The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Timing port on bell housing

Hi All,
I was wondering, after giving my 52 a tuneup. I discovered my tranny was a 50 with the motor a 56 vintage. After reading countless posts, is it possible to put the bell housing on one bolt hole off? Everything I have read suggests that the timing port should be just above the starter. Mine is just below the starter. That requires me to place soft fleashy parts dangerously close to hard greasy, moving parts while setting the timing. Any ideas, comments? or was it just built this way? Jimmie.

AFAIK, the 235/261 bellhousing is a separate piece between the engine and tranny. The timing window and pointer is a part of the bellhousing and above the starter mount, which is also part of the bellhousing. My '54 bellhousing has the window above the starter mount. Not sure how you could put this together wrong? Is there not a window above the starter? What year is your BH?

Sorry I left out a bit of info. Mine is a 52 with a 56 235 in it. No there is not an opening above the starter. It under the starter, whitch makes timing it dicey. To see the bb and pointer you must stick your upper body between the inner fender, motor, and fan blade just to see the the opening. The old girl runs well, and I timed her with other means. It just seems to me that something isn't kosher if you know what I mean. Jimmie.

Jimmie D,

I thought the bellhousing ended just a little below the bottom starter bolt. Would the engineers have intended you to stand on your head to time this engine. There is a rubber plug made to cover the peep hole...maybe yours is covered and you just don't see it. Strange goings on!

Stuart

OK you made me do it! I crawled my fat behind under the truck to look. There isn't any kind of hole there below the starter. Something just seems odd here. Any way you can post a pic of what you've got? It just seems very strange. Every 216/235/261 I've ever seen has the timing port above the starter, and I've never seen a plug in one, though I suppose they might have had one at one time.

Jimmie - correct timing hole on any 235 is up and toward the block from the starter marked with white X here - impossible to put the bell housing on "wrong", if yours doesn't have a hole there you have some wierd bellhousing

Bill

Jimmy, I'm a seven decade old fart with creaky joints so leaning over a fender with my head and back twisted to see the ball bearing was a real trial, especially when you toss in poor eyesight. While I had the cover off to adjust the valves I rolled the engine until the intake valve on #1 opened and closed and the ball was under the pointer. Then I attatched a pointer to the timing cover and painted a white line under it on the front pulley. Unless I twist the crankshaft it's just as accurate as the one on the flywheel and a bunch easier to see.

I have had one 235 that did have rubber plug in the timing hole. Looked factory to me.

Hi Eveybody, I am back in town for a while. Thanks for all the input. Longbox55 sorry I got you out under your ride looking for holes. My setup is like the pic Red58 posted, I did as coilover did. After manually turning the motor and lining the BB up with the pointer on the power stroke I made my marks. Once again thanks to everyone for their time and effort, Jimmie.

Jimmie D,
If your flywheel is older than 1955 (which is possible with a 1950 tranny in a 1952 truck) then the timing mark is for the original 216 and not a 1956 vintage 235. If you have a 6 volt starter on your truck then the mark is of no use to you.

Curt B.

Curt B, thanks for pointing that out. I think the P.O. kept it all 56 except the tranny. I lined up the BB and pointer. That was enough to get the truck to run, then played with the timing untill it sounded "right". It runs well, maybe just a bit rich. At least I get to drive it while I work out the rest of the kinks. Jimmie.

Jimmie D,

Sounds like you have things under control.

Before I knew better (which means before I got the great advice from this forum), I used the bell housing hole on the driver's side and set the timing to a bolt hole on the flywheel. No pointer but it actually worked pretty well.

Hi,

This is a great thread. Would/could someone please attach a picture of the bb, pointer, painted mark.

I am confused.