The Bolt

Part of my Ford into BMW swap requires switching from a cable-based clutch to a hydraulic based clutch. Sparing the details on why that's important and what that means, I will say the general conclusion has been that I switch to an 87-88 Ford Thunderbird TurboCoupe bell housing which has the provisions for a hydraulic clutch from the factory.

I scored that exact part from a fellow over the Internet for $40 and assumed I had an excellent deal. When the bell housing arrived I realized that it was coated in years of grease and grime. Generally, when I sell parts to people online I will at least take it to the local spray-it-yourself carwash and clean off the chunks of grease. The gentlemen I with which I was doing business did not seem to feel the same way. Upon scraping off a few chunks of gunk it became clear that one of the bell housing bolts was stuck in the threads.

The average temperature last week was under 15 degrees Fahrenheit. It was cold. Some days the mercury dropped below 10 degrees below-zero. Really cold. Given this frigidness I elected to call the machine shop I use to see if they would put this in the nice big parts washer, a glorified dish washer that uses acids instead of soaps. They were more than willing and even said they would try to get the bolt out.

Two days later I get a phone call back from Mr. Ken-The-Machinist-Man. Apparently, the bolt is so stuck that he could not remove it using a three-foot steel welded to the stub of the bolt. It wasn't just a tough-bolt but he thinks it is case hardened, like you'd typically find on internal engine parts and military applications. I told him to hold off and started making phone calls.

Call after call proved that if someone had a 87-88 Thunderbird TurboCoupe bell housing they also wanted to sell me the transmission to which it was bolted. This was a premium that I did not want to pay - asking prices near $300. Back to the shop, Ken and I chatted and he figured he could get it fixed, cleaned again, and back to me for under $100.

This is one of those hideously unexpected costs changing from $20 and an hour in the parts washer to $100 and three days.

I have no fear! The rest of the parts list is coming yet this week:
- Fuel line parts.
- The new crankcase breather system.
- The driveshaft.
- The BMW-to-Ford hydraulic clutch conversion line I invented.

Now, onto selling my old turbo.