51 mercury bellhousing

[36coupe]

I found flathead junk yesterday. In was a 51? merc bellhousing but no starter plate. I think there might also be a brace missing.
I got a couple merc carbs and a set of new valves, a set of eab heads and a aluminum merc intake.
I wondering what the starter plate looks like and brace?

Photos won’t load so I will try later

[rotorwrench]

The starter plate for the 1949 through early 1951 was flat half moon type and may or may not have the angle on the bottom that attaches to the oil pan. Some of these angle pieces were physically attached and others were bolt on.

The late 1951 cars had the full bell housing made of cast iron which uses a rectangular starter plate and an inspection cover on the bottom.

[51 MERC-CT]

These are the two different bell housings used with standard transmissions on '49-'51 Merc's.
In addition there is a third one used with the automatic transmission.

[36coupe]

this is the mere bell housing I got

[36coupe]

This is the bottom plate and the other junk i dragged home.

[36coupe]

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Originally Posted by rotorwrench

The starter plate for the 1949 through early 1951 was flat half moon type and may or may not have the angle on the bottom that attaches to the oil pan. Some of these angle pieces were physically attached and others were bolt on.

The late 1951 cars had the full bell housing made of cast iron which uses a rectangular starter plate and an inspection cover on the bottom.

Thats what I have, the late 51, I suspect the starter plate will be impossible to find. There seems to be a lot more bells housings kicking around and no starter plates.

[51 MERC-CT]

Originally Posted by 36coupe

Thats what I have, the late 51, I suspect the starter plate will be impossible to find. There seems to be a lot more bells housings kicking around and no starter plates.

All indications (carb. etc. EAC?/EAB? on heads) say that the engine appears to be a '52-'53.

[Richardtx]

The completely flat starter plate is used on Mercurys with automatic is to avoid the studs on the converter from rubbing on the starter plate. The same thing applys when installing a C-4 behind a flathead.

[rotorwrench]

The bottom inspection cover is usually the harder part to find. The 52 though 53 Mercs & Fords all share the same starter plate and bottom inspection cover. The bell housings after 1951 were set up the same with the fulcrum lever type clutch control for the later swing type pedals. The late 1951 Mercury throw out bearing assembly is available but I don't know how it will work on a T170.


Look for 1952-1953 ford bell housing on flea-pay and you will find starter plates. The lower inspection cover is a different story. I usually recommend folks find a complete assembly when they look for these.

[V8 Bob]

The starter plate and lower inspection cover are the same for the late "regular" production '51 Merc and '52-'53 Fords and Mercurys, so they are not that hard to find.

[JSeery]

There are several plates on ebay, but most are as assemblies. The cost is about the same for just a plate or the whole assembly and in the $100+ range with shipping.

[51 MERC-CT]

Originally Posted by Richardtx

The completely flat starter plate is used on Mercurys with automatic is to avoid the studs on the converter from rubbing on the starter plate. The same thing applys when installing a C-4 behind a flathead.

The stock Merc-O-Matic bell housings do not use a "starter plate".
The starter is bolted directly to the bell housing.

[r_reed]

there is a good article about the various starter plates somewhere on the net, maybe some one can link it for you. i had an issue for years with a mis-match. my bell was flat, top to bottom. it requires a starter plate that is flat. there are also two different half circle crank cut outs. some of the other bells (stamped?)angle in at the bottom where the starter plate attaches. the correct plate for those must angle the starter mount back out to make it pararllel to the flywheel. i needed a flat plate with the small cut out. i may have only been used on the '53 pickup? hope this adds to your info. on this.

[rotorwrench]

The T170-FT RTS transmissions have the wide Ford pattern so an adapter might be needed similar to the Hogs Head flat plate except with the early Ford narrow bolt pattern from 49 to 64 to the wide Ford pattern on top loaders & Ford T5. I think these boxes have the 6.5 inch long input protrusion so there should be room for an adapter plate to fit up. Some of these transmissions also have dual bolt drillings but the top driver side one doesn't go through due to the RTS case design.

[36coupe]

I have the inspection plate it is in the picture next to the EAB head.
I can probably modify a truck starter plate to work if I can find the 51 starter plate.

[36coupe]

Originally Posted by 51 MERC-CT

All indications (carb. etc. EAC?/EAB? on heads) say that the engine appears to be a '52-'53.

The block was long gone. I bought half the extra parts he had. I left behind the 1ec and 8rt heads, some starters and a late 3 speed, no od.

Originally Posted by rotorwrench

The bottom inspection cover is usually the harder part to find. The 52 though 53 Mercs & Fords all share the same starter plate and bottom inspection cover. The bell housings after 1951 were set up the same with the fulcrum lever type clutch control for the later swing type pedals. The late 1951 Mercury throw out bearing assembly is available but I don't know how it will work on a T170.

Look for 1952-1953 ford bell housing on flea-pay and you will find starter plates. The lower inspection cover is a different story. I usually recommend folks find a complete assembly when they look for these.

I have a later bellhousing but it will not work very well in the 36.

Originally Posted by rotorwrench

The T170-FT RTS transmissions have the wide Ford pattern so an adapter might be needed similar to the Hogs Head flat plate except with the early Ford narrow bolt pattern from 49 to 64 to the wide Ford pattern on top loaders & Ford T5. I think these boxes have the 6.5 inch long input protrusion so there should be room for an adapter plate to fit up. Some of these transmissions also have dual bolt drillings but the top driver side one doesn't go through due to the RTS case design.

The bottom bolts line fine and the top actually line up with what looks like locating dowels holes on the t170. Welding to ears on the housing should be easy to line up with the wide holes.

[rotorwrench]

Take care welding on that cast iron. It should be preheated even if you braze some fittings on. The casting would likely crack otherwise. A simple spacer could be whittled out of steel plate or what have you to make an adapter. It might be better than welding on that bell housing. I measured one of my old early 1951 Mercury R10 overdrive transmissions at the input protrusion and its pretty near 6-inches from the face of the case to the tip of the input pilot stub. If yours is 6 1/2 inches then you might need a 1/2" in there somewhere to keep from trimming off the pilot stub on the T170-FT.

The top loader Ford 4-speeds also had the dual bolt pattern but all 8 bolt holes had access due to the simple steel cover plate on top. This way they could work on both early and late Ford bell housings. It appears that this practice was carried over but the case was redesigned to fit the overdrive into the place where the 3rd gear used to be for the 3+1 overdrive transmissions. This eliminated the usage of one of the top bolt holes and the other one is just barely usable if opened up.

[36coupe]

Originally Posted by rotorwrench

Take care welding on that cast iron. It should be preheated even if you braze some fittings on. The casting would likely crack otherwise. A simple spacer could be whittled out of steel plate or what have you to make an adapter. It might be better than welding on that bell housing. I measured one of my old early 1951 Mercury R10 overdrive transmissions at the input protrusion and its pretty near 6-inches from the face of the case to the tip of the input pilot stub. If yours is 6 1/2 inches then you might need a 1/2" in there somewhere to keep from trimming off the pilot stub on the T170-FT.

The top loader Ford 4-speeds also had the dual bolt pattern but all 8 bolt holes had access due to the simple steel cover plate on top. This way they could work on both early and late Ford bell housings. It appears that this practice was carried over but the case was redesigned to fit the overdrive into the place where the 3rd gear used to be for the 3+1 overdrive transmissions. This eliminated the usage of one of the top bolt holes and the other one is just barely usable if opened up.

The forth hole almost looks like it could be accessed from inside the case.

[flatjack9]

Yes.