Bell To Fit Kent 1600?

[Richard/SIA]

Burtons never answered my email regards cost and availability of an alloy bell housing to fit my ex-Merkur T9 box to a Kent 1600.

 

Today I slapped the Merkur bell against the back of my newly acquired Kent block.

4 of 6 holes do line up just fine including the two dowels.

So only the top pair need to be lowered.

 

Thinking of a couple of ways to fix that.

For one I could weld in an aluminum bar lower down where it is needed and then cut away the unneeded uppermost portion of the Merkur bell.

Or I could mill away part of the upper bell and fit a simple flat adapter plate up top?

This probably has less risk of warping.

 

I've been warned that the Merkur input is longer than the regular "E" box.

I measure 1.23" from the end of the crank to the back of the Kent block.

Anyone know what that distance would be for a 2.3?

If I really do need more depth due to a longer input shaft perhaps a full diameter adapter can be made from flat plate.

I have CNC tools, wonder if this would be of use to anyone else once I get it figured out?

 

[Nick Jones]

Is the Merkur 2.3 a V6?

 

In Europe I'm pretty sure the belt housing pattern is the same for the Kent (also called X-flow or cross-flow) and other four cylinder engines of the era (eg Pinto, CVH, even the iron block Zetec (not alloy block Sigma/Zetec SE) but V6 are different.  Most of the standard bells are cast iron.  Escort RS2000 ones were alloy I think.

 

Likewise input shafts.  V6 are longer, though IIRC, most of the extra length is in the plain nose of the shaft (for the spigot bearing) so you may have a fairly easy solution to that at least.

 

There is loads on the subject on the web (though needs sifting fairly carefully!), eg.

http://www.turbosport.co.uk/showthread.php?t=70942

http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=2515

 

Cheers

 

Nick

[Richard/SIA]

Merkur was a 2.3 turbo four cylinder.

I think they were a Sierra in Europe.

[Nick Jones]

Ah ok.  Found some pics now.  Looks pretty much like the euro pinto though we never got anything bigger than 2.0.  Must be some other differences though as euro pinto and kent accept the same bell housing I think.

 

Yep, Merkur looks like Sierra though there were 3 body styles and several different engines incl I4 and V6 and even a 4WD.

 

Nick

[Richard/SIA]

The certain difference I am trying to deal with is that the uppermost pair of mounting holes are lower for the Kent than on the 2.3 Sierra/Merkur block.

I am going to try to get an accurate measurement of the difference.

Hoping the Merkur bell compensates for the slightly longer than other models of T9 input shaft.

[Nick Jones]

Might find this useful

http://croydon.amphibia.co.uk:76/pdf/type9.pdf

 

Though I doubt it contains any Merkur specific info!

 

Nick

 

PS. I have a cast iron bellhousing in my garage just now, which I think came from a endura diesel T9.  Can measure this if you have anything specific you want to know.

[Richard/SIA]

I have a Kent drawing.

I've now transferred the Merkur pattern to aluminum sheet using transfer punches.

So now I should be able to measure out the two additional locations.

 

Found out that the 2.3-Lima actually has two set of upper mounting holes, so can use either bell.