> Also George's Bell housing was way too heavy. The best his foundry
> could do was about .25 inch thick. Speaking of that my friends
> at Mazdatrix told me the way to get a cheap, light weight, high
> pressure die cast bell housing is buy the whole transmission!
> 2nd gen transmissions are  going for $150. Buy the transmission,
> disconnect the bell housing and throw the gear box part away :)
>
> Paul Lamar ...No rotor no motor.

Paul and Bill,
All too true I'm afraid!
I gave it my best shot and spent months and many dollars to prove that the
problems are insurmountable for low cost, low weight, high strength
aluminum castings.
If I went through the problems encountered you would all get a headache -
still it was interesting and educational.
I suggested to Bill we should get a group( Co-Operative) together to fund
the parts manufacture.
Interestingly Taiwan ( being the second best aluminum casting preferenceafter Japan) would amortize the cost of the patterns if I purchased
thousands. They even offered to store excess stock for me - good of them!
The cost of aluminum is the same world wide, so other costs are in labor.If you look to the western world to manufacture, the pattern costs are- as
Bill suggested!
Just can't see a solution without big money!
George ( down under)

Is CNC machining a hunk of billet aluminum into a "perfect" bell
housing out of the question?

Scott Gettings

Well lets see the solid chunk of aluminum 12 by 12 by 4 inches
is about 57.6 pounds. At $4 a pound that would be $230 for
the aluminum alone. Then you need to find someone with a really
big and fast NC hogging mill at $100 an hour it should take maybe
3 or four hours. I am guessing. Not counting design and
NC mill programming. Probably cheaper to buy a new Mazda bell
housing. Probably cheaper NC machining to start with a sand casting
and machine the weight out of it. Ian bought his sand cast
bell house in Sydney. Probably about $200 US.

Paul Lamar

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